User interface enhancements and bug fixes in Pandora 4.5 [UPDATED]
Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:28 pm
Sometimes the release notes for a new Pandora version contain cryptic wording!
In Pandora 4.5 under the heading Mailbox Preview Pane there are two bug fixes listed:
* Scrolling position is reset now upon content update.
* Fixed message neutral text/background colors.
The first bug I understand, because I raised this with Brana a month or two ago, and I thank Brana for the fix. :=}
The bug was that when you moved from one message to another (red arrow in the screenshot) in a mailbox, the scroll bar position remained where it was in the just-viewed message -- often at the bottom of the preview pane -- so that you always had to scroll up to see the top of the newly-viewed message. Since I read lots and lots of messages every day I found this to be very exasperating, a burden of additional vertical scrolling many times per day.
As for the second bug fix ("Fixed message neutral text/background colors") I don't have a clue what this means, would somebody please explain it to me? And for that matter, Brana made lots of changes to the User Interface related to colors and themes, see Butch Kemper's forum post at pandoramail.forumotion.net/t255-pandora-4-5-released
Obviously they're important for other Pandora Mail users, else Brana would not have devoted time and energy to them, but mostly they don't effect me personally as I use Pandora's default these which I find satisfactory.
A BACKWARDS STEP IN PANDORA 4.5 THAT NEEDS A QUICK FIX
There is one change in version 4.5 that troubles me intensely: "When draft is flagged Not-Done headers are displayed with red background and white letters (regardless of the active theme/color mode)."
I am having great difficulty with the contrast of white text against a red background, even on my high-quality Dell monitors. I find that it's hard to read the white text, and particularly difficult to track the mouse cursor when all I know is that it's somewhere in one of the To, From, Subject, CC and BCC fields.
I reckon that an urgent change to a better-contrast arrangement is called for, even as simple as black rather than white text, as in the following test:
What do you think?
Actually, I don't understand what is meant by "When draft is flagged Not-Done" and what's the concept behind the red background. Why does the background become red as soon as you create a new message, before you have typed anything at all? What does 'not done" mean exactly? Why was this change made in version 4.5, what's the need for it or what is it intended to accomplish?
UPDATE (next day):
Carrying over from Eudora, where ir was a plug-in provided free by Brana, but is now a native feature of Pandora-- my practice is to always get the Warning - Draft Not Done! warning dialog, as in the following example:
In order for this dialog box to be presented when you hit the Send button, the Flag every new draft 'Not Done" option has to be set, as follows:
Prior to version 4.5 this was okay. However the change made in version 4.5 means that the ugly red background in the headers pane is forced to appear (along with its hard-to-decipher white text), as described above. If you so for me this is a net loss. because of you de-select this option the warning dialog does not get presented. :=(
REQUESTED NEW COMPOSING MAIL OPTION:
A solution to the above impasse could be to have a new Composing Mail setting something like "Always present Not-Done warning dialog" in order to cater for messages being resent (not just drafts),
SPELL CHECKER REQUEST:
While I'm at it, continuing my wish for Pandora to become even better ... You could well say that the subject line of an outgoing message is its most important component, the thing that first catches the recipient's notice. Therefore the subject line is the worst possible place to have any spelling errors. Unfortunately Pandora does not spell-check the subject line, and IMHO rectifying this should get some focus.
On the whole I find the spell checker to work pretty well. But it does have some annoying quirks (such as incorrectly challenging words with apostrophes such as in "Sorry, the deal's off Buster" and when you add a word to the dictionary it still challenges later occurrences of the word in that message).
In Pandora 4.5 under the heading Mailbox Preview Pane there are two bug fixes listed:
* Scrolling position is reset now upon content update.
* Fixed message neutral text/background colors.
The first bug I understand, because I raised this with Brana a month or two ago, and I thank Brana for the fix. :=}
The bug was that when you moved from one message to another (red arrow in the screenshot) in a mailbox, the scroll bar position remained where it was in the just-viewed message -- often at the bottom of the preview pane -- so that you always had to scroll up to see the top of the newly-viewed message. Since I read lots and lots of messages every day I found this to be very exasperating, a burden of additional vertical scrolling many times per day.
As for the second bug fix ("Fixed message neutral text/background colors") I don't have a clue what this means, would somebody please explain it to me? And for that matter, Brana made lots of changes to the User Interface related to colors and themes, see Butch Kemper's forum post at pandoramail.forumotion.net/t255-pandora-4-5-released
Obviously they're important for other Pandora Mail users, else Brana would not have devoted time and energy to them, but mostly they don't effect me personally as I use Pandora's default these which I find satisfactory.
A BACKWARDS STEP IN PANDORA 4.5 THAT NEEDS A QUICK FIX
There is one change in version 4.5 that troubles me intensely: "When draft is flagged Not-Done headers are displayed with red background and white letters (regardless of the active theme/color mode)."
I am having great difficulty with the contrast of white text against a red background, even on my high-quality Dell monitors. I find that it's hard to read the white text, and particularly difficult to track the mouse cursor when all I know is that it's somewhere in one of the To, From, Subject, CC and BCC fields.
I reckon that an urgent change to a better-contrast arrangement is called for, even as simple as black rather than white text, as in the following test:
What do you think?
Actually, I don't understand what is meant by "When draft is flagged Not-Done" and what's the concept behind the red background. Why does the background become red as soon as you create a new message, before you have typed anything at all? What does 'not done" mean exactly? Why was this change made in version 4.5, what's the need for it or what is it intended to accomplish?
UPDATE (next day):
Carrying over from Eudora, where ir was a plug-in provided free by Brana, but is now a native feature of Pandora-- my practice is to always get the Warning - Draft Not Done! warning dialog, as in the following example:
In order for this dialog box to be presented when you hit the Send button, the Flag every new draft 'Not Done" option has to be set, as follows:
Prior to version 4.5 this was okay. However the change made in version 4.5 means that the ugly red background in the headers pane is forced to appear (along with its hard-to-decipher white text), as described above. If you so for me this is a net loss. because of you de-select this option the warning dialog does not get presented. :=(
REQUESTED NEW COMPOSING MAIL OPTION:
A solution to the above impasse could be to have a new Composing Mail setting something like "Always present Not-Done warning dialog" in order to cater for messages being resent (not just drafts),
SPELL CHECKER REQUEST:
While I'm at it, continuing my wish for Pandora to become even better ... You could well say that the subject line of an outgoing message is its most important component, the thing that first catches the recipient's notice. Therefore the subject line is the worst possible place to have any spelling errors. Unfortunately Pandora does not spell-check the subject line, and IMHO rectifying this should get some focus.
On the whole I find the spell checker to work pretty well. But it does have some annoying quirks (such as incorrectly challenging words with apostrophes such as in "Sorry, the deal's off Buster" and when you add a word to the dictionary it still challenges later occurrences of the word in that message).
Re: User interface enhancements and bug fixes in Pandora 4.5 [UPDATED]
Sun Jan 22, 2023 11:41 am
White text on red background, for Not-Done flag, is supposed to be slightly alarming (something like the alarm buzzer at 5 AM), but sure it can be distracting so look for NotDoneEmphasize switch in next version.
Message neutral colors are primarily text and background colors that are not specified by sender (in HTML messages) in any way.
In case of plain text messages - all colors are message-neutral. Those message-neutral colors are specified by you in Windows control panel/theme file;
this is how you want message-text to look like (colors-wise), if you can help it.
Message neutral colors are primarily text and background colors that are not specified by sender (in HTML messages) in any way.
In case of plain text messages - all colors are message-neutral. Those message-neutral colors are specified by you in Windows control panel/theme file;
this is how you want message-text to look like (colors-wise), if you can help it.
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