Nicely executed tour and feature set. I like! A couple suggestions:
1. Some Gmail shortcut issues:
- 'o' and <enter> should open a message if I'm scrolling the message list. They should expand or collapses a conversation if I'm in message view.
- 'y' should not delete. It's a context-sensitive "remove from current view" in Gmail, which in message list mode means archive. In any context, it never means delete.
- 'p' and 'n' should go to previous and next conversation when in message view.
2. There's a slight disconnect between what I can do with keyboard shortcuts and mouse. The one that bothers me most is I can click in the right (message) or left (message list) panels, and the shortcuts will now be focused on that context (e.g. if focused on left, j/k scrolls the message list, but if focused on the right, j/k scrolls the message). However, there doesn't appear to be a way to switch focus between left and right using the keyboard; instead, it appears you must switch to full window message view to get the message view keyboard shortcuts to work, and switch back to side-by-side view to get the message list shortcuts to work.
Two ways to solve this:
- Have a setting for whether opening messages goes full window or stays side-by-side. This way, when I press <enter> or <right>/<left> (or 'o' with Gmail shortcuts), the message list will stay to the left but the focus will switch to the right. This is what appears to happen when I click my mouse in the message area while still in side-by-side view.
- Or, have a new keyboard shortcut to switch focus between message list and message focus. This way users can also process email in the side-by-side view (scroll message list, open message but stay in side-by-side mode, scroll message itself, jump back to message list, etc.). They can also continue to use the current method of opening messages to a full window.
3. Might be tough to make cross-platform, but have a setting to register a global hot-key to bring Inky to the foreground (and minimize if active). This is one feature that makes it soooo easy to make a desktop program that I need to go in-and-out of often a regular go-to product (notes program, music player, desktop switching, etc).
'?' works for me on Windows. Though please allow me to press escape or '?' again to hide the shortcuts. And switch focus to the popup and let me scroll it with j/k and up/down.
Another suggestion: 2 clicks for "Load Remote Images" is a bit annoying, particularly because on other email platforms it's one click, and I have a fair amount of senders where the "from" email address changes with each email, making it impossible to select load always. And for some senders I selectively decide to load images. The popup every time with text and settings is too heavy. Make this a single click link ("Load Remote Images"), and next to it add a gear icon with the drop-down settings and "Why is remote content risky?" info. If a user presses the "Load Remote Images" link, load the images and change that link to a label for the image loading settings gear, e.g. "Remote Image Settings"
1. Some Gmail shortcut issues:
- 'o' and <enter> should open a message if I'm scrolling the message list. They should expand or collapses a conversation if I'm in message view.
- 'y' should not delete. It's a context-sensitive "remove from current view" in Gmail, which in message list mode means archive. In any context, it never means delete.
- 'p' and 'n' should go to previous and next conversation when in message view.
- Several others: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...
2. There's a slight disconnect between what I can do with keyboard shortcuts and mouse. The one that bothers me most is I can click in the right (message) or left (message list) panels, and the shortcuts will now be focused on that context (e.g. if focused on left, j/k scrolls the message list, but if focused on the right, j/k scrolls the message). However, there doesn't appear to be a way to switch focus between left and right using the keyboard; instead, it appears you must switch to full window message view to get the message view keyboard shortcuts to work, and switch back to side-by-side view to get the message list shortcuts to work.
Two ways to solve this:
- Have a setting for whether opening messages goes full window or stays side-by-side. This way, when I press <enter> or <right>/<left> (or 'o' with Gmail shortcuts), the message list will stay to the left but the focus will switch to the right. This is what appears to happen when I click my mouse in the message area while still in side-by-side view.
- Or, have a new keyboard shortcut to switch focus between message list and message focus. This way users can also process email in the side-by-side view (scroll message list, open message but stay in side-by-side mode, scroll message itself, jump back to message list, etc.). They can also continue to use the current method of opening messages to a full window.
3. Might be tough to make cross-platform, but have a setting to register a global hot-key to bring Inky to the foreground (and minimize if active). This is one feature that makes it soooo easy to make a desktop program that I need to go in-and-out of often a regular go-to product (notes program, music player, desktop switching, etc).