Folder tree in poll window?

norbs · 9 Aug 2002, 06:45 PM

Personally I find the Poll window in fastmail very useful. I recognize that fastcheck is an amazing piece of software and probably meets the needs of most people on these forums.
However ever since the introduction of the [+] and [-] buttons and the folder interface I have been creating more folders and using "rules" much more. This means that the poll window becomes less useful as fewer emails are coming into my inbox.

My suggestion would be to make the poll window contain the folder tree, so that people can see at a glance which folder have new messages. It would also mean that it could be used as an alternative to having the folder tree taking up space on the main mailbox screen.

http://www.norberts.supanet.com/newpoll.jpg

In the same way as pushing "open mailbox" at the moment takes the main window (if you have one open) to the inbox. Clicking on a folder, for example "forum" would take you to that folder. If you don't have the original window open, then it would just open up a new window with that folder displayed. This is the same behaviour that is displayed at the moment with the existing poll window.

In the mock-up I have put the move arrows << in, because you could even use it for moving emails around, although I appreciate this might have implications if you have a number of mailbox windows open...

I am not suggesting removing the controversial [-]

- just having an improvement for those who use the poll window, and also a possible alternative for people prepared to use multiple windows.

Let me know what you think.

Tango · 9 Aug 2002, 07:18 PM

That sounds like a great idea!

Jeremy Howard · 9 Aug 2002, 07:38 PM

I've been mocking up something awfully similar. In my version, the one difference is that there's also a checkbox on each row. If the checkbox is checked for a folder, and the number of new messages increases since the last check in that folder, an alert box is shown, and optionally a sound is played.

kander · 21 Aug 2002, 05:52 AM

Since you've been working on it as well, Jeremy, do you have any ETA on this? I really would appreciate it as I've upgraded from a "hrm. Don't care, just put it in my Inbox and I'll find it" to subdomain folder sorting, and only mails from people I don't know end up in my Inbox, but it's the ones from people I DO know that I want to be able to respond to as soon as possible.

If you could implement this soon I don't think I could have anything else to ask for in a while... keep up the great work!

==Kander==

Jeremy Howard · 21 Aug 2002, 06:33 AM

There's no ETA on it. We're not likely to get onto any web interface enhancements until November at the earliest, I think.

reuben · 21 Aug 2002, 07:14 AM

i agree 100%. the poll window is a wonderful feature, but its wonderfulness is obsoleted somewhat by the existence of the folder tree. norbs, you articulated very well something i'd wanted to say before, but couldn't figure out how, so i just gave up temporarily then forgot about it.

i guess what i'm saying is, would it be possible, whenever the next enhancements are, to incorporate the folder tree into other places besides the inbox/mailbox view screen? at the very least perhaps the poll window, and the view message screen

see my post in the thread http://www.emaildiscussions.com/...e+message+view from a couple of weeks ago... to explain more, often someone writes me, and it is called into question whether or not i sent an email i meant to send, or what i said or didn't say in an email i already sent. or perhaps someone references an earlier message. it would be nice to have the folder tree right there so you didn't have to return to the message view before going to another folder to locate the referenced message.

am i not correct, however, that this would be slower because you'd be doing more work per page access? these are my thoughts! thanks for reading!

norbs · 21 Aug 2002, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reuben
norbs, you articulated very well something i'd wanted to say before, but couldn't figure out how, so i just gave up temporarily then forgot about it.

thanks

i couldn't put my thoughts into words either. I drew it first, and then i just described what i saw...

reuben, in my suggestion of a poll window, it would almost act as a "floating" folder-tree, you could then use it from anywhere, compose, reading a mail, options,....

norbs · 12 Dec 2002, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Howard
There's no ETA on it. We're not likely to get onto any web interface enhancements until November at the earliest, I think.

friendly reminder....

anyone else have any thoughts on this idea???

Jeremy Howard · 12 Dec 2002, 08:50 PM

I've lost interest a bit because FastCheck has gotten so cool... I don't use the Poll window any more.

Someone to port FastCheck to Mac/Linux would be nice...

Isaac · 12 Dec 2002, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Howard
I've lost interest a bit because FastCheck has gotten so cool... I don't use the Poll window any more.

Someone to port FastCheck to Mac/Linux would be nice...

... or to Java ...

It would be nice to just have FastCheck appear in the Poll window on computers that could handle it. The style of checking for new mail (using that IMAP feature) is much nicer than re-loading the page every N minutes.

hajonez · 13 Dec 2002, 12:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Howard
I've lost interest a bit because FastCheck has gotten so cool... I don't use the Poll window any more.

Someone to port FastCheck to Mac/Linux would be nice...

A Mac port would be wonderful; I keep reading positive reports of FastCheck but have never been able to use it.

I think norb's suggestion at the top of this thread is brilliant and I would very much like to see it implemented. FastCheck may be fantastic but it is a separate application; if its basic functionality were built into the FM web interface via a more comprehensive Poll window, there would be no difficulties when wanting to poll all folders at an external location such as at a cybercafe. I realise that FastCheck can fit on a floppy and is thus portable, but many cybercafes, universities, libraries etc. do not allow any programs to be run other than those they have installed.

Of course, an enhanced poll window would also overcome compatibility problems and so would obviate the need to port FastCheck to other platforms.

Just my thoughts on the issue...

- Henry

norbs · 13 Dec 2002, 12:55 AM

Thanks Henry

As kander says, now that some of us are organising our emails in a different way to take advantage of the folder structure it seems a shame not to be able to use the poll window any more. Would it be possible to make the "Poll Window" poll the folder from which it was opened.... This would mean that you could open a few Poll WIndows, to track new messages to a few different folders.... This may be simpler to implement that a whole new poll window....

reuben · 14 Dec 2002, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Isaac

... or to Java ...

It would be nice to just have FastCheck appear in the Poll window on computers that could handle it. The style of checking for new mail (using that IMAP feature) is much nicer than re-loading the page every N minutes.

although java is my favourite language to code in because its so flowery and everything you'd ever want to do is built into it, i wouldn't levy that on anyone. in my experience java is a huge bulky slow beast, and getting to do exactly what you want it to do on linux machines, at least in my experience has been a total annoyance. now i'd actually be pretty interested in writing the following if i could get some more time and code practice:

a unix mail checking daemon (possibly as simple as a script?) for console windows, that interrupted what you were doing at the most chatty setting or just waited for you to return to a prompt and interrupted you there at a less chatty setting, asking if you wanted to read new messages, then opening pine or some other such text email w/ flags to get you to the inbox.... or something like that...

(which perhaps could then be expanded into a widget for KDE/gnome/other-wm's-and-desktops, although i'd have zero interest in doing this)

but..... i guess its just pipe dreams. i should have paid more attention in my programming classes so that i wasn't so rusty on doing this stuff! but i'd still like to try. but it would be purely a free time thing for me. but i imagine one day i'll do it. and i'll post info here.

cheers, - reuben
(ps haven't been on the forum in a couple months. hope everyone is good).

but i'd probably want to write them in C, which i don't know nearly as well.

spiderman · 14 Dec 2002, 07:17 PM

As soon as my holidays are off (still 1-2 months left!), I'll start working on updating FastCheck to portable code, which will compile on most Unix, Linux, Mac and of course Windows. Also, I'll integrate FastServices (more on www.fastcheck.org about that) which will make it even faster, and provide more functionality... But it won't work inside a browser

9 Aug 2002, 06:45 PM	#1
norbs Essential Contributor Join Date: May 2002 Location: UK Posts: 435	Folder tree in poll window? Personally I find the Poll window in fastmail very useful. I recognize that fastcheck is an amazing piece of software and probably meets the needs of most people on these forums. However ever since the introduction of the [+] and [-] buttons and the folder interface I have been creating more folders and using "rules" much more. This means that the poll window becomes less useful as fewer emails are coming into my inbox. My suggestion would be to make the poll window contain the folder tree, so that people can see at a glance which folder have new messages. It would also mean that it could be used as an alternative to having the folder tree taking up space on the main mailbox screen. http://www.norberts.supanet.com/newpoll.jpg In the same way as pushing "open mailbox" at the moment takes the main window (if you have one open) to the inbox. Clicking on a folder, for example "forum" would take you to that folder. If you don't have the original window open, then it would just open up a new window with that folder displayed. This is the same behaviour that is displayed at the moment with the existing poll window. In the mock-up I have put the move arrows << in, because you could even use it for moving emails around, although I appreciate this might have implications if you have a number of mailbox windows open... I am not suggesting removing the controversial [-] - just having an improvement for those who use the poll window, and also a possible alternative for people prepared to use multiple windows. Let me know what you think.

21 Aug 2002, 05:52 AM	#4
kander The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Netherlands Posts: 4,112	Any ETA on this? Since you've been working on it as well, Jeremy, do you have any ETA on this? I really would appreciate it as I've upgraded from a "hrm. Don't care, just put it in my Inbox and I'll find it" to subdomain folder sorting, and only mails from people I don't know end up in my Inbox, but it's the ones from people I DO know that I want to be able to respond to as soon as possible. If you could implement this soon I don't think I could have anything else to ask for in a while... keep up the great work! ==Kander==

9 Aug 2002, 07:18 PM	#2
Tango Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 529	That sounds like a great idea!

9 Aug 2002, 07:38 PM	#3
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	I've been mocking up something awfully similar. In my version, the one difference is that there's also a checkbox on each row. If the checkbox is checked for a folder, and the number of new messages increases since the last check in that folder, an alert box is shown, and optionally a sound is played.

21 Aug 2002, 06:33 AM	#5
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	There's no ETA on it. We're not likely to get onto any web interface enhancements until November at the earliest, I think.

21 Aug 2002, 07:14 AM	#6
reuben Essential Contributor Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 240	i agree 100%. the poll window is a wonderful feature, but its wonderfulness is obsoleted somewhat by the existence of the folder tree. norbs, you articulated very well something i'd wanted to say before, but couldn't figure out how, so i just gave up temporarily then forgot about it. i guess what i'm saying is, would it be possible, whenever the next enhancements are, to incorporate the folder tree into other places besides the inbox/mailbox view screen? at the very least perhaps the poll window, and the view message screen see my post in the thread http://www.emaildiscussions.com/...e+message+view from a couple of weeks ago... to explain more, often someone writes me, and it is called into question whether or not i sent an email i meant to send, or what i said or didn't say in an email i already sent. or perhaps someone references an earlier message. it would be nice to have the folder tree right there so you didn't have to return to the message view before going to another folder to locate the referenced message. am i not correct, however, that this would be slower because you'd be doing more work per page access? these are my thoughts! thanks for reading!

12 Dec 2002, 08:50 PM	#9
Jeremy Howard Ultimate Contributor Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Australia Posts: 11,501	I've lost interest a bit because FastCheck has gotten so cool... I don't use the Poll window any more. Someone to port FastCheck to Mac/Linux would be nice...

13 Dec 2002, 12:55 AM	#12
norbs Essential Contributor Join Date: May 2002 Location: UK Posts: 435	Thanks Henry As kander says, now that some of us are organising our emails in a different way to take advantage of the folder structure it seems a shame not to be able to use the poll window any more. Would it be possible to make the "Poll Window" poll the folder from which it was opened.... This would mean that you could open a few Poll WIndows, to track new messages to a few different folders.... This may be simpler to implement that a whole new poll window....

14 Dec 2002, 07:17 PM	#14
spiderman Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Cork, Ireland Posts: 802 Representative of: Fastcheck.org	As soon as my holidays are off (still 1-2 months left!), I'll start working on updating FastCheck to portable code, which will compile on most Unix, Linux, Mac and of course Windows. Also, I'll integrate FastServices (more on www.fastcheck.org about that) which will make it even faster, and provide more functionality... But it won't work inside a browser