[Sussex] Mail client suggestions

[steve at dobson.org]

SLUGgers

On Thu, Apr 14, 2005 at 01:33:17AM +0100, Alan F wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2005 at 08:41:50PM +0100, Thomas Adam wrote:
> > On Wed, Apr 13, 2005 at 08:39:04PM +0100, Alan F wrote:
> > > As much as I like mutt, you might not have noticed in his post he said
> > > that he didn't find slypheed very user friendly, which sort of rules
> > > mutt out.. :-)
> > 
> > Interesting.  How did you come to that conclusion?
> 
> Mainly because mutt has no interface of its own for configuration. To
> setup mutt, one has to at least read the manual page for muttrc,
> probably refer to a few sample muttrc files, then create a muttrc with
> their text editor of choice.

mutt(1) also uses the environmental variables EDITOR and VISUAL to
determine which editor to use when a user wishes to compose an e-mail.
So you've got to be something of a command line jockey to like the
way mutt(1) does things.

>                               I'm not saying there's anything wrong
> with that; I've got my mutt setup exactly the way I want it and
> appreciate how configurable it is (I'd be pretty pissed if I lost my
> muttrc).

I too have a lot of time invested in my muttrc files.

>           What I am saying though, is that this process isn't most
> people's idea of user friendly.

And that is their loss.  muttrc(5) files are so powerful they are almost
a programming language in their own right.  It amazes me how much control
some people are prepared to give up just for a pretty look.

>                                  You also need to be comfortable with a
> console text editor (not a big issue since one could use nano/pico
> with mutt), and learn various keystrokes.

The only point I can see for nano(1) and pico(1) is for new users that
haven't take the time to learn a proper console text editor.  Now I'm
not saying that vi(1) or emacs(1) are intuitive editors, but they are
powerful.  Compare the search and replace functionality.  With GUIs 
you get a box that allows the input of the string to search for and
the string to replace (and some other minor options like direction or
case sensitivity).

But vi(1) and emacs(1) use regular expressions to match the search
text.  This allows one to find text that has more than just the one
string value.  It also allows that parts of the pattern can be used
in the replacement pattern.  If you've never used the pattern matching
features then it like a sports car is to a push bike.  Both are road
vehicles, but one will get you from A to B so much quicker.

>                                            Most e-mail users don't want
> or even need to learn such things just to send and receive emails when
> they can install and configure evolution/thunderbird/other gui email
> client in a matter minutes.

All GUI interfaces are limiting.  That's the nature of the beast.  The
pretty controls are design to limit the input the user can make so (s)he 
can't make a mistake.  But that also limits what you can do.  I've rejected
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) because of the power they take
away from me.
 
> Hope this makes some sense,

Perfect sense.  And thanks for the opening for a rant :-)

Steve
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