GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 262742
show preview pane next to (not below) the mail-window
Last modified: 2006-06-05 04:16:25 UTC
in evolution, when displaying mails, the layout is: list-of-mails at the top, preview pane at the bottom. i'd like to be able to set them next to each other, like: list-of-mails to the right, preview pane to the left. why? because most of the emails are wrapped ad 80chars, so they are usually longer than wide ;) as an example, i'll attach here 2 pictures from the PAN newsreader program, one showing an evolution-like layout, and the second showing the layout i use and would like to see in evolution too.. and i also think that you can use a layout like that in outlook too...(yes, i know, maybe this is a negative argument ;)
Created attachment 44053 [details] the layout currently used in evolution
Created attachment 44054 [details] the layout i would like to have in evolution
probably been requested before
notzed@ximian.com wrote a trivial implementation: http://lists.ximian.com/archives/public/evolution-hackers/2004-August/004185.html it seems to work fine on my computer, see the attached screenshot (evo-patched.png)
Created attachment 44084 [details] evo-patched.png
Created attachment 44274 [details] [review] evolution-vertical.patch
i attached the patch mentioned here. it's by notzed@ximian.com, which i modified a little (changed the filename paths to fit my gentoo install, and removed the changelog-updating part, because it gets always rejected as evolution evolves ;)
do not mark this as 2.0.2, it will never go into a 2.0.x release
adding "patch" keyword
I've been waiting for something like this. Is there any way we can get this in for the next unstable release?
it'll probably be a long time before the patch ever makes it in because the message-list widget needs to be modified to better handle a narrow view. since no one is actually even familiar with the table code (the 2 developers who maintained it have moved on), it will likely be a good year or more unless someone feels like scratching an itch.
*** Bug 227168 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
It seems that I can't find the patch (well besides the attachment calle "evolution-vertical.patch" but that leads to some text site), or I am not technical-advanced enough to see it. Besides I would need a tuturial on how to install patches in Evolution, as I'm new to it! Can anyone explain how to, or can we just agree that it would be an awesome function to include in next versions as many users would like such a feature? Well I would and I see more would here! As many of us are not skilled enough to write or install patches, I appeal to the developers on this site! cheers Erik
patches are text files anyway, that said... most of us do NOT agree that it's an aswesome feature. at least not without a lot more work to the message-list widget which is doubtfully going to happen because the maintainer left the project years ago and no one understands that code. it also doesn't work well on smaller resolutions (e.g. anything at or below 1280x1024)
Well, I would love such a layout. The current one just wastes lots of space on big screens.
well, i asked for this feature a year ago. i also attached a screenshot. from my point of view, the layout illustrated on the screenshot is perfectly usable. could anyone describe to me why is it not usable? it's VERY usable to me. yes, maybe with some work those lines describing a mail could be shorter (btw. i don't like the way it is done in outlook). but even without them, it's imho useful and usable. and the argument that on smaller-resolution screens... it's not a good argument imho. the same way i could say that having 2 "taskbars" (at the top and at the bottom of the screen, as in the default gnome install) is a stupid idea, because it eats up too much space when i'm running at 400x300 :)) it's hard to understand why the developers are fighting against this, while there is a FUNDAMENTAL problem with the gui layout of evolution, because nearly all email is longer than wide. plese tell me the problems with this vertical approach. btw. this feature was the reason why i switched to thunderbird (this, and rss support).
Created attachment 54966 [details] [review] update patch for evo 2.4
Mark, with the recent wide screen monitors/laptops, this feature might help a lot of people to save the extra width they have got. But i guess, to be unique this has to apply not just mailer. It has to work for both mailer, tasks and contacts. I was planning to working on it, i didnt know this patch was there. The task is present in the UI 2.6 page (go-evolution.org/UI2.6). I would welcome this patch, but across evolution should be a better one. If you plan to work on this, i can provide you the patch i did on contacts, tasks. It also has some key board short cut to resize the pane for better reading. but my patch didnt have wide mode on menu. Your patch has it. A integrated one is the best idea. Let me know your comments.
Srinivasa, I agree, a unified patch would be ideal. If you send me your patch for contacts/tasks, and with your help, I would like to get one integrated patch worked out to support this feature and hopefully push it into 2.6. I believe that this really is a MUST have feature.
adding version number. would be great stuff to get this in. great(TM).
*poke* any news on this? srag, perhaps? targetting to 2.5 to force a decision.
also see bug 325342
Its again ive missed one. I didnt CC myself on the bug and i didnt read mark's comments. Sorry for this. Im attaching my working patch. Mark, it works but it crashes, since i didnt disc/attach few signals, which you have done in ur updated patch. I would love to see this.
Created attachment 56653 [details] [review] Pretty initial patch. Needs more work wrt to signals and other stuff. Mark, it is for you. Sorry for a late one reply.
*POKE* any news, srag? can we get this in before UI freeze (january 30th)?
I dont have any news from mark. I would love to see this, if mark comes with a unified patch.
changing target milestone from 2.5 to future. sorry, too many bugs, too less time.
Is there any chance of seeing this patch updated now that 2.6 is released? Whilke the contacts page is important I do think the the email screen is absolutely essential (it's stopping my office migrating from TB to Evo). Personally I'd make this the number one priority for 2.7/8 along with bug 325342 (the grouping of a folder by sender or date) that is present in TB & OL.
I agree with Phill. Im gonna get this patch IN for 2.8 just for mailer where it makes more sense, with a modified message list.
I have added a screenshot of this with a modified message list in my blog http://blogs.gnome.org/view/sragavan/2006/06/01/0 . Let me know if you have any suggestions/thoughts to it.
Fixed to HEAD.