How I use Mail.app
Brent Simmons started an email group discussion about creating a new mail client in Cocoa. You can read the discussion here. So I’ve decided to describe how I use mail. Please forgive the overuse of the first person singular, but I’m essentially describing a user profile of myself so it’s unavoidable.
I try to follow the inbox zero (action-based email) philosophy as much as possible. I file most messages in a folder called archive. I do, however, have another folder called receipts for online purchases and a couple of other folders for professional topics. I try to keep my inbox clean, but usually have 1 to 5 items that are read but in my inbox until I’ve acted on them.
I am not a full-time independent software developer. I do release software in my spare time and work full-time in the enterprise Java space. So I don’t have to trudge through as many emails as some people. I also rarely subscribe to mailing lists, and when I do, I always subscribe in digest form. After reading a digest from a list, I delete it. I do not save it so I can search it in my email client. The list is archived on the web and if I need to look for something I look for it on the posted archives.
I am interested in the way email is presented and managed. Here is how I currently use Mail. I do not use three pane mode. I minimize the mail windows as small as possible. If I want to read a message, I double click it. I then right click on the message and file it in a folder to archive it once I’ve read it.
My main problem with using mail this way is it is not easy to change from the inbox to another mail folder. When I do, I create a new view window (File -> New Viewer Window). I then make that window larger and use it to search for old messages.
As you may have guessed, I am interested mainly in the UI and information hiding. My current inspiration for product design would be ZenWare.
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