Been using Thunderbird for a few years after using mostly webmail and it has been a mostly good experience. The UI revamps have definitely split the room somewhat, but honestly, Thunderbird's UI progression feels much better than Firefox's, and I have actually gotten used to the way Thunderbird looks and functions without too much pain. The information density is still generally alright, the tabs look like tabs, etc. The only thing that really tripped me up is the inconsistent hierarchy between the tabs and the sidebar, and I am not really that torn up about it, to be honest.
What I really think Thunderbird could use is account sync. For me on NixOS (how do you know if somebody uses NixOS? Don't worry, they'll tell you) I might just set up some secret data in SOPS and have an activation script ensure the accounts are all present, and then IMAP can take care of the rest. But for the general user, and maybe even still me, Firefox Sync support for accounts and extensions and more would be amazing.
Speaking of IMAP, JMAP support is another thing I'd love to see.
The thing I like most about Thunderbird's new UI is that I can switch back to the old one. The thing I like least about it, is that the switch is not in the View menu, but in it's own, very small button, out of the way, next to the Quick Filter buttons. What a choice!
I am aware, since I was looking forward to it in 115. Unfortunately, I kind of suspect it might not really be on the way, as last time I looked into it it seemed like it was in a bad state. I guess it's not a big deal, though.
> What I really think Thunderbird could use is account sync.
NOPE.
For account sync to be reliable and largely pain-free, credentials would also need to be synced. Which is a massive security no-no, as you don’t control the cloud they’re synced across. It’s why I still rock a pre-cloud version of Mailwasher.
Besides, aside from initial set-up, how frequently do your account settings need to be updated? I have run the same Thunderbird setup without any major changes for about 15 years now. A good ⅘ of my accounts in TB are unchanged since initial set-up in 2004.
There is one difference. Arch users will tell you, "I use Arch. You should try it." and NixOS users will tell you, "I use NixOS. You should probably not try it. You should try Arch."
If any Thunderbird dev is here please bring the "Customise From Address" to the mobile. It's a god-mode feature (probably nowhere else) for battling spam and truly utilising catch-all for personal domain based emails.
> locked as off-topic and limited conversation to collaborators
Companies that do this to their github projects want fans of their product to go away and stop bothering them. I wasn't aware that Mozilla was one of them, but it doesn't really surprise me.
Pretty sure it doesn't :) Unless you want a million (okay, couple of dozens or maybe early three digits) email addresses pre-added that you can "select" from.
PS. You might want to check that feature out that I explicitly named on Thunderbird desktop.
PPS. General observation: any software (or service) by Apple isn't even close to, and by that I mean within thousands of miles of, competent third party alternatives (FOSS or otherwise) :P
I cannot set a random outgoing From: address when sending an email in iOS. In many ways I understand applications not wanting this feature. Non-technical people will see it and wonder: What if I put in someone else's email address here?
Love that Thunderbird is moving forward. The UX work is great, and looks like they are finally getting to some more deeply buried issues too, like https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=479969 - my main reason why I can't switch fully back yet
The page starts off with light text on a dark background, then as you scroll down it switches to dark text on a light background and then as you keep scrolling it switches back again!
It's impressive to find a page which will irritate both the dark-mode and light-mode users in equal measure. Well done, Mozilla.
I started with 2024, continuing with 2023, ending with 2017. Each time it took significantly less time to open and render the page. I didn't check why that happened though, might just be because archive.ph has less load the archive.org etc, but it was extremely noticeable
"Make Email Easier" grabs me. "Free Your Inbox" doesn't. What's all this "Freedoms" razzmatazz? I hear that term a lot but usually from a certain corner of the political spectrum that I treat with extreme skepticism.
#1 annoying thing for me after landing on a blog... Never figured out why a company would make it so hard to see the actual product for new users. I can't imagine how many potential customers are lost that way.
And the older versions looked like every website of their era too. Back in 2011 with the "floaty" design (as I can't seem to figure out the real design term) and in 2015 with the material 1.0 design. That's normal!
That's how websites usually work especially when they are mostly portals for the actual product, not the product itself ;).
I really like the new design, much better than the sort of material 1.0 flatness it used to have.
Longtime Thunderbird user. I prefer the old interface and so I've selected that. I wish I could compose a message or a reply in a tab. I often have to click away from the compose window and finding it again is less convenient than it could be (I'm on a Mac.) Lots of people want it, it's been an open bug/feature request since 2008 [0] and yet this is ignored in favor of other UX cruft and website PR.
I don't get the importance of announcing a website redesign. Doesn't look like it would convince anyone to try it.
I really wish I could donate to the project without giving them my full details. Why if I send you a couple bucks with paypal do I need to provide my address? PayPal does all the payment validation...
Has thunderbird started doing what Firefox does and categorize your emails to send those stats back to Mozilla corp? If so, or it's in their plans, I guess that would be a reason they may want all my data.
I was happy that thunderbird was abandonware, the protocols haven't changed in the decade since I started using it, and it kept Mozilla from bloating it like FF and seeking profit motives.
Readit News
What I really think Thunderbird could use is account sync. For me on NixOS (how do you know if somebody uses NixOS? Don't worry, they'll tell you) I might just set up some secret data in SOPS and have an activation script ensure the accounts are all present, and then IMAP can take care of the rest. But for the general user, and maybe even still me, Firefox Sync support for accounts and extensions and more would be amazing.
Speaking of IMAP, JMAP support is another thing I'd love to see.
NOPE.
For account sync to be reliable and largely pain-free, credentials would also need to be synced. Which is a massive security no-no, as you don’t control the cloud they’re synced across. It’s why I still rock a pre-cloud version of Mailwasher.
Besides, aside from initial set-up, how frequently do your account settings need to be updated? I have run the same Thunderbird setup without any major changes for about 15 years now. A good ⅘ of my accounts in TB are unchanged since initial set-up in 2004.
PS. Also, any ETA for iOS? Alpha? Beta?
It's a very old issue that appears to be terribly misunderstood at this point, unfortunately the issue on github is currently locked https://github.com/thunderbird/thunderbird-android/issues/93...
Companies that do this to their github projects want fans of their product to go away and stop bothering them. I wasn't aware that Mozilla was one of them, but it doesn't really surprise me.
PS. You might want to check that feature out that I explicitly named on Thunderbird desktop.
PPS. General observation: any software (or service) by Apple isn't even close to, and by that I mean within thousands of miles of, competent third party alternatives (FOSS or otherwise) :P
It's impressive to find a page which will irritate both the dark-mode and light-mode users in equal measure. Well done, Mozilla.
2017: https://archive.ph/YNAQP
2023: https://web.archive.org/web/20230420163425/https://www.thund...
2024: https://www.thunderbird.net/
I started with 2024, continuing with 2023, ending with 2017. Each time it took significantly less time to open and render the page. I didn't check why that happened though, might just be because archive.ph has less load the archive.org etc, but it was extremely noticeable
Also: live site and archive.org both load the JS, archive.ph does not.
here's all of them at archive.ph:
2024: https://archive.ph/t2az0
2023: https://archive.ph/Zy43I
2017: https://archive.ph/YNAQP
That's how websites usually work especially when they are mostly portals for the actual product, not the product itself ;).
I really like the new design, much better than the sort of material 1.0 flatness it used to have.
I don't get the importance of announcing a website redesign. Doesn't look like it would convince anyone to try it.
[0] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=449299
Has thunderbird started doing what Firefox does and categorize your emails to send those stats back to Mozilla corp? If so, or it's in their plans, I guess that would be a reason they may want all my data.
I was happy that thunderbird was abandonware, the protocols haven't changed in the decade since I started using it, and it kept Mozilla from bloating it like FF and seeking profit motives.
I may just move back to roundcube.