1676697 - New email folder color not applied to non-inbox folders

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Anje]

Complaint received in Support forum regarding recent changes.

In version 68*, all folders in folder Pane with new mail would display a small gold star on the folder and all new messages in the 'Thread Pane' would display a gold star beside the 'Subject'.

This meant it was immediaetly obvious what folder contained the new mail and upon selecting the folder, easy to detect the new message.

Version 78* does not display either making it not so easy to locate where the new mail is located.

Can the icons and messages get this 'gold star' put back in both locations when new mail is received.

Comment 1

[Anje]

Forum asking about this feature which seems to have been overlooked when new design was created.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1312694
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1309818?page=2#answer-1366886

Was this overlooked? Did those who were involved in the new design of Folder Pane and Thread Pane not realise they had omitted an important element ? I've asked for it as an enhancement as nothing is technically broke, but you could equally say it is a bug because important features are not working.

Comment 2

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Attachment: Screenshot from 2020-11-13 09-30-56.png

The start to the left of the subject column should appear when a new message is first received. If it doesn't, that's a bug.

We removed the star on the folder pane because it was redundant.
Already both folder icon and folder name receive the highlight color, overriding any current colour customization, as well as the text of the account folder.

Could you confirm with the user that the star on the subject line is visible?
If so, this is a WONTFIX for me.

Richard?

Comment 3

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Yes, I think too that the colour change is enough to show new incoming messages.

I'm okay to WONTFIX this bug.

Comment 4

[Anje]

Windows 10
In version 78.4.3
Using Dark Mode.
Testing in Safe Mode - I see same as you, but that is only on the Inbox.
Also it doesn't help if people happen to have set the colours of their folders in that same or similar blue colour.
And yes, my folders were given a blue colour because yellow no longer works very well on a light background when the change of colour only changes the outline and you need a solid fill. In the end I had to completely remove all the new icons which turned out to be useful in the Support Forum due to several users needing a return of use to original folders.
People have the ability to set whatever colour they like. So changing colour on it's own is no longer a satisfactory solution. That went out the window when the new design for Folders came in.

Biggest issue:
I have message filters that send new emails to folders eg: Thunderbird, Bugzilla, Family, very few emails actually arrive and remain in the Inbox.
Those folders receiving new mail have no change in colour. Not that a change in colour is satisfactory anymore due to new design.

Text of folder name does become bold, but the bold whitish colour is barely distinguishable from regular. It's not immediately obvious. But it looks like that even if I had old unread mail, so no it does no indicate any new mail.
But no blue text in anything other than Inbox.

What is required is to Create a folder svg with a gold star and use the same old code as before to enact it.
OR at the very least the folder name should change colour in the same way that the Inbox changes colour.

This is a bug. There is no indication of new mail in general folders as was the case prior to changing all the icons in the Folder pane.

Comment 5

[Anje]

(In reply to Richard Marti (:Paenglab) from comment #3)

Yes, I think too that the colour change is enough to show new incoming messages.

I'm okay to WONTFIX this bug.

Yes I agree with your first sentence, but the colour change does not effect all folders that receive new mail, so how on earth can it be a wontfix, that is illogical. New mail is not indicated in all folders that get new mail and it should as it always has done before.

Also no star against the new mail in Thread Pane.
It is important to get such details corrected.

Comment 6

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Also it doesn't help if people happen to have set the colours of their folders in that same or similar blue colour.

That's a user's choice and we can't predict what the selected color might be. What if the user selects the same yellow as the star for the icon? Now the star is not visible at all.

Those folders receiving new mail have no change in colour...But no blue text in anything other than Inbox.

I think that's a bug as any folder icon and text with a new message should be properly highlighted.

What is required is to Create a folder svg with a gold star and use the same old code as before to enact it.

We won't do that.

OR at the very least the folder name should change colour in the same way that the Inbox changes colour.

Indeed, this is a bug and should be fixed.

Yes I agree with your first sentence, but the colour change does not effect all folders that receive new mail, so how on earth can it be a wontfix, that is illogical.

The fact that non-inbox folders don't receive the same style it's NEW information.
The initial report was only about the "star" indicator not being present like in 68, therefore the WONTFIX suggestion refers to that.

Thank you for your help in the support forum, but please, be respectful and keep a calm and pragmatic tone when replying, "how on earth can it be a wontfix" doesn't sound very friendly.

Also no star against the new mail in Thread Pane.

This as well happens only on non-inbox folders, right?

Comment 7

[Anje]

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani (:aleca) from comment #6)

Also it doesn't help if people happen to have set the colours of their folders in that same or similar blue colour.

That's a user's choice and we can't predict what the selected color might be.

True, but it should not be unassumed either hence why it is not an ideal method to rely on.

What if the user selects the same yellow as the star for the icon? Now the star is not visible at all.

The icon is only an outline and the star on the original 'yellow' folder was easily detectable as it had a stronger outline to differentiate. The new icon could easily show a star in the middle of the folder.

Those folders receiving new mail have no change in colour...But no blue text in anything other than Inbox.

I think that's a bug as any folder icon and text with a new message should be properly highlighted.

What is required is to Create a folder svg with a gold star and use the same old code as before to enact it.

We won't do that.

It would be helpful if you could explain why you made this decision - you need to understand that it is me who has to explain this in the Support Forums. Users do want to know why a previously good working idea is dropped and the replacement icon not created with same star.
I wondered what the real issue or complication was in creating a eg: blue outline folder containing a gold star in the center which was shown when new mail in folder.

OR at the very least the folder name should change colour in the same way that the Inbox changes colour.

Indeed, this is a bug and should be fixed.

Yes I agree with your first sentence, but the colour change does not effect all folders that receive new mail, so how on earth can it be a wontfix, that is illogical.

The fact that non-inbox folders don't receive the same style it's NEW information.
The initial report was only about the "star" indicator not being present like in 68, therefore the WONTFIX suggestion refers to that.

Thank you for your help in the support forum, but please, be respectful and keep a calm and pragmatic tone when replying, "how on earth can it be a wontfix" doesn't sound very friendly.

Also no star against the new mail in Thread Pane.

This as well happens only on non-inbox folders, right?
Correct.

Thanks for listening. It is really a problem not seeing where new mail resides if not in Inbox.

Comment 8

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

It would be helpful if you could explain why you made this decision.

The star image on top of the folder in 68 was a bit of a hack.
Unfortunately, the XUL tree element coming from toolkit doesn't allow much flexibility when it comes to customizing the aspect of a row or a cell.
We moved to SVG photon style icons also for easy maintainability, since those icons are extremely easy to update and refresh when needed.

Creating a variation of each icon with star on top, will mean doubling up all our tree icons for a visual input that can be solved with a line of CSS. Easier to fix and maintain even by non designer that don't know how to update or manage an SVG.
That also guarantees better style flexibility for theme or add-on developers, that can now fully control the look and feel of that area without having a foreign star item they cannot style or control.

Comment 9

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Richard, would you be able to check this issue (non-inbox folders not highlighting with the primary color when a new message arrives) and if it's something we could solve with CSS?

Comment 10

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

This works for me. The folder, not a sub-folder of the inbox, highlighted the icon and the label like it should. Tested on TB 78 and Daily.

Comment 11

[Anje]

Attachment: FP.jpg

On left side is version 78.4.3 - started in 'Safe Mode' so showing default.
On right side is version 78.4.3 - as set up by me using userChrome.csss as it looks and functions better for me.
This image show the difference in the 'Folder Pane'.

This image shows unread mail issue - the white bold font is not exactly easy to see.

Perhaps this image explains the issue of not knowing where new mail has gone with more clarity.

Comment 12

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

New messages or unread messages? This is a difference as we colour only the new messages. After a new poll or an update in the folder they will be only unread messages and are only bold.

Comment 13

[Anje]

Attachment: FP2.jpg

On left :
new mail in top account shows with star on folder and blue text on account name.
New mail is in Bugzilla - show with star and blue font.
New mail also in account shown at the bottom in the 'Inbox'.

On right:
is the start in default mode, so all previous new mail is now just unread, so sent email to main account shown at top.
Main account shows in blue font.
Email is new mail filtered to Family folder. But it looks like it has three unread old mail.
So account name says there's new mail, but it's not obvious where the new mail is located.
when you selec the 'Family' folder - all the emails show as unread. The new unread mail does not have a star next

There is also new mail in the account shown at the bottom in the Inbox.
The account name folder is blue and so is the Inbox.
When you select 'Inbox', the new mail has a star.

Hopefully this visually explains the issue.

Comment 14

[Anje]

I posted both images because I'm trying to explain that new mail in a filtered folder looks exactly the same as old unread.

It also explains that old unread is not exactly that obvious either, but that's a similar but slightly different issue.

Comment 15

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

As I wrote in comment 10 this works in plain TB's for me, tried with dark and default theme. I can't confirm your issue. Did you test with absolutely no userChrome changes?

Comment 16

[Anje]

The images showing default svg icons is Thunderbird restarted in 'Safe Mode' so it stops the 'userChrome.css'.

Comment 17

[Anje]

User in Forum with issue regarding the 'star' on folder pane says:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1312694?
"Rather than the star show on the message, we need the star to show on the folder pane,
Many people manage multiple email addresses and just having a color change is not enough because mine is always colored blue with the new version due to the fact that its a GMAIL account and google counts drafts and other as NEW messages so therefore folder is always showing as blue in color!
We need the STAR back please!! its NOT redundant!! "

Comment 18

[Anje]

Another user has just posted same problem
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1311628

Comment 19

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

It's redundant, both use newMessages-true as selector. This will also show always the star when the folder label has the blue colour.

Comment 20

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Attachment: Screenshot from 2020-11-16 09-38-25.png

When I receive a new message, which is filtered and moved into a specific folder, you can see it highlights properly the entire row and also the account row.

When closing and relaunching the application, the row is only bold, not highlighted.
This happens because, as Richard explained, the tree updates itself on a new fetch or update in the folders.

I can see how this hard to see, specifically in dark mode, as the bold variation is not as visible as in light mode.
I wonder if there's a way to keep the highlight color if a user hasn't interacted with the folder at all.

What do you think, Richard?

Comment 21

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

This would need somehow a check if the folder was selected after the last change to the newMessages-true. Probably not so easy to do.

Comment 22

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Maybe we can implement a dark theme variation to keep the blue for unread messages.
Only the bold variation is definitely not enough.

Also, maybe we should consider adding a smarter indicator for color blind users (not the star on top of the icon because that doesn't bring any benefit and it's not that visible).

The limitations of this tree element are starting to get under my skin 😅️

Comment 23

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: 1676697-dark-theme-unread.patch

I added a lighter blue for the unread messages. I copied also the rules to get the same colours for the label and icon.

Comment 24

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Comment on attachment 9188144 [details] [diff] [review]
1676697-dark-theme-unread.patch

Review of attachment 9188144 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, this is good.

Comment 25

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/daccd21d7eec
Use a special color for folders with unread messages with dark theme. r=aleca

Comment 26

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Comment on attachment 9188144 [details] [diff] [review]
1676697-dark-theme-unread.patch

[Approval Request Comment]
User impact if declined: not so good visibility of folders containing unread messages with the dark theme
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.): on c-c
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): low

Comment 27

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9188144 [details] [diff] [review]
1676697-dark-theme-unread.patch

[Triage Comment]
Approved for beta

Comment 28

[Dave Miller [:justdave]]

Thunderbird 84.0b2:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/rev/afe00b31497e

Comment 29

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9188144 [details] [diff] [review]
1676697-dark-theme-unread.patch

[Triage Comment]
Approved for esr78

Comment 30

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Thunderbird 78.5.1:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-esr78/rev/e340dd1ec473