I hereby formally propose to officially add "Two panes" Layout
to the View menu. In this layout, only the left pane with the
mailbox list and the big pane with message list are shown and the
user needs to open individual messages in their own windows.
The justification for this enhancement request is that this
layout will get more formal attention and be better tested. Right
now, such a layout is just a subcase of the "Three pane" layout
when one drags the lower pane all the way down. A such, it does not
seem to get sufficient attention during development -- several of
the issues/bugs I reported apparently relate to my using such a
layout.
This layout should be appreciated by users who deal with larger
volumes of new messages and want to see as long lists of messages
in mailboxes as possible.
As an extension of this, you should restrict all 3-pane layouts
from having the 3rd pane rolled away, that is introduce a minimum
size for that pane. In other words, all layouts with 3 panes should
always show 3 panes. As things are now, when I switch to the
"Statistics" or "Correspondence" layouts, I see no change in
display -- the changes are only in that 3rd pane that I have hidden
away (which confused me until I figured out that I need to bring
the 3rd pane out).
Having "Two panes" layout as one of the views will justify
automatic showing and hiding of the 3rd pane when switching between
"Two panes" and other layouts. I believe this will make for better
user interface and usability.
Furthermore, it would be nice if MM remembered the sizing of all
panes for each layout independently, if it does not do that
now.
benny