240138 - Show just the name and not the email address in the message pane

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Scott MacGregor]

If the email address is in one of your address books, we should just show the
user's name instead of the full name + email address in the message pane.

Outlook and mail.app both do this and it's a great way to reduce space in the
message pane for known addresses. And it lets folks know if the message is from
someone in one of their ABs.

Comment 1

[Scott MacGregor]

alec might be interested in this feature as well given a conversation he and I
recently had.

Comment 2

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: the fix [Checkin: Comment 4 & 6]

Comment 3

[Scott MacGregor]

Comment on attachment 145854 [details] [diff] [review]
the fix
[Checkin: Comment 4 & 6]

David, can you check my address book database logic to make sure i'm not doing
anything harmful / wrong?

I also delay opening the address book up to do this until after you click on
the first message in the message pane. So we shouldn't impact startup
performance.

Comment 4

[Scott MacGregor]

fixed on the trunk. There are still some additional changes I want to play
around with going forward.....

Comment 5

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: additional change to expose the email address in the context menu [Checkin: Comment 50]

Comment 6

[Scott MacGregor]

I ported this to the 0.6 branch too.

Comment 7

[Calum Mackay]

Was there any thought of making this configurable? I have acres of horizontal
space in my message pane, and I've now lost useful information as to which of
the many email addresses the sender had used. OK, I can reveal it by clicking,
but previously it was visible...

you can't please everybody :)

Comment 8

[Jason Kersey]

This is pretty bad UI.  I'd like to see at least a config option for this, as I
don't need to know who's in my address book or not, I need to know their email
address.  Reopening so we can have some discussion on this...

Comment 9

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

I have different email addresses with the same name. When I get new mail I want
to see to which address it was delivered. I hate the displaying of the name
only. I totally agree with comment 8. We should add a pref for this so people
whose won't have this feature can disable it.

Comment 10

[Scott MacGregor]

FYI this is the behavior used by Outlook (which does it for all addresses not
just people you know) and mail.app.

Comment 11

[Jason Kersey]

Having used outlook at work, and hearing the number of people complain about
hiding email addresses, I don't think this is a valid arguement.  Outlook and
Mail.app don't do everything right, and I strongly believe this is one of the
things they are not correct on.

Comment 12

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

(In reply to comment #11)
> Having used outlook at work, and hearing the number of people complain about
> hiding email addresses, I don't think this is a valid arguement.  Outlook and
> Mail.app don't do everything right, and I strongly believe this is one of the
> things they are not correct on.

Right, we shouldn't immitate any other mail.app and Scott please don't use
Outlook as reference for implementing such features. That's not a good start for
a discussion. Meanwhile I got negative feedback from a lot of people when asking
them about that feature! 

Comment 13

[Robert Accettura [:raccettura]]

Well, how about a pref option (perhaps hidden for now, but a UI if enough votes
for it)?  Looking at the patch it shouldn't be a big deal to add.  

Comment 14

[Karsten Düsterloh]

This "feature" (again) is *not* helpful.
Often, you get mails with forged names. Until now, you could at least have a
quick look at the *address*...

Actually, I consider this "feature" a security hazard.

Scott, it would be *very* helpful if you'd just *propose* features without
checking them in immediately, so that they can be *considered*. :(

Comment 15

[Tino 'Trips' Schüttpelz]

This feature is not helpful. I got three people with the exact same name in my
address book - even if I had not it'd be helpful if the choice how much space on
my message pane I want "wasted" was mine. What about people who happen to have
one address@home and one@work? I'd like to be able to tell the difference with
just one look.

Reducing information to not confuse the new user is not always a good idea,
especially if this means that it takes the experienced user time to get the
information he wants. Experienced users tend to have less time than new ones.

Comment 16

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: pref UI to disable this feature [Checkin: Comment 51 (double)]

add pref UI under advanced / General Settings where the other seamonkey
compatibility UI prefs are going for allowing a user to turn this feature off.

We reload the message pane when the pref is toggled to show live changes.

The verbage of the pref is subject to change.

Comment 17

[Jason Kersey]

Thanks Scott.  

Comment 18

[Robert Accettura [:raccettura]]

How about changing:

+<!ENTITY showCondensedAddresses.label  "Show just the friendly name for people
I know in the message pane.">

to

+<!ENTITY showCondensedAddresses.label  "Show only display name for people in my
address book.">

A bit more discriptive than "people I know".

Comment 19

[[e-mail]]

Does the tooltip text get set on the collapsed-style header?

Comment 20

[[e-mail]]

-  if (displayName && useDisplayNameForAddress(emailAddress))
+  if (gShowCondensedEmailAddresses && displayName &&
useDisplayNameForAddress(emailAddress))
+  {
     addressNode.setAttribute('label', displayName); 
+    addressNode.setAttribute('tooltiptext', emailAddress);
+  }

Comment 21

[Alexander Skwar]

I disagree. "We" should always show the full identfication of the sender of the
mail. The ID includes the Real Name and the email adress.

If just one is to be shown, I'd vote for the email adress, since this is most
often more unique than the real name and also more interesting.

Also I don't care about what Outlook does. I don't use it. 

Comment 22

[Alexander Skwar]

Sorry, forgot to add: As Karsten pointed out, this might introduce security
problems. Because of this (and because of the irritation this WILL create), the
default should be that this feature is disabled.

IMO, the feature should be dumped...

Comment 23

[Daniel Küstner]

What happens with shared LDAP-connected address books? In this case the user
doesn't have control on his address book and esp. with company addr. books it
might lead to confusions, when I additionally have my colleague with his private
address in my personal abook.

Comment 24

[Scott MacGregor]

Neil I used to try to set the tooltip text on the email address node but for
some reason that only works for the form address, I couldn't get the tooltip to
show up for the other fields and hadn't gotten back around to looking at it again.

Comment 25

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: add tooltips to condensed address nodes [Checkin: Comment 52 (double)]

Comment 26

[Nils Winter]

(In reply to comment #16)
> Created an attachment (id=146206)
> pref UI to disable this feature
I'd prefer an UI to *enable* this behaviour. Which means that it is disabled by
default.

Comment 27

[Alec Flett]

I was away on vacation - I like this feature in theory but definitely agree it
should be configurable. I'm still undecided if I personally like it in Outlook
or not...

Comment 28

[Manuel Reimer]

I would vote for removing this or at least deactivate it by default... It isn't
a good idea to try to clone Outlook! Outlook is *not* the best mail software! If
Thunderbird really gets as bad as Outlook then I'll have to look for another
mail client!

Comment 29

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: another possible tweak.

still playing around with this. This possible tweak always shows the address
for the from field, only compressing the to/cc fields for addresses of people
you already know.

Comment 30

[Manuel Reimer]

(In reply to comment #29)
> still playing around with this. This possible tweak always shows the address
> for the from field, only compressing the to/cc fields for addresses of people
> you already know. 

And what if I want to know if I've sent a mail to the firm-address of $PERSON or
to the private-address of $PERSON? Why do you want to blow up the
Thunderbird-Sourcecode only to get a less informative Header-Display? Keep it
simple and simply display the mail address!

Comment 31

[Alexander Skwar]

(In reply to comment #29)
> Created an attachment (id=147198)
> another possible tweak.
> 
> still playing around with this. This possible tweak always shows the address
> for the from field, only compressing the to/cc fields for addresses of people
> you already know. 

Dislike it. In email/news, a "person" is identified by *THE* *COMBINATION* of
Realname + Email. Showing just one is not good enough. Never. Also the "reason"
that Outlook does it, is not a good reason. If it were a reason, it would be to
NOT do it.

Scott - why is it, that you completely ignore the comments that are made here?
It is impossible to discuss with you, which is a tremendously bad sign.

Comment 32

[Alexander Skwar]

(In reply to comment #30)

> to the private-address of $PERSON? Why do you want to blow up the
> Thunderbird-Sourcecode only to get a less informative Header-Display? Keep it
> simple and simply display the mail address!

Also see Bug 230182...

Comment 33

[Alec Flett]

guys, its hooked up to a preference. chill out.

Comment 34

[Alexander Skwar]

OTOH, it's hooked up wrong. It should be, that a user has to enable that
feature. Further, I think it's a total error to even re-implement that Outlook bug.

OTOH, it's an issue with Scotts lack of communication. He doesn't react to
anything. He just does something.

Comment 35

[Scott MacGregor]

Feel free to turn it off. Tools / Options / Advanced if this bothers you. That's
why I added those UI controls.

Comment 36

[Alexander Skwar]

As I said - it should be disabled by default, for all the reasons posted in this
bug. It might be nice to have that feature, but it really should have to be enabled.

Comment 37

[Alec Flett]

dude, you've made yourself clear. just because you have an opinion doesn't mean
it is right. Let the feature get flushed out before you reiterate yourself for
the Nth time. Stop using nightly builds if you don't want experimental features.

Comment 38

[Robert Accettura [:raccettura]]

Please.

These are nightlies, they are subject to radical change and experimentation.  We
know your vote.  If your not willing to be subject to this, go with more
finalized releases.

Comment 39

[Alexander Skwar]

(In reply to comment #37)
> dude, you've made yourself clear. just because you have an opinion doesn't mean
> it is right. Let the feature get flushed out before you reiterate yourself for
> the Nth time. Stop using nightly builds if you don't want experimental features.

Alecf, and just because you've got an oppinion, it doesn't have to be right
either - even if it happens that you seem to agree to Scott. But then, if you
read the comments in this bug, it doesn't look like I'm alone with my opinion,
does it?

Also, when I use nightlies, I don't have to like every change that's made, or is
that now required? Are users of nighlies no longer allowed to dislike bad
changes like this one?

Thinks about it. 

EOD, as far as I'm concerned.

Comment 40

[Ran]

I don't really care about this, but here's my two cents:
1) Maybe AB entries could be styled differently (color, bold). Obviously, this
doesn't give you any more space (and may reduce it).
2) Maybe AB entries could use the AB 'Display' name? It seems that if you have
two AB entries with the same name (or two entries for the same person?), this
would be a good way/place to distinguish them.

In my mind's eye, a color-mixing style is less than aesthetic.

FWIW, I think the 'expanded for From:' and 'collapsed for To: and CC:' is better
than collapsing everthing.

Also FWIW, I changed some names in the AB while tinkering with this stuff and
the changes were not subsequently reflected in the message pane even after
switching messages and restarting. No biggie for me, but maybe less effective
for people who deal with mail archives regularly? (Think maiden vs. married or
whatever.)

Comment 41

[Daniel Küstner]

Just searched for the pref and found it with Advanced --> General Settings,
which is not very inspiring. How about putting it into Display?

Comment 42

[Scott MacGregor]

*** Bug 242710 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 43

[David :Bienvenu]

Comment on attachment 145854 [details] [diff] [review]
the fix
[Checkin: Comment 4 & 6]

clearing obsolete request

Comment 44

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

Comment on attachment 146325 [details] [diff] [review]
add tooltips to condensed address nodes
[Checkin: Comment 52 (double)]

>Index: msgHdrViewOverlay.js
>===================================================================
>RCS file: /cvsroot/mozilla/mail/base/content/msgHdrViewOverlay.js,v

This was checked in but seems obviously wrong:

>+// Public method called to generate a tooltip over a condensed display name
>+function fillInEmailAddressTooltip(addressNode)
>+{
>+  var emailAddress = addressNode.getTextAttribute('emailAddress');

|emailAddress| is unused.

>+  var tooltipNode = document.getElementById("attachmentListTooltip");
>+  tooltipNode.setAttribute("label", attachmentName);

|attachmentName| is undefined.

>+  return true;
> }

Scott, can you fix this ?

Comment 45

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

Scott, do you have special plans with the tooltips?

+    addressNode.setAttribute("tooltiptext", emailAddress);
+    addressNode.setAttribute("tooltip", "emailAddressTooltip");

That doesn't make much sense because tooltip won't be used. If we don't plan to enhance the tooltip for display names with images or somewhat else we should remove emailAddressTooltip completely. I can come up with a patch if you want it.

Comment 46

[Henrik Skupin [:whimboo][⌚️UTC+1]]

Attachment: Fix for remaining issues [Checkin: Comment 49]

Scott, I have removed the unnecessary tooltip emailAddressTooltip. We don't need it because we can also reach it by setting tooltiptext. Same applies for the attachmentListTooltip. I also removed that one to get a consistency. I also updated the function AddExtraAddressProcessing which will now remove the tooltip when an address wasn't found inside the address book and the full email address is already shown.

Comment 47

[Scott MacGregor]

Comment on attachment 265973 [details] [diff] [review]
Fix for remaining issues
[Checkin: Comment 49]

Thanks Henrik. This patch looks good to me, asking Phil for a review too.

Comment 48

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

Comment on attachment 265973 [details] [diff] [review]
Fix for remaining issues
[Checkin: Comment 49]

Make sense, r=philringnalda

Comment 49

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

mail/base/content/msgHdrViewOverlay.xul 1.23
mail/base/content/msgHdrViewOverlay.js 1.90

And after three years, it also make sense to me to close this bug, and file any regressions or desired changes or cleanup as new bugs.

Comment 50

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

Comment on attachment 146063 [details] [diff] [review]
additional change to expose the email address in the context menu
[Checkin: Comment 50]

{{
scott%scott-macgregor.org	2004-04-13 17:40	 	Bug #240138 --> now that we don't show the email address in msg headers for people we know, expose
the email address in the context menu as a disabled menu item.
}}

Comment 51

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

Comment on attachment 146206 [details] [diff] [review]
pref UI to disable this feature
[Checkin: Comment 51 (double)]

Trunk and branch:
{{
scott%scott-macgregor.org	2004-04-15 16:36	 	Follow up to Bug #240138 --> Add pref UI for turning on / off showing just the display name
for contacts you know.
}}

Comment 52

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

Comment on attachment 146325 [details] [diff] [review]
add tooltips to condensed address nodes
[Checkin: Comment 52 (double)]

Trunk:
{{
scott%scott-macgregor.org	2004-04-19 17:21	 	Bug #240138 --> Add tooltips showing the email address on address nodes we are showing just the display name for.
}}

Branch:
{{
scott%scott-macgregor.org	2004-04-19 13:42	 	Bug #240138 --> show tooltips over email addresses where we are hiding the email address
}}