On Wed, Oct 12, 2005 at 10:20:07PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote: > On 2005-10-12 14:13:40 -0400, Derek Martin wrote: > > I suppose this point (the format=flowed issue) is one such way, though > > it is a relatively minor problem. The biggest drawback to Mutt's UI, > > IMO, is the inability to continue to see the message index while > > composing a message. > > One can continue to see it if the editor uses an external window. > But one can't do anything in it. Right, but that's the problem... It's not terribly useful to see it if you can't do anything with it. ;-) Plus, don't forget that many users (like me) use mutt in large part because it's excellent for reading mail remotely over slow, character-only ssh session. Using an external editor would usually require forwarding an X connection, which I find annoyingly slow even over broadband connections... Of course, there's gnuclient, which I believe can handle remote sessions; but I prefer vim. > Worse, if one types characters in Mutt's window, they are taken into > account once the editor is closed (isn't this a bug?). Well, given all the buzz over what constitutes a bug on the list lately, I wouldn't say that it's a bug. :) But I would agree that it is probably not desireable behavior... > > I guess I think that mutt ought to have the ability to run in two > > or three different windows simultaneously (folder view, index > > view, message view). > > It does almost that with pager index lines (one window, but two panes). True, but I still can't see what folders have new messages (something that mutt must devote its own screen for), and the index disappears if I compose a message. > BTW, would it need much change to make them appear in different windows? I guess it depends what you mean. You already can run multiple copies of mutt in different windows, so you can more-or-less get what I'm talking about by running 3 copies of mutt in 3 different windows. But this is yucky; it lacks any coordination between the 3 windows. Getting all 3 to talk to each other to stay current (for every case) would be some work, I think. > > Each of these views could independently be enabled or disabled, > > allowing people to continue to use Mutt just as it is now. This sort > > of UI would allow a user to use an xterm of say 100 columns, using > > all of those 100 columns for the index, while splitting the bottom > > into 2 panes where the message is displayed in 80 columns, and the > > folders and message counts are displayed in the remaining 20 > > characters (all of this configurable, of course). > > Pager index columns. :) But again, this doesn't let me continue to view message indexes while I compose a message with vim (not xvim or gvim). I can't see that new messages have arrived in any of my folders, unless I run a separate copy of mutt for that purpose. This is, I think, mutt's biggest detraction. Don't get me wrong -- I still think Mutt is the best mailer around, even with that -- but I think that this is a very serious flaw in Mutt's UI design (shared by all the other text-based mailers, AFAIK). If mutt could run the editor in a sub-window, and still keep the other panes active so that you could see new messages arriving, that would truly be something. I haven't done any work with this kind of thing, so I can't say how much work would be involved. I believe that mutt would need to have its own terminal emulator built in, something like what screen does. -- Derek D. Martin http://www.pizzashack.org/ GPG Key ID: 0xDFBEAD02 -=-=-=-=- This message is posted from an invalid address. Replying to it will result in undeliverable mail. Sorry for the inconvenience. Thank the spammers.
Attachment:
pgpuFhDGBZ42l.pgp
Description: PGP signature