1898896 - replace the per-contact setting "prefer display name over message header" with a per address book setting

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, enhancement)

Description

[chrizilla]

problem

Due to the switch discussed in bug 1894048 from the per-contact setting "prefer display name over message header" to a single global setting, users who globally "prefer display name over message header" will lose the current ability to make exceptions for senders with dynamically changing display name, such as

• friends who use it as a social media status update
• mailing lists
• multi-author tools (github, JIRA, Phabricator, etc.) which use the display name to specify the author
• other exceptional cases

💡 suggested solution / enhancement

Make the setting not per-contact but per address book (AB):
Add a checkbox "prefer display name over message header" to each AB (see design mockup below).

This would come both instead of a checkbox on each contact and instead of a global preference in tools > settings.

benefit

By this means, users can move exceptional contacts with dynamically changing display name in a separate AB set NOT to "prefer display name over header", while activating this option on other ABs as they wish.

mockup

see comment #1

Comment 1

[chrizilla]

Attachment: design mockup for address book properties dialog box

image content: design mockup for address book properties dialog box

Comment 2

[chrizilla]

Attachment: current per-contact option.png

image content: current per-contact option
image source: URL

Comment 3

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Thanks for the initiative but we're trying to keep Bugzilla exclusively for bug and code work, not as a discussion forum.
For these type of ideas and discussions you should go through Mozilla Connect or the mailing list.

Comment 4

[chrizilla]

Ok. If I understand correctly, the problem is that I invited others to submit their ideas here? I have therefore removed this invitation from the bug description and reworked it. Assuming it is now a valid feature request, I am reopening.
Please close if you don't like this enhancement suggestion (have you looked at the mockup image?).

Comment 5

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Thanks for the proposal but this also adds inconsistency and complexity that we don't want to pursue.
We're adding other indicators and visual references tot he message list to better distinguish if a contact is in the address book or not, and we already have customization option for the message list and the message header that are independent from each other.

Comment 6

[chrizilla]

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca])

Ok, I agree. On second thought a per-address-book-setting is not a good solution.

But if you replace the per-contact setting prefer display name over message header with a global setting and tick this checkbox, how can you make exceptions for senders with dynamically changing display name (github and all other examples listed in comment #0) so that they are still able to change dynamically? Until now this was handled by the per-contact setting. What's the solution for this?