1899196 - `Show only display name for people in my address book`: add option/user-preference to let users configure message list independently from message header

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Address Book, enhancement)

Description

[chrizilla]

problem

The welcomed enhancements in bug 243258 [Show email address in message list] also affect the address display in the message header.
Now (TB 128) the preference Show only display name for people in my address book governs both places (message list + message header), although users may need to configure them separately.

request for enhancement 💡

Add an option/user-preference to let users control Show only display name for people in my address book separately for the message list and the message header.

design mockup

see comment #1

Why is this important ?

Because there is a "completely different logic" (see quote below) at play in these 2 places:

• message list:
  As a user, I don't need to see dozens of email addresses simultaneously, which leads to information overload and sensory overload. Therefore the option to show only the display name for known senders greatly helps to avoid an overloaded message list. So from that perspective, TB 128 has done everything right with regards to the message list.

• message header:
  The message header, however, follows a different logic:

  • There is ample space to show the email addresses there (compared to the cramped space of the message list in table view).
  • Contrary to the message list, here the user doesn't have to concentrate on an entire list of emails with hundreds of senders but only on 1 email. Displaying the addresses of this 1 email doesn't result in information overload.
  • Another difference: In the message list, the user doesn't need to see Jennifer's sender address (it suffices to see that Jennifer is a known sender). But in the message reader, the user may wish or even need to see whether Jennifer writes from her work address or private address and whether she writes to the user's work address or private address.
  • With hundreds of incoming messages, the user needs to be able to quickly identify who is who in the message list. A user-defined display name helps the user in remembering the senders and in getting quickly accustomed to the chosen names. However, once the message is opened in the message pane, the user already knows whose message is displayed. So there is no need for a shortened contact display. On the contrary, it may be desirable to see the display name as sent by the sender (for example to catch name changes after marriage/divorce, title changes, or professional moves to another department in big companies or organizations which often include the department in the display name for Intranet email communication).

From a programmer's perspective, I completely understand the desire for simplification. And I therefore see how it was tempting to reuse the same preference for both the message list AND the message header, thinking this would increase in-app consistency.

Consistency may be desirable. But only at similar places. These places are different.
(I cannot behave the same at work and at a party for the sake of consistency, because the places are different and follow a different logic.)

For all these reasons, I welcome the changes to the message list, but I implore you, not to auto-lock the message list prefs to the message reader. Please kindly give users the choice to configure them independently from each other, because they are governed by a different logic.

references

(In reply to Alessandro Castellani [:aleca] from discussion here)

Right now this preference would only affect the message list, but we also show the sender and recipients in the message header, and that section has a completely different logic (consistency, am I right?). […]
Should the visualization options of this data in the message list affect also the message header, or should these data rendering sections behave differently and leave that up to the user?

Comment 1

[chrizilla]

Attachment: configure msg list + msg header separately.png

image content: design mockup for proposed settings

Comment 2

[Alessandro Castellani [:aleca]]

Attachment: Screenshot 2024-05-29 153913.png

I think what you're asking is already available in the customization options of the message header