280569 - Threads should be sorted by most recent message, not oldest

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(SeaMonkey :: MailNews: Message Display, enhancement)

Description

[TT]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040803
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040803

In high-traffic mailing lists (like [e-mail]), an email
posted to the list could belong to any of dozens of threads.  When the message
list is set to threaded, and all the threads are collapsed, the only indicating
you have that a new message for a thread is a small green downward-pointing
arrow on the thread icon.  If the thread is "old", then it might be very hard to
find that icon among all the others, especially if you're color blind.

Because the threads are sorted on the oldest message in the thread, the thread
itself does not "move" to the "top" of the list when a new message arrives.  In
some cases, I've had hundreds of threads in a list, and a message for a
three-week old thread would appear, and it takes me a long time to find that thread.

The work-around I use is to sort by date, click on the message, and then sort by
thread again.  I would prefer not to have to use this work-around.


Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #0)
> When the message list is set to threaded, and all the threads are collapsed,
> the only indicating you have that a new message for a thread is a small green
> downward-pointing arrow on the thread icon.  

Not only that icon; the subject is underlined, as well.


> If the thread is "old", then it might be very hard to
> find that icon among all the others, especially if you're color blind.

This *can* be customized.  You can apply any sort of CSS styling you like to the 
top item, by placing text such as this in userChrome.css:

  treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(container, closed, hasUnread, read)
   { background-color: yellow !important; }

The first line is the important one: it's a selector for the top item of a 
thread, which is itself read but which has unread replies.
(userChrome.css exists in your profile's chrome directory.)


> Because the threads are sorted on the oldest message in the thread

This is not the case.  If you have 'sort by date' and 'threaded', the threads 
are sorted by the newest item in the thread.  However...

> the thread itself does not "move" to the "top" of the list when a new message
> arrives.  

This is true.  As noted at bug 262319 (for Thunderbird), this jumping around 
isn't necessarily desirable.


> The work-around I use is to sort by date, click on the message, and then sort
> by thread again.  I would prefer not to have to use this work-around.

A much simpler workaround is simply to click on the date column header, and 
click again.  This reverses the sort (and resorts), then reverses it back to the 
way you you had it.

See also bug 108820.  I think this is a dupe of bug 207766, altho I never got a 
straight answer from the reporter of that bug.

Comment 2

[TT]

> Not only that icon; the subject is underlined, as well.

I didn't even notice that, which just makes my point.

>   treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(container, closed, hasUnread, read)
>    { background-color: yellow !important; }

I couldn't get this to work.  Are you sure it's correct?  I already have entries
in userContent.css, so I just copy/pasted the line into there, but nothing's
changed.(In reply to comment #1)


> > Because the threads are sorted on the oldest message in the thread
> 
> This is not the case.  If you have 'sort by date' and 'threaded', the threads 
> are sorted by the newest item in the thread.  However...

That does appear to do what I want.

> This is true.  As noted at bug 262319 (for Thunderbird), this jumping around 
> isn't necessarily desirable.

If there were a similar bug for Mozilla that I could vote on, I would be happy
to cancel this bug.

> A much simpler workaround is simply to click on the date column header, and 
> click again.  This reverses the sort (and resorts), then reverses it back to the 
> way you you had it.

No, it doesn't.  It leaves the messages in an unthreaded state.

Comment 3

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #2)
> >   treechildren:-moz-tree-cell-text(container, closed, hasUnread, read)
> >    { background-color: yellow !important; }
> 
> I couldn't get this to work.  Are you sure it's correct?  I already have
> entries in userContent.css

I said: userChrome.css
            ~~~~~~

> > A much simpler workaround is simply to click on the date column header, and 
> > click again.  This reverses the sort (and resorts), then reverses it back to 
> > the way you you had it.
> 
> No, it doesn't.  It leaves the messages in an unthreaded state.

Oh, I forgot -- that's not the default.  You need to change the setting of the 
preference:   mailnews.thread_pane_column_unthreads  (needs to be false) --
see bug 219787.

Comment 4

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

(In reply to comment #3)
> You need to change the setting of the 
> preference:   mailnews.thread_pane_column_unthreads  (needs to be false) --

Note that in Moz 1.8b builds (I'm looking at the 0309 nightly) this preference 
now has a UI -- on the main Mail&News prefs page:
  [] Preserve threading when sorting messages