Re: Cone 20050629

Sam Varshavchik writes:

> Download: http://www.courier-mta.org/download.php#cone
> 
> Additional enhancements to URL activation features.
> 
> • Activate URLs in HTML messages.  Handle mailto: URLs internally, pass http 
> and https URLs to firefox or mozilla.
> 
> • Identify likely http/https/mailto: URLs in text/plain content.  Identify 
> URLs in RFC 2369 headers.
> 
> • The default http/https URL handler searches PATH for a program called 
> “firefox”, or “mozilla”, in order to activate http/https URLs.  If it should 
> also look for something else (but what else could possibly be there?) now is 
> the time to submit a patch.
> 
> 

Great.  The previous "usability" patch (N/P up and down in list view)
and this URL viewer patch are lovely and work fine.  A suggestion for
the latter -- instead of doing firefox, mozilla in that order (which de
facto presumes that a computer has only one user since it looks at what
is INSTALLED and not what the user would prefer) -- make the browser
that is spawned a "setup" entry just like "editor".

That would make folks like me who still use galeon because it is still
better at the interface level than either firefox OR mozilla happy, and
would even let netscape users etc join in the fun.  I hacked the .in
script in obvious ways to look for galeon, firefox, mozilla in that
order and it works just fine, but the fix is too trivial to post as a
patch and the wrong solution anyway -- a user selection is the obviously
correct one, but one that is a lot easier for code developers to do than
me.

While working on this, I continue to think that if a user has a
preference set for their editor, they almost certainly want that editor
to be invoked EVERY TIME then enter the edit part of a message.  So
instead of forcing them to remember to ^U after getting into the message
body (possibly getting into various forms of trouble when they forget
and try to use ctrl-keys for their editor in the default editor first)
it would be lovely to just invoke their preference editor when the
cursor moves into the editable message body screen, if and only if it is
set.

While doing THAT, another useability fix that would be nice is to enable
emacs/shell key mappings as the default "editing" commands in the
message header, at least as an option.  I reiterate, using cursor keys
in a terminal-based tool is evil -- bash, tcsh, emacs, jove, most web
browsers -- they all understand things like ^A beginning of the line, ^E
end of the line, ^N/^P up and down a line, ^K delete to end of line.

The last thing I've requested (just to remind you) is that you use the
same file/folder browser interface for saving files and for
copying/saving to folders and that you allow that interface to create a
folder if it is entered and doesn't exist (possibly after a
tell-me-twice).  Cursor keys are very clumsy in a tty interface --
everywhere possible it is good to be able to just type in entries IF
they are known without moving one's fingers from the home keys.  It's
fine to HAVE an interface that allows hunt-and-point with cursor
based file selection, but it shouldn't be the ONLY interface as it is
very, very slow.

Overall, I'm impressed with the two fixes.  cone is much more usable
now, and the (in)ability to spawn URL's was a show-stopper.  Just a few
more changes and I'll be downright enthusiastic about cone!

   rgb

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