The power of email clients: why did we redesign Thunderbird?

[Batu69]

No matter what happens in the messaging world, email is here to stay. Slack didn’t kill email. Hipchat didn’t kill email. None of the other applications from this list killed email. And no matter how much we try not to rely on them, we end up using them more and/or in sync with all the new tools that we started using to replace email in the first place. If you want to know more: read here.

 

I think this is because email is simple, versatile, safe and reliable.

 

There is basically nothing you can do wrong; all the patterns are obvious and embedded in our culture of doing things.

Two of my grandparents (aged 86 and 96) use email.

Yet there’s a general notion of hate towards it and an observable movement to do something about it. Even Google made its own client: Inbox, because the native email experience just lacks something.

Power of email clients

In the beginning, when internet access was scarce and difficult, email clients were built to provide offline access, the possibility to use multiple accounts and an option for regular backup. Many people even used emails as a way of storage and data archiving. Physically having things on your computer meant safety.

 

Nowadays—when it’s the other way around—it’s safer to keep things in the cloud in case your computer/phone gets stolen/destroyed—some people still prefer the safety of keeping files on their own devices.

 

Also, we can add serious organizational tools, plugins and add-ons to the list of pros for email clients.

Idea: A real upgrade in the Thunderbird design

Like I said, tons of email clients.

And in the midst of this hunt for unattainable holy grail, we recalled Thunderbird.

 

Actually some of us still use it (although Mozilla ceased funding it development in 2012). It’s definitely a powerful application with a lot of possibilities of personalization and tweaking the app to your needs. The mozilla community is famous for its add-ons and themes culture.

 

But the functionality and robust attitude isn’t enough in the current world. Good design comes not only from useful products, but also the aesthetic ones.

Interface-based product with best functionalities but outdated visual design can loose to other competitors because of aesthtetic-usability effect. It states that the design which people find more aesthetically pleasing are easier to use than the less pleasing design.

 

Today, in the world of email clients, Thunderbird is one of the biggest players. However, its popularity might be in a serious threat because of growing number of competitors focusing on a current users needs.

 

Usability and the package are intertwined elements which create a product, and using Thunderbird feels like driving a bit rusty cargo-car. Still reliable and working, but would be better it had those comfy ergonomic seats and marvelous A/C.

 

We decided to check how Thunderbird could look like in the modern world.

It’s presumably easy to start from scratch and redo the design from ground up, so that it looks “modern”. But we didn’t aim at designing another Polymail. We were interested in how a clearer version of Thunderbird would look like. One that would still be true for all the people that use the app now, but also attractive for the possible new zealots.

 

This is what we came up with:

 

 

You can also check our mockups on our Dribbble profile. If you like it, leave us your heart (not literally of course…) or share.

What we’ve done is our proposition of aesthetic adjustment (with some feature tweaks) that would be true to us – few users in Monterail. Something that—we hope—would make the time spent in Thunderbird more smooth and enjoyable. For greater UX redesign, there is a need of the community input, convinced stakeholders and a larger range of time.

 

The basic principle of this redesign was to achieve more clarity and readability. In effect, it could reduce a cognitive load, which is crucial in low measures to make a product more friendly, especially for the new users.

 

Currently, Thunderbird faces the problem of simultaneously showing a vast amount of information on one screen and we hope we addressed that.

 

“Clean lines and good layout. Email (or discussion threads) can contain so many details that the collapse of extra information is critical”

Bryan Clark, former User Experience Lead at Mozilla Messaging

 

Whole work was focused on adding some white space, inserting new typography an equalizing colors, but still keeping in mind branding and character of Thunderbird. That’s why the redesign was based on FirefoxOs Style Guide to keep its identity somehow coherent.

 

 

To improve interaction side, adding a gestures support (which becomes a standard) would be a nice touch. It could be used in managing emails and operating calendar with marked events and todos.

 

“The colours are great! I’m really enjoying how everything looks tied together, and how much space there is left for people to add different themes to.”

Blake Winton, Thunderbird Contributor and UX Engineer at Mozilla

 

Doing this upgrade was a lot of fun and we are quite excited with the final result.

This is how @mozthunderbird could look like in the modern world: https://t.co/PmrQKSxPcG pic.twitter.com/BBVPKDxhlP

— Monterail (@monterail) November 17, 2016

If you feel the same about our work, please leave us a comment or share this article on your social media profiles. Every like and share feels like a thumbs-up for our open-sourced-at-heart team.

 

Read original article here

[Freddynic159]

I don't worry a lot about the design, as long as continue to have the same functionality I find it fine. 

[Paft]

I don't work in a office or receive a lot of mail but that looks great to me. Clean and touch friendly. The pure white background GUI principle still bugs me. A screen isn't a piece of paper and the text is not ink...it doesn't need to be white.

 

It's crazy how many people still buy Microsoft Office when there are plenty of free alternatives. And Office365 for Home users surely seems a waste of money unless money isn't much of a concern.