520249 - Email addresses and "more" cut off by buttons

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect)

Description

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Reproduction:
1. Make your TB window so that your message reader is about 640px wide
2. View a mail with a long From (author)

Actual result:
- The Reply button is over the author
- You can't see the author name/address entirely.
  Only the beginning of the name shows, and no email address.
- You can't see or click the star next to the author

Screenshot attached

Expected result:
Long From addresses visible, UI fully functional.

Comment 1

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Attachment: Screenshot

Comment 2

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

In this case, the extra header makes the problem considerably worse.
However, there are very long addresses out there, like
<role-id> firstname double-lastname <[e-mail]>
e.g.
IT-Admin-OnCall Matthew Schredder-Westpoint <[e-mail]>
Surely, that doesn't fit in the space before the buttons.
I work with an organization which has that long addresses and names.

Comment 3

[rsx11m]

How do you think this could be resolved? If the "From" headers and the buttons have to share a single line, one of them will have to yield to the other. Selecting icon-only mode (bug 465138) and/or hiding some buttons (bug 519956) would help. The other option may be to split the two items into separate lines if space is insufficient to place at least one sender name, thus having the buttons in one row and "From:" in the next, at the cost of vertical space.

Comment 4

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

> How do you think this could be resolved?

I don't know. I just state that it can't be the way it is. That's why I assigned it to Bryan.

Possible resolutions:
- They are always 2 lines, abandoning the current layout.
- From wraps (might not be feasible)
- Buttons wrap (would look silly and not entirely solve the problem)
- They turn into 2 lines when From is too long

Comment 5

[Joe Sabash [:JoeS1]]

More possibilities:
1 Show it in a tooltip as we now do with truncated folder names
2 Display it in the statusbar on hover, like links
3 Onclick add float: left; (don't know if treerows are amenable to that)
That would give you a temporary extra line.

Comment 6

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Anything that involves user mouse or keyboard action is not acceptable. From is so important that it must be readily visible, with the eyes only.

Comment 7

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

I think making the From line wrap would help, but this is also an issue that most users probably won't encounter, and if they do, it's probably best to let them customize the message header toolbar. Moving the toolbar to a separate line would cause an uproar too for people whose vertical space is at a premium.

Another thing that might help this is to specify a maximum width for the header names. If a header name exceeds that width, it pushes just that row over.

Comment 8

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

> specify a maximum width for the header names

Yup, agreed.

I think we should do:
- Make the From address wrap (in fact, make all addresses wrap).
- Make the toolbar as a whole wrap, meaning it will be on the
  same line as From, if there's enough space, and on the next line otherwise.

Comment 9

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Note: This bug happens very easily with the standalone msg window (esp. if the sender is not yet in your address book and the email address shows - or wants to show).

Comment 10

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

The problems actually also appear in the other rows (to, cc). I'll attach a screenshot.

Comment 11

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Attachment: Screenshot: All addresses cut off, more buttons cut off, stars cut off

This is now the message pane in a ~720px wide main window, which shouldn't be too unusual. The names and email addresses in this case are not particularly long either.
Nevertheless, not only From is cut off, but also To and CC lines.
Again, the stars are cut off, of course.
Worst, the "more" buttons are not visible, so the lines are not expandable and you can't see any of the other recipients or even notice their existance, which makes this bug major.

Comment 12

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Attachment: Screenshot: All addresses cut off, "more" button cut off, stars cut off

Sorry, attached the screenshot of the standalone.
The main window is 820px wide, so not particularly small.

Comment 14

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

also, bug 521805

Comment 16

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

(In reply to comment #8)
> - Make the From address wrap (in fact, make all addresses wrap).
> - Make the toolbar as a whole wrap, meaning it will be on the
>   same line as From, if there's enough space, and on the next line otherwise.

These sounds good to me but I'm not really sure how to make these happen so someone in the know might want to own this bug.

Comment 17

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

OK, thanks. I'll take the bug for now, not sure whether I'll fix it.
dmose, feel free to take it.

Comment 18

[Matěj Cepl]

(In reply to comment #16)
> (In reply to comment #8)
> > - Make the From address wrap (in fact, make all addresses wrap).

I am not sure how any amount of wrapping can fix the situation for me (see attachment 405853 [details]).

Comment 19

[rsx11m]

Removing the "singleline" attribute for the headers indeed resolves the
situation in attachment 404415 [details] for the to and cc lines. They are now
wrapping, but the header-pane height doesn't expand, I just get the scrollbar.

I agree with comment #18 that the from line will need some special solution, expanding into a second line as necessary may be a solution, but again puts
some variability in the height calculation.

I don't think wrapping the toolbar is a good idea. It is already confusing enough for the user that the position of the buttons may not be the same when switching folders, but spitting them across multiple lines depending on the message content will make those harder to find.

Comment 20

[rsx11m]

s/spitting/splitting/ = stupid typo... ;-)

Comment 21

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Matej, I think you'll be helped by the second part:
> - Make the toolbar as a whole wrap, meaning it will be on the
>   same line as From, if there's enough space, and on the next line otherwise.

Also, assuming you are the localizer, I think you should choose much shorter words as labels.

Comment 22

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

rsx11m, all the buttons would always be on the same line, just not always on the same line as From, depending on space, i.e. either:
From: Some Short Name                [ reply ] [ forward ] [ Junk ] [Delete]
or
From: Some Long Name <[e-mail]>
                                     [ reply ] [ forward ] [ Junk ] [Delete]

Comment 23

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

or better yet (if possible):
                                     [ reply ] [ forward ] [ Junk ] [Delete]
From: Some Long Name <[e-mail]>

Comment 24

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

I'm not sure if the "new features for upgraders" bug that we're showing in Tb3 already touches on the fact that it's easy to turn these buttons into icons.  If not, it would be reasonable to add a relnote keyword here.

Comment 25

[rsx11m]

Help > Migration Assistant in bug 516884 mentions the new main toolbar and provides a link to the Compact Header extension, but doesn't explain or provide an option for the header-pane buttons. As stated in comment #3, using icon-only mode certainly reduces the problem in the from line, though I'm still able to get the to and cc lines partially hidden with "singleline" intact.

(In reply to comment #22)
> rsx11m, all the buttons would always be on the same line, just not always on
> the same line as From, depending on space,

Thanks, this makes sense.

(In reply to comment #19)
> Removing the "singleline" attribute for the headers indeed resolves the
> situation in attachment 404415 [details] for the to and cc lines. They are now
> wrapping, but the header-pane height doesn't expand, I just get the scrollbar.

That's probably bug 511408, I'm not sure though if wrapping the line content without this fixed (thus eventually needing the scroll bar to see the other headers below) is a good solution either...

Comment 26

[Matěj Cepl]

(In reply to comment #21)
> Matej, I think you'll be helped by the second part:
> > - Make the toolbar as a whole wrap, meaning it will be on the
> >   same line as From, if there's enough space, and on the next line otherwise.

That looks hopeful.

> Also, assuming you are the localizer, I think you should choose much shorter
> words as labels.

No, just a poor overloaded bug triager at Red Hat. ;) And I am quite sure, that Czech doesn't usually produce the longest words.

Comment 28

[rsx11m]

Actually, bug 522588 attachment 406554 [details] shows yet another problem when
reducing the window width, in which the entire header pane seems to hit a min-width limit and does no longer shrink, thus sending the button off the window to the right. This may be a different thing or related to the From line.

Comment 29

[Michel]

(In reply to comment #27)
> *** Bug 522588 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Thanks Mark for pointing the duplicate, sorry I didn't found it myself before commiting a new bug, but I had searched for the wrong words (sender vs email address)...

I've seen interesting propositions in the comments, especially this one from
Ben bucksh : 
or better yet (if possible):
                                     [ reply ] [ forward ] [ Junk ] [Delete]
From: Some Long Name <[e-mail]>

and maybe the possibility to simply get rid  (at will in prefs) of the buttons could also be an option.

I would add that the situation can also occur with really short names when you're using the three pane layout window. In this case, the message width is necessary really narrow.

Michel Roche

Comment 30

[rsx11m]

(In reply to comment #29)
> and maybe the possibility to simply get rid  (at will in prefs) of the buttons
> could also be an option.

Toggling the entire toolbar or removing buttons is covered in bug 519956, in addition to the icon-only option. Those would certainly provide a solution for users with very narrow windows.

Comment 34

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Workaround for To/CC recipients in bug 530239: Show only one by default.
This is only until we get a better solution with proper wrapping here.

Comment 36

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Another screenshot: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=414215

Comment 37

[Michel]

Attachment: Screeshot of TB vertical pane view showing the problems of the message pane

Comment 38

[Michel]

As shown in attachment (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=415019), TB 3 rc1 (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fr; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091121 Thunderbird/3.0) still has the problem.

Moreover, which was not present in b3 : the width of the message pane in the vertical layout is not cropped at the size of the window, and the text wrapping doesn't work properly so that it's not possible to read the entire message anymore, one has to open it in a new tab to get all the words.

Comment 39

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Michel, that's what bug 530047 is about.

Comment 40

[Marc]

Just updated to TB 3.0.1.
In my opinion it is not acceptable to only see the first to or cc recipient unless the "more" button is clicked. This basically forces me to click 1 or 2 times the "more" button each time I open an e-mail to know who else got it.
Please make this configurable e.g. via about:config so that at least up to 10 to/cc recipients can be displayed by default and with a proper wrapping.
Sorry to interfere here but after using Netscape/Mozilla mail for ~18 years I am really annoyed now. Thanks a lot!

Comment 41

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Mensch Marc, that was a just hotfix (made in bug 530239) to fix this bug. Bug 456596 suggests to make the pref for it.
But this bug here is still open - for a reason: To create a proper solution for the whole problem. The reduction of 1 recipient was just a temporary measure, a hotfix.

Comment 42

[rsx11m]

(In reply to comment #41)
> Mensch Marc, that was a just hotfix (made in bug 530239) to fix this bug. Bug
> 456596 suggests to make the pref for it.

It's covering a different issue, see bug 456596 comment #24. The hotfix only increases the motivation (and need) even more to get this configurable.

Comment 43

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Filed bug 543954 for the header pane rewrite. That rewrite is motivated by this bug (and others).

Comment 44

[David :Bienvenu]

I don't see how we can block on this. But I do agree that the more button showing up when there's more than 1 address is bad, and I believe there's a separate patch for that.

Comment 45

[David :Bienvenu]

er, unfortunately, a separate bug for that, not a patch.

Comment 47

[rsx11m]

Ben, hasn't this been fixed by a combination of bug 530047 ensuring that the "From" line is allowed to wrap if the buttons get into its way and bug 550487
for the addresses utilizing the full line before the "more" appears? There are still a few follow-up bugs pending, but it appears that those were the main issues to be addressed here initially.

The notification-bar problem in bug 567353 and part of bug 530745 appears to be an unrelated issue, thus I'd suggest to undupe bug 567353 to handle it there.

Comment 48

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Yeah, seems like mostly fixed. I'll have to test it.

Comment 49

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

I'm going to resolve this, but if someone finds that it is not, in fact, fixed, feel free to reopen.