Feedback on widescreen plugin? Apple is watching.
Yesterday, I sent off an email with a link to my post on Mithras’ three-paned plugin for Mail.app to a shadowy figure within the Mail Development Team at Apple.
I got a reply, something I wasn’t expecting.
From the email, I learnt two things.
First, they had already seen the post. Hawk Wings’ RSS feed (along with many others, no doubt) is read by someone in the Development Team. That surprised me and obviously signals the end of any future cranky posts about what is universally acknowledged to be a most excellent app :)
Secondly, “Deep Throat” implied that there might be some level of interest in user feedback on the widescreen plugin.
So, if you have a view, positive or negative or both, post it in the comments (the screen resolution you are using and some comment on whether it feels “squashed” or not to you would be great too).
Tags: Apple, Apple Mail, mail.app, plugins, widescreenRelated posts
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:50 am
The vertical split view is a complete no-brainer to me, especially given how trivial it is to implement.
Now, as to the concerns I would have if I worked for Apple:
Apple obviously seeks to simplify user preferences in its bundled productivity apps. If it comes down to an either/or choice between a horizontal and vertical split view, I think vertical makes far more sense for multiple reasons that I assume are unnecessary to list here.
But it doesn’t seem too extravagant to indeed make this a user preference.
Also, there is the issue of Outlook-like two line message identification to go along with the vertical split view. I would guess this is a bit less trivial to implement, and isn’t fully necessary for a vertical split view to make sense.
But if I were designing Mail.app from scratch, I’d go with one line message id’s and the vertical split view.
I think the real choice for Apple’s Mail.app team is whether or not they’re willing to give the user preferences on both horizontal vs vertical split views, and preferences on one line vs two line identifications.
As a user, I’d strongly prefer the preference choices. But I do understand the philosophical and implementation constraints that might make the team lean away from preference choices.
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:50 am
I installed it this morning.
I cautiously reserved my opinion to begin with, but I haven’t uninstalled it yet after say 6 hours use, and I don’t think I will.
I didn’t like the bottom pane and always had that hidden, and double-clicked to view a message. But I like this right pane, I guess because it seems a quite natural left to right flow.
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:55 am
Does this feedback apply specifically to widescreen or to _any_ plugin?
As for widescreen — I am not a huge fan — I can see some situations were it may be nice but the big issue for me is that it severely constrains # and size of columns. This is a big issue when it comes to viewing columns such as project, keyword, duedate and priority that are in the upcoming MailTags 2.0 But that is a personal bias :) (and in this regard I would love to know the dev’t teams thoughts in that vein)
The other issue is that most emails in top/bottom format only require up/down scrolling. In left/right format unless you have a WIDE screen, left-right scrolling would be necessary for emails with pictures. I hope that an update to the plug in would allow switching formats on the fly. (If Mithras is interested, I can provide info how adding/coding new toolbar items as well as _many_ other things)
I rather see things suchs as easier navigation of messages (space bar advances to next unread message, using space to cycle through messages in single window mode)
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:56 am
Yes! The widescreen plugin is a great thing, especially if two-line message list can be implemented. Microsoft steals all the time from Apple, I see no harm in Apple turning the tables when it makes sense to do so.
Actually, I think that if Apple Mail should provide as many options as possible to make it act and look like Outlook. Windows switchers are very much used to and expect Outlook-like functionality, so if Apple wants them to be comfortable, they should provide the *option* to emulate Outlook.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:00 am
I have to admit I wouldn’t use it on a non-widescreen monitor.
But to have it as a built-in preference to Mail.app seems a no-brainer.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:01 am
I haven’t even installed it yet (at work on a Windows box) but I will ASAP. Having the Preview pane on the right is fantastic, one thing I miss from Outlook 2003 on Windows (which is actually a pretty good mail client). The only thing truly missing from the plug-in is making the message list column compress its display so that some columns (subject) are nested under the From and Date, like Outlook 2003. This really makes good use of the new vertical space and the reduction in horizontal space.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:01 am
I am not a fan of the wide-screen layout. I do not want an application demanding the bulk of my screen. I always line up my application layouts so that I can get at least 2, if not 3 apps open and useable at once on my desktop.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:01 am
While I can’t see anything “wrong” with it, I’ve uninstalled it.
Many of the people who write to me use long subject lines, and that coupled with the fact that I like a slightly wider view of the email itself means that although I like the idea of the eye moving left to right, that effect is spoilt by the fact that the list of emails and the emails themselves end up feeling “squashed”.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:03 am
So they know how much we HATE that crappy interface change that came with 10.4, RIGHT?!
WE HATE IT! IT’S UGLY!
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:04 am
I installed the bundle today and I love its functionality. I really like how it honors the widescreen ratio of apple’s hardware. The divider bar feels a bit unfinished, but nothing to worry about. I’m sure this could get tweaked in future versions of the bundle or if apple were to do it, it would look fine.
I appreciate, too, that apple tends to slim down their applications and only offer what’s really needed. That said, offering the preference to do this would be very welcome. If I were on a narrower screen (I’m using a 15″ Macbook pro), I might appreciate having a two-line per message view in the list pane.
I do hope apple implements this in future mail updates. It would be most welcome.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:20 am
More choice is always good. Some will prefer to stretch their windows wide while others will want more of a vertical orientation. Given how many columns of information I generally have for mail the wide format takes up too much room on a non-widescreen display for my taste.
I really like Mail and use it at home. I’d use it at work if it played better with our IMAP server.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:26 am
Just installed this today, so far I really like it, I never used the preview pane before, but this makes it feel less like a preview and more like and actual program. It feels a lot more like how I view RSS feeds in NetNewsWire. I really like this.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:35 am
Dear Apple,
I’f you implement this, do a two line per message thing like in http://flickr.com/photos/joshuabryant/90432666/
It helps us laptop users.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:40 am
I definitely like it, but I agree that a 2-line message list would help a lot. The best thing would be a view preference as in NNW.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:42 am
I agree that two line look would be killer!
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:48 am
I installed both versions last night and haven’t looked back. The widescreen layout provides a natural flow from left to right with the focus following appropriately (in a funnel-esque fashion.) With proper integration and polish it would be awesome in Mail itself, though given the polarity around it I’d agree a preference would be needed.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:53 am
I’m running at 1680 x 1050 on a 17″ MBP.
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:06 am
For some reason I don’t like how this looks. I like having my messages below the sender and subject and my folders on the left. This is also the reason I prefer netnewswire over any other rss reader.
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:53 am
So far, I’m really liking the widescreen view.
I run 1440 x 900 natively and 1920 x 1200 when hooked up to an external display, but I leave the mail window the same size regardless of resolution.
It doesn’t feel squashed to me, but there are only 3 things I’m concerned with on each message (sender, subject, and date), so I can see it being an annoyance for some users. I certainly feel like I can see more information at once this way - less scrolling, less resizing of panes. So far I’m keeping the panes the same size as my layout in NetNewsWire and that seems to be right for my usage.
Honestly, the flow from left-to-right seems more in keeping with some other mac apps (ie. Finder) and the standard view.
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:55 am
I love the widescreen view. Having switched from Entourage, this is the one thing that I miss. Given that all of Apple’s systems now ship with wide screens, this makes a lot of sense. You get to see a complete e-mail without needing to scroll the window (or at least a larger slice of long e-mails).
I’d back making it a preference (not everyone will like it), but I’d love to see this being part of Mail’s features in OS X Leopard.
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:00 am
I use the three pain view in Thunderbird all the time. I’m not sure why, but I just like it. :)
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:02 am
I like it, but it definitely needs an option for a 2-line message list since otherwise it feels awfully cramped. I’m running 1440×900 on a MBP. As others have mentioned above, an option to switch views would be the way to go.
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:08 am
I wouldn’t want it—it’s not suitable on a 12″ PowerBook. Also the hack is missing an alternative, more space-economic view for the message list (like Entourage offers it).
I’d much rather see better (ie. more standards-complient) IMAP support and a better (plain text) mail editor in a future Apple Mail version!!
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:10 am
I find the widescreen Mail slightly squashed on a 15″ PB (1280×854), but will probably keep it. With some more refinements and 2-line message list, though… it’d be no contest.
The widescreen view should definitely be an option for Leopard Mail (and I’m not a fan of too many options, esp. as the answer to a UI problem).
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:13 am
A “three column view” makes only sense, when you have the middle column display every mail in more than one line as Entourage does. All the “simple” implementations are useless because they are much too wide even on a new 15″ MacBook Pro.
So, if Mail.app ever supports this, I hope it’s not a “poor man’s solution”. Instead I expect something more styled and better designed. Even Entourage has not the best view - the subject and sender are not visible enough to be useful.
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:14 am
At long last, my quest for doing this in Mail.app 2.0 is forfeit:
http://the.taoofmac.com/space/blog/2006-06-02
Thought it would never happen. Saved me the trouble of figuring out how to sync Address Book to Thunderbird, too - at least for now.
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:39 am
I love it. It finally lets me make use of all that screen real estate that comes with my Powerbook and iMac.
A second line for Subject would be awesome, but I’m willing to live without it for the time being. I’ve really disliked the three pane setup forever, but I believing as I do in keeping my data in simple formats, I wasn’t going to migrate to Entourage no matter how much I like their screen layout.
(I’ve lost one .PST file already in the windows world - no desire to see it happen again on a Mac.)
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:45 am
I’ve been trying to find a way to do this for almost a year. Love it!
Running on a 15″ Powerbook & G5 with 1920 x 1200 monitor. Works beautifully on both.
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:48 am
i love it very much, it works great on my 15” powerbook. i hope to see it in the next verrsion of Mail!
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:49 am
This is absolutely awesome; I’m using it on one of my dual 30″ monitors and it’s a HUGE leap forward…
June 3rd, 2006 at 5:52 am
I’ve been playing with this for a day or so, since it was posted on ars, and while I really do like it, we really need a two-line view in the message list in a similar manner to Entourage.
On my 1440 x 900 MacBook Pro it does feel a little squished with a single-line message view, but I think I still prefer it to the original layout.
June 3rd, 2006 at 6:02 am
Yep, easy navigation to the next/previous unread message would be useful. For the latter, are you suggesting having one window open for viewing and cycling through messages? So navigating between messages would replace the message content in that window? If that’s what you mean, what should happen when multiple messages are selected?
And message selection/navigation in threads is begging for improvement, as is threading in general. For example, there’s no way to select/view unread messages in collapsed threads. It’s particularly problematic with long threads containing only a few unread messages. Tapping the return key with the thread parent selected opens all the messages in separate windows, possibly after confirming the warning dialog. And when the preview pane is closed you don’t see how many total messages are in the thread.
I agree with your other points about having enough space for columns in the message list and wanting to minimize horizontal scrolling while viewing messages.
June 3rd, 2006 at 6:02 am
Hi. Please God No on the Outlook 2-line preview. There are other ways to compress more. The two-line preview ruins your ability to glance down and compare similar subject lines and similar dates and so on. Use every other trick you can … icons, color, whatever, to compress things, but not putting some info above others. the column headers must still map. It might be acceptable to wrap a subject line within the column, but even then please make the second line gray so that when you glance down, your eyes can pick out the first lines more easily for scanning.
This is the kind of useability issue that MS usually gets wrong. Don’t follow them. Pane on the right can be good…. everything else related to it from MS is suboptimal.
Thanks!
Greg
June 3rd, 2006 at 6:20 am
o[ptons are always better. GIVE THE UERS THE OPTION WE ARE THE ONES USING THE SOFTWARE.
if they are so hard pressed to keep things simple (like the dam 1 button mouse, because 2 buttons are confusing-sheesh) just add a selectable advanced user mode that is only selectable from the top menu, or preferences. When you select it more options just suddenly appear! wha-la!!
Decvelopers can then spend thier time on fine tuning apple’s cool apps instead of addidng features they should have already- dont these guys look at the competition?
sometimes having a vision means that you cant see beyond it. open your eyes Appoo!!!
June 3rd, 2006 at 6:30 am
Options are not always better. I know several developers who are redesigning their products with fewer options/preferences because of problems that have occurred (for the developers and users) by having too many.
June 3rd, 2006 at 6:49 am
I like the idea of the 3 pane mailbox. However, without the capability of resizing the middle pane, it is not much use to me. Another wish list of mine is to have another window that replicates the far left pane (with all the mailboxes) that can be positioned on the screen. This would make drag-n-drop archiving of mail easier than the current situation where you have to constantly scroll (if you have a lot of mailboxes, down to the archive folder that you want).
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:47 am
You can resize the middle pane.
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:51 am
This is a fantastic plug in. It makes Mail much more useable on a widescreen laptop and much easier to go through mail. It needs some polishing, as others have mentioned, the devider is not great - compared to net news wire for example, but this feature should be added to mail.
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:51 am
I installed this last night and love it. It makes mail.app 100% better!
June 3rd, 2006 at 7:55 am
I run it on a 12” Powerbook (with 1024×768 screen). You may think it’s a horrible experience, but it’s quite useable and I like it like that.
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:03 am
Personally I prefer the way Mail displays things, but then again it’s mainly a habit from once using Netscape mail. It would be nice as an option, I just don’t want ‘widescreen layout’ to because standard ’cause it’d suck to use on my laptop that way.
One thing I do miss from Netscape mail is ‘return receipts’. I’m not talking about ‘Your email has been read’, I’m talking about getting a message back from the recipients mail server saying;
.
.
—– Transcript of session follows —–
***@***.org… Successfully delivered
Original-Envelope-Id: NS40112696JT
Reporting-MTA: dns; ***.com
Received-From-MTA: DNS; mail1.bellatlantic.net
Arrival-Date: Wed, 16 Feb **** 08:37:21 -0500 (EST)
Original-Recipient: rfc822;***@***.org
Final-Recipient: RFC822; ***@***.org
Action: delivered (to mailbox)
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:25 am
Whoops, I guess I was reading old news and didn’t even bother to check. With the ability to resize the middle pane, I think I LOVE IT!!!! Or, at the very least, remain cautiously optimistic that I will.
June 3rd, 2006 at 8:28 am
I didn’t think I’d like it, given the fact that I don’t like the look of it when I (occassionally) use Entourage… but I kinda like it. I have the app all the way open (corner to corner), and I like the fact that I don’t have to scroll to see how many emails I received today like I did/do with a bottom pane, and it renders pretty well… in fact, tested it on the last Apple eNews and it looked fine…
cfh
PB 15″, 1440X990 res…
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:15 am
1. it’s a must!!! every other eMail clinet + RSS aggregators already have it…
2. are you guys insane??? AB+iCal+mail = 1 app!!! why we need 3 apps? i love ical but i am not using it becuse it another gig ap that i sopen on my screen.
do it!
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:33 am
This is great! Just bought a MacBook, and anything that makes use of the widescreen format is by definition maximizing screen real estate, which is key when you’ve only got 1200×800.
Thanks!
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:57 am
I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere (and yes, I didn’t read the manual) but if you double click on a grey vertical bar separating 2d and 3d panels, the third panel with the text will disappear. 2x click on it will then open 3d panel again
just my 2 cents
btw, I don’t know how I feel about it yet, need more time to play
June 3rd, 2006 at 10:11 am
“Yes! The widescreen plugin is a great thing, especially if two-line message list can be implemented.”
Ditto. I can’t imagine that Apple will ignore the obvious need for this option in a future release of Mail. It’s offered in Entourage and Outlook because it makes sense; it should also be offered in Mail.
June 3rd, 2006 at 10:34 am
Installed it, started Mail. Looked at it for 5 secs and recided to delete it directly…
The reason might be that my 12″ PB just has no widescreen and it therefore makes no sense to me, or that I am very pedantic with keeping my mail sorted (filters, smart-folders, etc.) so that each mailbox just has a few mails and therefore I just need a panel with 10 lines height.
Still, I have to agree that more SIMPLE choice is good and a possibility to switch/choose views may be a good thing for further releases.
June 3rd, 2006 at 11:15 am
OK, since apparently members of the Apple Mail team read this:
-Yes, wide screen three panes is the way to go
-can you fix the $%#^&%# search function by adding multiple search criteria???? We are in 2006, not 1996 for Christ’s sake!
Now, how about a real breakthrough, something that would make Mail a “must-have” application that will sell more Macs?
How about seamless, EASY email encryption? Right now, setting up encrypted email is a PAIN IN THE ASS, outside the capability of the novice user. Make this EASY. In these times of government eavesdropping, this would be a huge selling point for Macs.
June 3rd, 2006 at 11:16 am
I’ve been using it on my 17-inch iMac g5 for a while now. All I can say is that this functionality seems well overdue, especially considering that apple has been shifting towards wide aspect ratios since 1999. Including it as a user preference seems like a no-brainer.
Personally, I love the widescreen format. I find myself having to do a lot less scrolling or opening of messages to see the content of an average email.
June 3rd, 2006 at 11:26 am
Email encryption is seamless.
Open up Keychain Access. Open the Certificate Assistant. Follow the steps for an x509 cert.
Restart mail.
June 3rd, 2006 at 11:27 am
I downloaded the plugin to my 20″ iMac (early 2006) after the author made it easily resizeable and I don’t think I want to go back now. If Apple is watching this… Make this a preference in the next Mail, many people will be happy!
I agree totally with Ray above, since Apple has mostly a wide-screen audience this works very well.
I also agree with the above posters about making a multi-line row.
June 3rd, 2006 at 11:53 am
The jury’s still out on this plugin for me, but I haven’t disabled it yet. I did, however, reduce the size of the font for the message list to 11 from 12, because otherwise the amount of info displayed in the list wasn’t adequate. Even with the font size change, it’s still not so great. What exacerbates this problem is the fact that the size of the preview pane using the bundle has a constrained minimum size of half of the width of the Mail window (excluding the mailboxes pseudo-drawer). That means the width of the preview pane is way too big for me, and is wasting horizontal space that would be better used by the message list. Presumably, if this were integrated into Mail, Mail wouldn’t have this limitation.
I do still have reservations about using up so much horizontal space at the expense of the width of the message list. A 2-line message list would be nice, but as a previous user said, make sure it’s easy to glance down the columns and see relevant info every other line. If you can’t, that’ll suck.
I typically don’t use the preview pane for two reasons: 1) because it sucks up vertical space in the message list (I like seeing a lot of my messages at once), so the widescreen view is really nice for this, and 2) because the preview pane typically slows down running through messages by using up and down arrows. I just tried this again, however, and it seems that maybe the performance hit has been vastly reduced in the latest versions of Mail. If so, my only problem with widescreen view is the usage of horizontal space, and a well-crafted 2-line message list would make me really happy.
For reference, I’m running at 1680×1050 resolution on an iMac G5.
– Simone
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:10 pm
It might be nice to offer as an option, if one wants/uses a preview pane. I don’t use a preview pane, don’t make me have to. I like double clicking to open/view emails. With this method, I already have the ability to have that message window open to the right of my mail list - taking advantage of my widescreen aspect ratio (it looks just like the plugin, left to right, just 2 windows.) This way I can drag the email window around, reesize it separetely, etc. What I like best about no previews - I never inadvertently open or display junk email, which might contain images that notify a sender’s server that my e-address is valid or that I read their email.)
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:28 pm
Absolutely fabulous. Obviously, it could be tweaked a bit, but I think it’s great. I really hope Apple adds this to Mail.app.
The biggest thing I would like to see would be the message list from the mockup here:http://flickr.com/photos/joshuabryant/90432666/
June 3rd, 2006 at 1:34 pm
WOW. I love this plugin. I have been trying to get this ever since I switched two years ago.
Now, what I would like to see:
1) Light dark bands, to better identify the rows in the message list
2) CONTROL OF FONT SIZE - preferably for each pane seperately.
3) Ability to show two-line subject
Thanks to Mithras
Steve
June 3rd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
This is great, it was easy to install and worked the first time.
June 3rd, 2006 at 3:03 pm
“CONTROL OF FONT SIZE” — You can change the font size for all panes seperately in the prefs.
My 2 cents… It is squashed but only because I use a 12″ PB sometimes and my 20″ cinema other times, so I like to keep it ‘compatible’ with both monitors. A nice touch would be to enable or disable the pane quickly then I could just use the zoom button to change between the 2 different sizes…
Also, however bad and however much hate I have for outlook 2003, the 2 line message option is convenient as it allows more room for the subject and such in this sort of layout, so I’d like to see that.
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:38 pm
I installed this yesterday on my work computer, and I find it great. I also run it on my powerbook (1680 x 1050) and it’s wonderful.
I’ve discovered however that it’s better to have newer messages toward the top of the window, as the flow to the right to read the message is more natural (I used to have newer messages at the bottom).
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:58 pm
Yes, yes, yes. I’ve wanted this since the very first time I saw it in Outlook. It’s amazing to me that it has actually happened, and from a third party.
I’m using a 12″ powerbook hooked up to an external, 1400×1050 display. The widescreen works wonderfully on the external.
On the PB screen, I would definitely still use it. But, I would need a way to quickly switch views–NetNewsWire is a good example of this. I always use the 3-column view, even on my 12″ screen, until I run into something wide. I can then hit cmd-1 to see it, then cmd-2 to get back to 3 columns.
It would be a big mistake to bury it in the preferences. It needs to be a menu item with keyboard shortcuts.
I’m not as concerned about the abbreviation of subject lines. A shortened subject line is sufficient, and the wonderful thing about the widescreen view is that it makes it very natural to read across to the message, so if the subject line is long, I can click it and see the whole thing in the right pane. With the traditional view, my visual position in the message list is entirely lost when I have to glance down.
Apple, if you do this, you will make me and a lot of other users very happy. :)
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:12 pm
I’ve liked the wide view since I first saw it in Entourage. It’s one of the things I missed when switching to Mail.
I aggree with many of the posts here:
[1] This feature should be an option or preference, as it’s particularly cramped on 12″ screens.
[2] The subject display column is much more functional as a two line display. I prefer the message pane to be the widest. With the widescreen plugin, I have to set the message list and the message content panes to be about the same for the message list to be useful.
The one-line message list is actually a show-stopper for me. There’s so little of the senders name and subject displayed that it’s no longer useful. I have the same problem with Thunderbird’s implementation.
I’m using a 15″ PowerBook much of the time for Mail. I also have a PowerMac with a 20″ display. For this implementation to feel useful, the Mail window consumes the entire 15″ screen. I’m sure it would feel quite so tight on the 20″.
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:51 pm
Lovely and incredibly usable @ 1280 * 800 and up.
My prayers answered. I tried to do the hack by hand quite some time ago, until I realized I couldn’t.
June 4th, 2006 at 2:18 am
Very, very nice - I too would like to Thank Mithras - Thank You very much!
I’m using it on a 14″ iBook G4 at 1024 x 768, and reaping the benefits at ‘less’ than full screen :)! However, I too reduced the Message list font from 12 to 11, which was not a problem.
Apple Development Team - are you listening :)?
June 4th, 2006 at 2:29 am
Several times I tried to use Thunderbird so I could use this feature, only to return to Mail.app out of frustration. I find it helpful because I am on several mailing lists and having the three-pane vertical layout allows me to review messages without having to scroll the message list or the preview pane.
This definitely should be part of the feature set for Leopard — or heck, 10.4.7!
June 4th, 2006 at 2:33 am
it’s a great idea - in fact, what i’d like to see (more specifically) is a layered feature in which tabs are implemented for both mailboxes AND open messages…this way i see a pane on the far right with open messages, but tabs for each open message with a simple ‘x’ to close each tab…same for main mailboxes, inbox by default, but tabs for each open box (eudora tries to achieve this, but it’s a bit clumsy like all apps using little clicks at the bottom of the screen/footer)
of course, the third pane would ideally present a few user customizable shortcuts related to display etc - for example, even on a 15″ (and i’m actually thinking about 13″ users) what would be nice is to have a different font size used for the displayed messages (or at least control preferences, so that my inbox shows 12pt titles for messages, but the third pane - if reduced a bit - could display as 9 or 10pt and so on)
June 4th, 2006 at 3:04 am
If apple would implement something like this, they could do what outlook/entourage does and change the message listing into two-lines-per-message so that you can see the same info in the message list while using less real estate.
June 4th, 2006 at 4:04 am
I’ve been waiting for this for a while. It’s something that just seems kind of obvious for me, offering a natural left to right flow with the most efficient usage of available space. The default view (horizontal split-frame) doesn’t really cut it for me, the message list feels crammed into the top area and doesn’t offer a good overview of messages (only ~ 10 at a time, when the bottom part is large enough to make reading the message comfortable). The widescreen view feels a lot more comfortable, with scrolling being perpendicular to the split.
I’m using this on a 12″ powerbook, and it does feel a little tight, but i’m definitely keeping it. A possible feature-request: outlook-style message listing (two-line, author below the subject). makes a lot better use of screen real-estate.
June 4th, 2006 at 8:02 am
I really like this. I’ve been using it for a day on my MacBook, and installed it today on my 20-inch iMac. It fits the MacBook almost perfectly in fullscreen mode — which I really like, as it allows me to focus on a single app at once, and with this plugin, fullsize Mail actually is usable. The tall message view pane is great. On the iMac, fullscreen isn’t quite as practical, but I still like the three pane view. All in all, this is very, very cool.
June 4th, 2006 at 9:23 am
While I’ve not installed the mailbundle yet, as soon as I get around to transferring my mail to the MacBook I’ll definitely be using it. A 3 pane vertical layout just seems to make very good sense on a widescreen aspect ratio.
Also, another vote for the mockup that Dan Lurie posted above - it would make this format super-usable I think.
June 4th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
I just installed it on my macbook, and I like it a lot - I always shrink my header list pane as small as possible so I can read my messages without opening them separately - now I can read most messages without scrolling. As soon as I get back to work, I’m going to put it on my desktop - having the vertical arrangement is a big waste of space on a cinema display. I hope Apple decides to adopt this arrangement
June 4th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
MUST HAVE!
It makes makes insanely better on my 23inch cinema display and 17inch MBP! This should be in Mail by default in my opinion as well as the option to color label messages
June 4th, 2006 at 11:31 pm
Not as useful on 1024 X 768 resolution. :(
June 4th, 2006 at 11:43 pm
I disagree with Groovechicken, as I mentioned above, I’m running it on my 14″ iBook G4 at 1024 x 768, and it is awesome - I don’t have to maximize it to full screen to enjoy the benefits either! Groovechicken should have included some particulars along with the comment provided?
I do agree with Jarod, this is a “MUST HAVE!”
June 4th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
Here’s a vote against. I keep too much information in my headers and NEED that information for various reasons. I go through a lot of mail every day, and with MailTags installed and searches being used… you need more horizontal space. Perhaps when I move to a wide screen, I’ll feel differently. But, for the moment, I’m sticking to the old way…
June 5th, 2006 at 12:02 am
To add to something I just wrote, which hasn’t been mentioned… in the old way, there’s an important visual cue that exists. In the new, 3-pane way, that visual cue is taken away. In the 3-pane view, the text in the preview column (which is the content you are dealing with) is waaaay off on the right. It’s an awkward location on the screen. With the old view, you can have the text centered on the screen more easily. You have the mail folders in blue on the left, open space on the right of about equal width, and then your text is nicely placed in the center of the laptop screen. This isn’t important for larger screens like I use at work, but even there, I don’t put important text in the far right of the screen.
I should point out that I don’t use the 3 pane view in Vienna for the same reason. I just don’t like where it puts the text and how little of screen is usable anymore.
June 5th, 2006 at 4:36 am
I like it. I’m using it on my AlPBG4 at 1280 x 854 and it’s perfect.
June 5th, 2006 at 5:10 am
after using it on the weekend…can’t see myself going back!!!
thanks you:)
June 5th, 2006 at 11:28 am
REALLY like the plugin, been hankering for this feature for a LONG time!
June 5th, 2006 at 1:23 pm
I love the plugin, personally, because I’ve been using Thunderbird with the “widescreen” layout for a couple years on my Linux systems at work and have been wanting it for my PowerBook the whole time.
It’s especially useful when you have a lot of mailboxes, a lot of messages in those mailboxes, and want to see the whole message at once.
My 15″ PowerBook (1280×854) is about the smallest screen I’d want to use it on, though, and if such a view is adopted by Apple natively, it had better be a switchable option.
The widescreen view is perfect, though, on the Cinema Displays (wish I had a 30″!) and the Dell 2405FPW monitors I have at work and home.
I’ve been hoping for this view style for a long time. :)
June 5th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Exactly like smorr said.
June 6th, 2006 at 12:40 am
I love the plugin! It is one of the things I miss on Mail that is from my Thunderbird days.
On my 12″ iBook and it is fine; now that it is resizable. I will keep it on my computer and use it forever and always and you can’t take it away from me ;)
Dennis
June 7th, 2006 at 7:44 am
I have been waiting for a wide screen setting for a long time and even tried to create this hack myself but was partially unsuccessful. I am using it on a hi rez powerbook with a resolution of 1440×960 and on my 23inch cinema display with a resolution of 1920×1200. also after further editing the app making alternating background colors for rows of messages. the only other thing it lacks is having the subject on a secondary line instead of everything all on one line. this needs to be implimented in OSX 10.5.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
I just want the IMAP implementation to be more robust. Mail is still my default viewer, but it’s only because everything else out there sucks.
Sucking less is not a good strategy.
June 7th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Great Comment, Pat. I agree with you 100%, although I’m sure that Mail Team can do more than one thing as once. I hope that better IMAP support is on the list too.
June 8th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
I’m running a Mini with a nice big CRT at 1344 x 1008 or 1600 x 1200 and there’s no question - Mithras’ hack is very very nice indeed.
While it may seem like a waste of space if you have lorts of short text-only emails, if you’re handling stuff with images, html or pdf’s that Mail tries to render in the body of the message (over half of my messages do) this is a godsend.
I’m also not interested in the 2-line per message layout the way Outlook does it (subject + sender on the next line).
June 9th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I’m with Michael (see above @ June 5th, 2006 at 12:02 am). Continuous reading of text on the right side of the screen gets uncomfortable. (Maybe I’m just way too used to the default setting.)
Oh, and since most of my emails seem to be under a paragraph or two, that’s a whole lot wasted space.
June 9th, 2006 at 12:55 pm
As long as Apple offers it as an option along with the current layout, I don’t see why anyone should oppose it.
June 10th, 2006 at 9:29 am
I’m using the Letterbox plugin on my 15″ powerbook and LOVE it. I have been craving this style interface since I started using Mail. It has made me more efficient in responding to emails and my inbox went from averaging 58 messages to 24 messages and has stayed there since loading this plugin. This is the hight of interface usability.
June 11th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
I’m actually quite baffled by the love of one-window paned interfaces. If the mailbox list, message list and message each had their own window, you could arrange them however you liked, and close or minimize them if you wanted to do so.
(Eudora, for a while, would allow you to then stick them together so you couldn’t accidentally rearrange them–I have no idea if that feature still exists.)
~ Kiran
June 21st, 2006 at 3:31 am
I think with today’s popularity of wide screen displays, or eve simply with the size/resolution of displays available, a vertical preview pane is a must.
I have been using and loving it in Outlook at work and only found out about this plugin for Mail.app, and I’m installing it as soon as I get home tonight.
Marcin
November 25th, 2006 at 2:47 am
Late to the game - but I love the Widescreen plugin.
November 25th, 2006 at 10:51 am
i really like letterbox. i use it easily on my 20″ 1600 x 1050, and with a little squeezing on my 1280 x 800 MacBook 13″ screen. On the smaller screen I have to move many of the sender / subject bars over. Also Mail.app seems to “forget” my settings for all of those tabs between resolutions and after every quit. Annoying. But a great app. I have tried Entourage and Thunderbird a few times and even switched for 2 years to Entourage in the early days of mail but switched back due to Letterbox. I even prefer the letterbox on my 1280 x 1024 monitor at work, even though it isn’t widescreen.
November 26th, 2006 at 5:46 am
I’ve been using the Letterbox plug-in for Apple Mail for quite some time and, overall, I’m pleased with how it works. However, it does have one little quirk that drives me nuts.
When doing a search and then deleting the search term to return to the normal view, the column widths of the center column are just wacky. The attachments column becomes about 8-10 times wider than the min. width and the widths of all the other columns are narrower, leaving me with no other choice than to reset the widths of each column. P.I.T.A.!!! The only other way of getting back to my default view is to close the Message Viewer window and open a new one. Et voila!
Still a pain, though. I’d prefer not to have to do this at all. That said, it’s still not painful enough to quit using Letterbox and go back to the default Apple Message Viewer. (Blechhhh!!!)
I’m on a 17″ Studio Display at 1600 x 1200 most of the time. On this size monitor, even at this resolution, it doesn’t quite show all of the message; the right side is usually lopped off by an inch or so.
Since I spend a lot of time in email responding to my podcast listeners (OffTheDime.com), I can’t imagine going back to Apple’s default view.
November 26th, 2006 at 1:44 pm
I switched from Windows to a MBP C2D last week. I love OSX, and Mail’s pretty good, but Outlook 2003’s vertical implementation is just way better. I’m using Letterbox but it doesn’t have the two-line header, which I’d prefer.