=== Classic view versus Vertical view ===

I will attach some screenshots to illustrate this:

Screenshot one shows the default view after starting Evolution for the first time. The classic view is used.
Screenshot two shows the same, switched to the vertical view.
Screenshot three shows the vertical view with rearranged columns.

The classic view in screenshot one was obviously a good choice for a default in earlier times when widescreen monitors did not exist yet and most monitors used resolutions with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

But now widescreen monitors are practically the only thing you can buy, and they have resolutions with 16:9 and 16:10 aspect ratios. The vertical view of screenshot two is most efficient for those. That's why I hope the Evolution developers switch to the vertical view by default. If I'm correct, Microsoft Outlook also uses a vertical view by default: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/93/Microsoft_Outlook_2013_Inbox.jpg

Personally I like the arrangement in the third screenshot the most because I think it's more efficient with space. It occupies just one line instead of the two lines needed for the "Messages" column (second screenshot). On even higher resoltions such as 1920 by 1080/1200 pixels this would be even more desirable. Maybe this "alternate vertical view" could be used as default if Evolution detects a display resolution of 1680 by 1050 (my resolution for the screenshots) or higher.

=== Layout of the "Messages" column ====

I also think it's strange that the "Messages" column uses a fixed-width font to display the subject line. This is not pretty on the eyes. Outlook doesn't do it like that, as you can see it uses font size to distinguish visually between sender and subject. I think it would be better to distinguish in font color: keep the line showing the sender black make the subject line a shade of gray.

=== Sort on date with most recent date on top ===

As you can see in my screenshots, Evolution has a strange default setting to display the oldest date on top and the most recent e-mail on the bottom. This is counter-intuitive: please change the default to have the most recent e-mail on top.

=== Gray bar on the bottom is a waste of space ===

As you can see on the screenshots, Evolution's window has a gray bar in the bottom. All it does is display a bottom on the extreme left to work on- or offline. If you ask me the button can go, I never use it and never see it in other e-mail clients either. If the button must stay, please put it somewhere else. Right now this bar wastes vertical space, which has become precious since the introduction of widescreen monitors. Please remove the bar entirely.

I almost forgot to mention that the gray bar is also used for notifications to inform the user that Evolution is downloading e-mails and such. However, this doesn't change my position. I'd like to point at Firefox or GNOME Web as examples: they don't have a bar in the bottom anymore either. Instead, if you hover over a link with the cursor they display the URL of that link temporarily in a gray box in the bottom left of the window. I'm sure Evolution can remove the gray bar and switch to temporary notifications, too.