231497 - Request for an *option* for more efficient Mail display wrt Sender/Recipient

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 36489

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, enhancement)

Description

[Russell East]

I have Mozilla 1.6 installed.  It is really great that we now can have both a
Sender and Recipient column in the mail ui.  I would like to see an optional
extra.   Now that both cilumns are available, one column always shows my name or
email address, since I am always the sender or recipient.   In my view, it would
be more efficient to have a single column that shows the name or email address
of the other email "communicant" - i.e. the sender or recipient who isn't me.  :-)

I know there has been a lot of discussion about this in general UI terms, and I
wonder if this new column could simply be an option that is not normally
available, buit which can be selected from something like the Edit/Preferences
menu - perhaps under the Mail/Windows section?

The advantage to providing this column will be that one less column needs to be
displayed, thus reducing the UI window size.   This is definitely important for
users strapped with smaller displays, such as many laptops.

Comment 1

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

This appears to be a dupe of bug 36489; Russell East, do you agree?

See bug 76702, bug 169025; also bug 36492, whose fix resulted in the dual 
columns.

If you kept a folder of correspondance with one particular person, this column 
would work against you because you wouldn't be able to tell which mail you'd 
sent vs. which they'd sent.

Comment 2

[Russell East]

Attachment: screenshot of current situation

Comment 3

[Russell East]

Attachment: What I'd like to see

Comment 4

[Russell East]

I agree that the bug you identified *originally* was about this, however, that
bug seems to have degenerated into a suggestion about having separate To/From
columns.  These are now implemented and look great.   I am pleading for a more
compact alternative.  Take a look at the attached screenshots for what I'm
suggesting.   It could be possible in the Edit/Preferences to allow a choice of
separate To/From column or combined column.

It's necessary to have something that distinguishes between the To and From
within that column, firstly because of what you were suggesting, Secondly
because some group-mailers are not directly sent to the reader (e.g. the
NewsLetter in the screenshot).   A good solution would come up with some simple
graphic/icon rather than "To" and "From" words.

Comment 5

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Regardless of what turns the discussion there has taken, that bug is still about 
what it was opened for.  The bug about separate columns, as I already stated, is 
bug 36492.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 36489 ***