Mail/Threading: Difference between revisions
mNo edit summary |
→Bubbles show author: Color algo from XMPP |
||
| (16 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
* [[Mail/Threading/Comparative|Comparative Studies]] | |||
* [[Mail/Threading/UserStudies|User studies]] | |||
* [[Mail/Threading/Specs|Specs]] | |||
== Problem == | == Problem == | ||
Large email discussions can become hairy. It can be difficult to follow the conversation. All messages about one subject are combined called a "thread", and it can have many people who wrote in it. There may even be sub-discussions about a very specific sub-topic forming. When you come into a thread, or come back to it, you ideally want to have an overview and see the discussion structure. This is what "threading" is about. | Large email discussions can become hairy. It can be difficult to follow the conversation. All messages about one subject are combined called a "thread", and it can have many people who wrote in it. There may even be sub-discussions about a very specific sub-topic forming. When you come into a thread, or come back to it, you ideally want to have an overview and see the discussion structure. This is what "threading" is about. | ||
Threading | == Comparative studies == | ||
[[Mail/Threading/Comparative|Comparative Studies]] | |||
While conducting our comparative studies, we realized that threading is hard. Many mail apps don't show threads at all, some are showing only flat threads. But you may want to understand '''who responded to who.''' | |||
* Seeing which emails | == User studies == | ||
* | [[Mail/Threading/UserStudies|User studies]] | ||
According to the surveys conducted this week, a user generally, when reading a long email discussion, can find it difficult to navigate throught. But usually, his main needs are: | |||
* Seeing which emails they have not read yet, and what sub-topic (sub-thread) they are talking about. | |||
* They might want to look for a specific email in the long thread that applies specific to they tasks, for example, the decision that was eventually taken, or emails from a certain person.. | |||
== Our solution == | == Our solution == | ||
[[File:Mail_threading.png|thumb|alt=Mail threading|Mail | [[File:Vertical View threading.png|alt=Vertical View Threading|thumb|Vertical View Threading]] | ||
[[File:Mail_threading.png|thumb|alt=Mail threading|Mail Table View Threading]]How do we show threads nicely? We have beautiful solution, which we'd like to show to you. | |||
[[File:Mobile.png|alt=Mobile Mail Threading|thumb|Mobile Mail Threading ]] | [[File:Mobile.png|alt=Mobile Mail Threading|thumb|Mobile Mail Threading ]] | ||
[[File:Thread bar.png|thumb|alt=Thread bar|Thread bar]] | [[File:Thread bar.png|thumb|alt=Thread bar|Thread bar]] | ||
| Line 23: | Line 34: | ||
=== Bubbles show author === | === Bubbles show author === | ||
We show the email using the avatar of its author: Either a picture (if available, for example within a company) or a placeholder with the initial of his name, and a color that is specific to that person. The color will be generated from the email address using an algorithm and will always be the same for that person, so that you can associate that person with that color. Of course, you can change the picture of that contact in your own address book. | We show the email using the avatar of its author: Either a picture (if available, for example within a company) or a placeholder with the initial of his name, and a color that is specific to that person. The color will be generated from the email address using an [https://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0392.html algorithm like XEP-0392] and will always be the same for that person, so that you can associate that person with that color. Of course, you can change the picture of that contact in your own address book. | ||
=== Message states === | === Message states === | ||
| Line 33: | Line 44: | ||
Messages that are '''starred''' will have a little star on the top right. That allows you to mark emails with decision or otherwise important messages in the thread, and to quickly find them again. They will also be starred in the normal message list. | Messages that are '''starred''' will have a little star on the top right. That allows you to mark emails with decision or otherwise important messages in the thread, and to quickly find them again. They will also be starred in the normal message list. | ||
[[Specs|See Specs]] | |||
=== '''Algorithm''' === | === '''Algorithm''' === | ||
| Line 45: | Line 58: | ||
Imagine how much easier it would be for users to navigate through messages when they can visually track who is involved and how responses are connected. We believe that user will love it. | Imagine how much easier it would be for users to navigate through messages when they can visually track who is involved and how responses are connected. We believe that user will love it. | ||
Feel free to tell us what you think about it! Please send us email to [mailto:[email protected] [email protected]] . | Feel free to tell us what you think about it! Please send us email to [mailto:[email protected] [email protected]] or write a comment here below. | ||
=== User testing === | |||
[[Mail/Threading/UserTesting|User testing]] | |||
User testing will continue after implementing. | |||
According to feedback it may be more useful to user, instead of seeing only the thread selected, to see even the email it replies to and to make the rest of the thread available as well scrolling, considering that you may not want to choose specific people but just scroll all the comments. The threads bar has an important role in helping navigating all the replieChats and helps to go back to specific content, possibly even starring individual replies. | |||
[[ | |||
Check out our ideas for [[Chat/Threading|threading in Chat →]] | |||