654686 - Inconsistent appearance of composition window with Windows Classic desktop theme on XP

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Theme, defect)

Description

[rsx11m]

The structure and appearance of the compose window was recently modified as part of bug 642163 (I yet have to get used to the relatively huge blank space on the left-hand side). When using the Windows Classic theme on Windows XP, two strange issues can be noticed:

 * The "To/Cc/Bcc" selector looks now more like a textbox than a menu. While
   the other platforms have a styled menu appearance, the drop-down arrow
   alone doesn't quite convey that metaphor.

 * While the patch in bug 642163 removed the separators around the formatting
   bar for that bar itself, it apparently missed the corresponding separators
   on the other sides, which should be removed as well.

Screen shots follow.

Comment 1

[rsx11m]

Attachment: Comparisons on Windows XP

These are screenshots of the composition window
 - previous style using Windows Classic desktop theme
 - new version using Windows Classic desktop theme
 - new version using Windows XP default desktop theme

As can be seen, the separators are fully styled in the old version of that window with Windows Classic and only half styled in the new implementation. They are not present in the default Windows XP theme, probably the reason why they were missed.

Also note the difference in styling of the To/Cc/Bcc menu vs. the other menus, like those in the formatting bar, suggesting a textbox rather than a selector.

Comment 2

[rsx11m]

Attachment: Mockup with styled menu selector

This is a mockup of the composition window with the separators removed (this looks now the same on Windows Classic as it does with the XP Default theme). Also, the menu's drop-down arrow is now fully styled consistent with a menu.

The other option worth investigating would be to use a "real" button instead, along with the drop-down arrow (similar to the "Reply"-button selector).

Comment 3

[u382332]

"(I yet have to get used to the relatively huge blank space
on the left-hand side)"
I always have the contacts sidebar always open and that huge blank space looks even more out-of-place.

Comment 4

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Proposal with -moz-appearance: button on XP Luna and Classic

Andreas, I set f? to know what you think about this proposal. I also removed the bottom border of MsgHeadersToolbar.

Comment 5

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Looking at the screenshots at GUIdebook Gallery [1] (I haven't had a XP system in a while myself) it seems that XP style makes no difference between dropdowns you can type into and regular dropdowns (as seen in the Appearance screenshot), while Vista and Win7 does, so I think the mockup by rsx11m is closer to what the rest of Windows does, including the text selectors in the compose window.

1. http://www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/winxppro

Comment 6

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Comment on attachment 529974 [details]
Proposal with -moz-appearance: button on XP Luna and Classic

so setting feedback minus here.

Comment 7

[rsx11m]

Comment on attachment 529974 [details]
Proposal with -moz-appearance: button on XP Luna and Classic

Personally I find this version visually more pleasing than the strict menu appearance, also as it closer resembles the old style. It seems to increase
vertical space though by a bit, thus making the buttons narrower in height
might be needed if such an implementation is eventually gone with.

Comment 8

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist

appearance as in Comment 5 wished.

Comment 9

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Screenshot with patch applied

Comment 10

[rsx11m]

Comment on attachment 530008 [details] [diff] [review]
Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist

> .aw-menulist {
>+  direction: rtl;

>+.aw-menulist > .menulist-label-box {
>+  direction: ltr; 
>+}

Would this cause any issues with RTL locales?
Meaning, flipping rtl/ltr when in RTL mode.

Comment 11

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V2

(In reply to comment #10)
> Would this cause any issues with RTL locales?
> Meaning, flipping rtl/ltr when in RTL mode.

Good finding, now V2 with this fixed.

Comment 12

[Andreas Nilsson (:andreasn)]

Comment on attachment 530099 [details] [diff] [review]
Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V2

I don't have a XP system up and running (yet), but based on the screenshot it looks great (and Richard verified rtl worked on IRC). ui-r+

Comment 13

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

Should the Luna theme have a pixel of margin around the dropdown button?

Comment 14

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: dropdown comparison

(In reply to comment #13)
> Should the Luna theme have a pixel of margin around the dropdown button?

I don't think so. The comparison shows no difference between standard dropdown and aw-menulist dropdown (except its on the other side).

Comment 15

[Jim Porter (:squib)]

If you look at the last screenshot in attachment 529968 [details], there's a 1px margin on the menulists there. Why the difference in your build?

Comment 16

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Screenshot with standard font settings

No different build, German WinXP. As you know Germans are to correct to have empty space ;).

To be serious, I used different font settings. With everything default, you see the margin.

Comment 17

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V3

Patch updated after landing of Bug 654916

Carrying over ui-r+ from previous patch

Comment 18

[Blake Winton (:bwinton) (:☕️)]

Comment on attachment 531129 [details] [diff] [review]
Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V3

>+++ b/mail/themes/qute/mail/compose/messengercompose.css
>@@ -411,21 +411,39 @@
>+.aw-menulist:-moz-locale-dir(ltr),
>+.aw-menulist > .menulist-label-box:-moz-locale-dir(rtl) {
>+  direction: rtl; 
>+}
>+
>+.aw-menulist:-moz-locale-dir(rtl),
>+.aw-menulist > .menulist-label-box:-moz-locale-dir(ltr) {
>+  direction: ltr; 
>+}

So, I'm mostly happy with this code, but I'm a little confused by why you're reversing the ltr/rtl stuff here, and think it needs a little explanation in some comments (as well as here in the bug), so I'm going to say r- until then.

Thanks,
Blake.

Comment 19

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Attachment: Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V4

Comment 20

[Richard Marti (:Paenglab)]

Comment on attachment 531255 [details] [diff] [review]
Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V4

(In reply to comment #18)
> flag: review?([e-mail]) => review-Comment on attachment 531129 [details] [diff] [review]
> Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V3
> 
> So, I'm mostly happy with this code, but I'm a little confused by why you're
> reversing the ltr/rtl stuff here, and think it needs a little explanation in
> some comments (as well as here in the bug), so I'm going to say r- until
> then.

This is to put the dropmarker on the left side (for ltr systems) instead of to the right as standard. This is to be the same as before the composer changes.

Comment 21

[Blake Winton (:bwinton) (:☕️)]

Comment on attachment 531255 [details] [diff] [review]
Change .aw-menulist to normal menulist V4

Review of attachment 531255 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, that makes sense to me.

Thanks,
Blake.

Comment 22

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Checked in: http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/a3659a249f84