Friday, November 21, 2003
UI design: sending mail with attachments
How often do you start writing an email message, intending to attach a document, but end up sending it without the attachment? It used to happen to me almost every single time, until I switched desktop environments, and now I realise I haven’t missed a single attachment in months.
What made the difference?
When using Evolution, the process was: switch to the Evolution window (I rarely shut down my mail client), open a new compose window, start writing the message, click on the Attach button, locate and attach document, click Send. Unfortunately for me, the instinct is to open a new message, write, and send in one continuous motion. The attachment is only remembered afterwards.
Now when using Mail.app, the process is: locate document using the Finder, drag to Mail’s dock icon, wait for a new window to open with the document attached, write message, hit Send. By repositioning the “attach document” step to the very beginning of the process, the “new message, write and send” steps are not interrupted.
Is it even possible to drag a file from Nautilus into Evolution and have a compose window open? Or to do that from the command line with an “evolution /path/to/file”? Now that I think of it, I’ve never even tried! — and I used GNOME for four years before switching.
What made the difference?
When using Evolution, the process was: switch to the Evolution window (I rarely shut down my mail client), open a new compose window, start writing the message, click on the Attach button, locate and attach document, click Send. Unfortunately for me, the instinct is to open a new message, write, and send in one continuous motion. The attachment is only remembered afterwards.
Now when using Mail.app, the process is: locate document using the Finder, drag to Mail’s dock icon, wait for a new window to open with the document attached, write message, hit Send. By repositioning the “attach document” step to the very beginning of the process, the “new message, write and send” steps are not interrupted.
Is it even possible to drag a file from Nautilus into Evolution and have a compose window open? Or to do that from the command line with an “evolution /path/to/file”? Now that I think of it, I’ve never even tried! — and I used GNOME for four years before switching.
bluesmoon — Nov 21, 2003 3:18:15 PM — # ↩
mannu — Nov 22, 2003 1:32:07 AM — # ↩
But sometimes, while composing a mail, I decide to attach a file. I write, "check out the attached file," but I eventually forget to actually attach it. I'm sure it's the same with most people.
I'd like to see intelligent UI. If the body of the message contains the words "attach", "file", etc. (configurable list), the user should be prompted with "dodo, sure you've attached all the files?" :-)
tushar — Nov 22, 2003 8:20:08 AM — # ↩
I can drag a document into a Balsa compose window, but only if the attachments field is displayed. Considering how much time Nautilus takes just to open a window, it's a heck of a lot easier just clicking attach.
OR
I'll just wait for OSX/i386.
mannu — Nov 24, 2003 4:04:08 PM — # ↩
OSX/i386? In my wildest dreams.