Re: Mailing list archives: feeback requested on proposed improvements

[I'm replying to a message that Ian sent to a private list. He
authorized me to forward it to this list, so you'll find Ian full email
with my replies added]

le mar 26-03-2002 à 22:19, Ian B. Jacobs a écrit :
> Hi Dominique,
> 
> This is really helpful; thanks to you and everyone who has
> worked on this. I hope my comments don't come too late. Let
> me know if these seem reasonable.
> 
>   _ Ian
> 
> 1) I see that on two of the pages (the period view
>     and the message view):
> 
>      Broader listings: [This list] [more w3c mailing lists]
>      Mail actions: [mail a new topic]
>      Help: [How to use] [Search]
> 
>     I'd suggest using the same order on the index view, minus
>     the [This list] link. 

I'll try to see how it looks. I like the consistency it would add.

> I wonder whether a "go to latest message"
>     link would be useful on the index page.

Might certainly be useful. I don't know if it's doable though. I'll add
it as an open issue.

> 2) I'd like to have easy access to the list policy. The policy
>     can include a link to the home page of the group managing the
>     list, but a P3 requirement might be to have a link right
>     to the group page.
> 
> So the index page might look like this:
> 
>     wai-xtech@w3.org Mail Archives
> 
>     About this list: [Latest message] [List policy]
>     Broader listings: [more w3c mailings lists]
>     Mail actions: [mail a new topic]
>     Help: [How to use the archives] [Search in the archives]
> 
> I like the flexibility of putting some information on
> the index page (e.g., policy) before the period/resorted/messages 
> block and some after (e.g., longer policy statement).

Olivier has worked on having the general policy automatically added to
the index page. What I mean by general policy is "who can post, who can
subscribe, who can read, ...". Plus, each mailing list maintainer can
add any text he wants at the top and the bottom of the page. So I think
that would fit your suggestion.
 
> I'm not sure what the [Shortcut to the archives by period list]
> link does on the index page.

It's supposed to link to the top of the table with links to the period
pages. I guess I could make it fit more nicely in the page, especially
by using your proposed navigation bar (probably in the "about this list"
line).

 > I like that the period view is not busy. On the other hand,
> the message view is busy; there are three bullets at the
> top of the page (from/date/link to body) followed by 9 more.
> Then you wade through the message headers before you get
> to the message text. (I realize the message body link will
> help, but visually, it's very busy up front before I get
> to the meat of the message.) Also, the From/Date information
> is repeated at the top of the page and in the message headers.
> 
> One way to help bring out the content of the message would be
> to use the white background just on the message content, not
> the content and headers. I tested by using a <div class="body">
> inside the pre and changing the background color to white only
> on that section, and I find it easier to read.

Good idea, I'll see how it looks.

> But I'd also like to reduce the number of items at the top
> of the document. What about something like this before the
> message (headers and content):
> 
> * From: Jason White (email) on Sun, Aug 26 2002
> * [Message body] [Respond to this message] [More options]
> * Next message:
> * Next message in thread:
> * In reply to:
> * Previous message:
> 
> [More options] links to this block after the message and headers:
> 
> More options:
> * [Message body] [Respond to this message] [Previous options]
> * Contemporary messages sorted: [by date] [by thread] [by subj] ...
> * Broader listing: [this list, more time] [more w3c mailing lists]
> * Mail actions: [mail a new topic]
> * Help: [How to use the archives] [Search in the archives]

Good idea to separate the options between the top and the bottom. I'll
see what I can do.
 
> Questions: Where does the '[this list, more time]' link go (on
> the period and message views)? I'm not sure if it simply goes
> to the next month.

it goes to the mailing list index page. 

 > I think there should be an '[about this list] link from the period
> and message views to the index page. Maybe that could go in
> the "Help" section as the first link (followed by "how to
> use the archives" and "search").

Well, see above :)

Do you think the title should be changed?

dom
-- 
Dominique Hazaël-Massieux - http://www.w3.org/People/Dom/
W3C's Webmaster
mailto:dom@w3.org

Received on Wednesday, 27 March 2002 09:38:05 UTC