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Mozilla Thunderbird Gets Firefox-style Tabs

Posted by Zonk on from the now-if-they-can-make-lattes-i'll-be-set dept.

daria42 writes "A developer has added tabbed browsing of e-mail messages to Mozilla's Thunderbird e-mail client, mimicking one of the most popular features of the Firefox and Opera Web browsers." From the article: "It is unlikely the feature will be found in Mozilla's imminent release of Thunderbird 1.5 -- currently in testing -- but software developer Myk Melez has put test versions of Thunderbird online with the tabbed browsing feature included. However, there are doubts over the suitability of these downloads for production use as they are based on bleeding-edge 'unofficial' code. "

26 of 203 comments (clear)

  1. Interesting by voice_of_all_reason · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, if you drink enough thunderbird, everything has tabs, man...

  2. OH BOY! by utexaspunk · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's Lotus Notes! *shudder*

    1. Re:OH BOY! by millahtime · · Score: 4, Funny

      NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ! Not Lotus Notes.

      I have used many email clients including the Microsofties out there and Lotus is the only one to give me night mares. Terrible Night Mares.

      --
      Evolution or ID?
    2. Re:OH BOY! by Xarius · · Score: 3, Funny

      Lotus is the only one to give me night mares. Terrible Night Mares.

      I'd use Lotus if it gave me nocturnal horses, they'd fetch a pretty penny ;)

      --
      C17H21NO4
    3. Re:OH BOY! by Solder+Fumes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I used Lotus Notes for years at my last job. At my current job, we use Outlook.

      Lotus Notes. Is. BETTER!

      Who cares if it looks a little ugly, there are some themes you can skin it with too. If you're thinking about the workspaces with big square icons, that's now a legacy feature: Notes now uses a sidebar with essentially what are folders.

      But the real meat is in usability. Maybe it takes a little getting used to, but the interface actually gets pretty efficient when you've used it for a while. Lotus Notes is also 100 times better for mobile users, or even remote users on slow VPN connections. Ever tried to use Outlook remotely? You can be editing an email and the editor will freeze every couple minutes, for a minute or two, while the client check for new mail. Lotus Notes doesn't lock up your client when a connection is lost, and Replication has always been handled well.

      Lotus Notes is much more flexible than Outlook, too. We had thousands of forms and applications in Notes, making it easy to do things like get a production report or submit change requests and purchase orders. It's easy to keep them organized and see who did what, and when. I spent several million dollars of company money through that system. Maybe you can set a similar system up in Outlook, I don't know, but at least where I now work no one has bothered. Everything is done via Word documents and no one knows what the most recent version is, and they all look different.

      I've used both, and my opinion is that for the users, if you just want to get work done, Notes does the job. Maybe Outlook is easier for you IT administrators to set up, but a few hours of YOUR time is nothing compared to a few hours of everyone in the company's time. I seriously waste time now waiting for Outlook to do something and creating new forms or hunting down a document in a folder somewhere.

    4. Re:OH BOY! by dim5 · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I used Lotus Notes for years at my last job. At my current job, we use Outlook. Lotus Notes. Is. BETTER!
      • Skinnable themes: +1
      • Replication: +1
      • Forms: +1
      • F5 = refresh^H^H^H^H^H^H^H LOG OUT: -1,000,000
      ----------------
      Total: -999,997

      Nope, sorry, still sucks.

      --

      Is something burning?
      Oh, it's my karma.

  3. Why? by patio11 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm all for new features but can't really see a use case for this one. You can already switch between emails at the touch of a button, and unlike modern internet browsing you're almost working with multiple mail windows at once (and with email I presume you'd never tab over to another screen while waiting for a page to render, which is one of the main attractions of tabs for me). There also isn't a compelling need to auto-launch your favorite twelve emails when you open Thunderbird so you can, uh, re-read them again, like you would add your news sites to a tab-group in a browser.

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    1. Re:Why? by Short+Circuit · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Even in GMail, with its excellent thread support, I sometimes find I want more than one email easily accessible.

      Usually, it's when I'm composing a message containing a composite of information from a number of past emails. Happens most when I'm coordinating between different people.

      --
      tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  4. Looks out of place by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the article it looks like they have replaced the preview pane with tabbed email views.

    That looks like it would be confusing - especially if the list above doesn't tally with which email is visible.

    I cannot quite see how this would help (tabbed browsing is easy to see the benefits), tabs for the sake of tabs seems pointless.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
    1. Re:Looks out of place by millahtime · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I cannot quite see how this would help (tabbed browsing is easy to see the benefits), tabs for the sake of tabs seems pointless.

      After using Lotus (not by choice) I have grown quite fond of tabbed emails. It can be a real convienance when you need to have several emails open and don't want new windows for each as it will get cluttery. Just like with many web pages when it was a pretabed browsing world.

      --
      Evolution or ID?
  5. Lotus Notes by tscheez · · Score: 3, Informative

    Notes has had tabs for a very long time. It's nice to see that other people think that is a usefull feature.

    --
    Supplies!
  6. one use by harmanjd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One Use I could see for this (maybe) is with an rss feed or newsgroup reader. You could have each topic in the rss feed open in a seperate tab. For a newsgroup, you could get each thread in a seperate tab.

    But for regular email? I don't open multiple email windows in thunderbird and never really had a desire to. So why would I need tabs?

  7. Nice work. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    From the related links: "Compare prices on Mozilla". Compare prices on free software? Are CoolTechZone running the ads on here?

  8. Email tabs == good by digidave · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There are only two comments above my threshold right now and both are negative, however, if you've tried the Opera email client you will know that tabs are a good thing. Email tabs are not quite as useful as web browser tabs, but they are equally as good as file manager tabs (Konqueror, anyone?).

    Since I've switched from Opera to Kmail for my email it's the one thing I've missed. Don't knock it until you try it. With any luck, Thunderbird tabs will be implemented as well as Opera tabs.

    --
    The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
    1. Re:Email tabs == good by digidave · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Now that I've taken a closer look at Thunderbird's tabs I will offer my opinion: they are doing it wrong. Tabs should replace all windows, but Thunderbird's tabs seem to only allow tabbing through the small email preview box.

      What I'd like to see is a fully tabbed interface where the address book would open in a tab, an integrated Sunbird calendar would open in another tab (if Sunbird is installed), each email would open in their own tabs, etc.

      Simply tabbing through previews seems like a half-assed way to do it. It still looks moderately useful at the expense of having an inconsistent interface.

      --
      The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
  9. Following threads is easier by Shivetya · · Score: 5, Informative

    We have Lotus Notes at work. It is not uncommon for me to have more than two messages open at once, each under its own tab. Even my reply is under its own tab. Another example of a good use, I am reading an involved message and an urgent one comes to my attention. Open the new one in its tab and leaving the other's display undisturbed.

    Bringing OSS applications up to the level of current business applications is key to gaining acceptance. As with any other feature it should be selectable. Now there are many OSS packages that have features I would love to see in the commercial applications I use by feature movement is much easier one way than the other.

    --
    * Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
  10. Re:Tabs... for email... hmmm by technothrasher · · Score: 4, Informative
    The only thing I would like to se (and it is prolly there, but I just haven't looked for it) is heirarchical email display.


    Yup, already there. "View | Sort By | Threaded"

  11. Re:What is so great about tabbed browsers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who can I complain to if Firefox screws me

    Do you really think that you can complain to MS when IE screws you?
    The best of luck, my poor deluded friend.

  12. Re:What is so great about tabbed browsers? by rcotran · · Score: 3, Insightful

    hehe

    You think you can complain to Microsoft and they will actually DO something about it? They haven't had a new browser in 5 years. What makes you think they'll listen to your complaints and make a move?

    Mozilla is an open-source product with huge community support. You're MUCH more likely to get a change-request addressed or bug-report fixed in Firefox than you are with Internet Explorer.

  13. Good idea! by beforewisdom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This is a good idea. I often finding myself futzing with windows so I can display two emails at the same time.

    Now, if you could use thunderbird to filter out a person in usenet and replies to his post without taking out the entire thread, that would be cool too.

  14. GMail is the future! by Chalex · · Score: 3, Informative

    I like Thunderbird. But ever since those guys from Google made GMail, I can't imagine being tied to a desktop mail client.

    I believe a web-based interface accessible from anywhere is the inevitable winner in e-mail clients. Just like Linux will inevitably be on all computers, eventually.

    1. Re:GMail is the future! by FrankNputer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Until the network is down, that is.

      I like webmail a lot, I really do - but there are still a couple good reasons for a mail client, such as having a second copy of your mail - if my server storage goes completely south, I still have copies of lots of vital info on my workstation; the ability to use mail when the web server doesn't work - usually, if there's a problem with the webmail I don't know about it until someone tells me, because the SMTP still works; and as I stated above, if for some reason I can't get to the network then I can still access the information I need.

      Given our reliance on email communications these days, I think it's wiser to consider webmail as an enhancement rather than a replacement. Hell - what do you do if suddenly Google goes out of the email business? Myself, I have Thunderbird set to check my Gmail account just like the others. They can quit tomorrow, & I'll just file it & use another service.

  15. Yeeees! by jimwelch · · Score: 3, Informative

    One of the big items I miss at home. While the Lotus system sucks big time at work, (poor IT management) this is one of the few items that I love about Lotus.

    After using linux for over ten years, Mozilla is the best thing that happened to FOSS.

    --
    Never trust a man wearing a coat and tie!
  16. Thunderbird Wishlist by roubles · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wish they'd get the basic features developed first - before implementing all this gold plating. I still cannot filter imap messages based on text in the body. I can do this with outlook, evolution, pine, to name a few ...

  17. Re:What is so great about tabbed browsers? by Dionysus · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Plus, with windows IE, I have a billion dollar company standing behind my product. Who can I complain to if Firefox screws me.

    You're so right. I mean, over the last five years, the billion dollar company has released so many updates to its browser, while Firefox has more or less been standing still. Clearly, the billion dollar company cared more about their product than those hippies at Mozilla. In fact, I care about IE as much as Microsoft does.

    --
    Je ne parle pas francais.
  18. Re:Tabbing in the Window Manager by Per+Bothner · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Agreed. When I right-click on a tab, I want an option to convert the tab to a new window. And I should be able to turn a window into a tab of another window. The latter is trickier, especially if you allow multiple applications in the same tab set. That implies tabs would be part of the window frame, and go above the application-specific menubar toolbar etc.

    I.e. a window containing multiple tabs is logically multiple windows only one of which is visible at a time, and that are stacked on top of each other like a "deck".