1844824 - List of calendars needs to display the icons on the right by default

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Calendar :: Calendar Frontend, defect)

Description

[Anje]

Calendar tab
Calendars in list on the left side

Calendar has dropdown menu (3 dot )and eye icon, but no one knows this because they are hidden.

Currently they are invisible.
People do not know they exist.
It is not intuitive. The dots are very small.
They appear if you hover over calendar name, but it is difficult if you do not have a steady hand because they keep disappearing.
When you do select 3 dot and move over the drop down menu the 3 dot disappears.

Request
the 3 dot icon is made with larger dots.
The icons are made visible permanently.

Needs to be more user friendly for all abilities.

Comment 1

[Elizabeth Gray [:elizabeth]]

(In reply to Anje from comment #0)

Calendar tab
Calendars in list on the left side

Calendar has dropdown menu (3 dot )and eye icon, but no one knows this because they are hidden.

Currently they are invisible.
People do not know they exist.
It is not intuitive. The dots are very small.
They appear if you hover over calendar name, but it is difficult if you do not have a steady hand because they keep disappearing.
When you do select 3 dot and move over the drop down menu the 3 dot disappears.

Request
the 3 dot icon is made with larger dots.
The icons are made visible permanently.

Needs to be more user friendly for all abilities.

Thank you for this report. Thank you for pointing out how this experience does not work well for you.

If you right click on any part of the calendar row, it shows the same menu. You don't need to hover over the 3 dots. If you try that, is that a better experience for you?

Also, if you need more space on your screen, please try increasing the density to Relaxed from the main menu.

Another way these items can be accessed is with a keyboard. Both the eye and the three dots are keyboard accessible with Tab. There is some inconsistency with using the Enter key or Space key when selecting an item. We will address that in a separate bug.

Our plan is to keep the functionality as it is, not showing the menu dots all the time. However, your comment has surfaced some other improvements we can make to the calendar list experience overall. We will look into how we can improve the experience.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you so much for letting us know about this.

Comment 2

[Anje]

Hi Elizabeth
It's not about whether there are other methods. All of which are perfectly good. But all those methods still require the user to be savvy enough to find the icon in the first place.

It all about the fact users do not know it exists.
You and I know it exists and understand the various methods, so for us and the designers, it is logical and easy, but that is not the case for many users.
Not all users are savvy about using a keyboard and not all users will just try a right click to see if anything exists. Many users are just left click on mouse people for items they want to choose.
Many users look for a menu icon and they do not see it.
Making menu icons invisible by default is not helpful for many users.
I know this because I have to keep answering questions about it in the Support Forum and otherwise.

In the 'Folder Pane' at the top is a 3 dot icon which offers 'Folder Pane Options' - it is visible by default and it is helpful to all users of all abilities. This should be the generic option throughout Thunderbird.

In the 'Address book' the 3 dot icon is hidden/invisible by default and presents the same problem as the Calendars in this bug.

I'm requesting that the 3 dot icon needs to be permanently visible in Address book and Calendar because it is wrong to assume all users are savvy enough to know where hidden menu icons are hidden.

Making the 3 dot menu permanently visible means improving Thunderbird so it is more all inclusive for all abilities. I do not see a problem with improving usability.