419295 - virtual folders should use different folder icon to indicate if "search online" is active or not

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, enhancement)

Description

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

virtual folders should use different folder icon to indicate if "search online" is active or not - so that one knows whether the information is updated/current, or not

Comment 1

[ovidiu]

so that would be a temporary icon that changes to normal (magnifier in win) when is all updated? would a msg in status + activity manager add also a value? Updating, updated ..

V1:
I'd go for a sort of ~ (approximate) sign besides that magnifier (win) or even a simpler [~] sign in front of the name, like:
[\] searchname  vs  [\] ~ searchname (where [\] is the normal icon)

And with a tip on hover or so to tell me what is that all about

V2: 
red or italic text could do? +with the tip ..


Generally, we should make sure a novice or not so intensive user is not confused and mislead to believe there are different kinds of search folders (they are in a way, but not that much ..). That's why I said about tooltips or alt or so.

Comment 2

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(I've not visited this in a while)

vidiu, I'm not suggesting the icon dynamically reflect the freshness of the folder.  Rather, I am suggesting that the icon be a static visual indication of indicate whether online was checked or not in the folder definition. Because, frankly, I sometimes forget what I had specified.

One sees this issue occasionally in support forums, that users don't understand why their virtual folder doesn't show everything they think should be in the messages list.

Comment 3

[:aceman]

Is that indication just going to look at the "Search online" flag of the folder, that can be seen in folder->properties ? Depends on how expensive it is to lookup that flag for each redraw of that icon.

And we need to make some readable icons, which is often hard :)