Thunderbird:Menus:Menus after some consolidation

1. Current Menus
2. After some consolidation
3. After extraneous item removal

Basic Ideas

The goal is to reduce the overall weight of the menus, both in the total number of items and in the total number of submenus. The first way to do this is to consolidate items. Commands which exist in multiple places in the menus should be consolidated into the most intuitive place. (This isn't to say that commands shouldn't be accessible through keyboard shortcuts or other methods, but within the primary menus as a general rule we should limit it to one location.)

Cross-Platform Menus

Redundancies

highlighted

like this.

I don't believe there are very many duplicate items in the top level menus, at all. More fruitful would be comparing top-level to context menus, assuming you really want to eliminate all redundancies between them. --mcow

• File
  • New
    • New Message...
      [toolbutton]
      
      
      New Message redundant with Message|New, below
    • New Folder...
    • New Saved Search...
      
      If the "all folders are virtual" model is implemented, then obviously the New Folder and New Saved Search would be consolidated.
    • New Account...
      
      This item should be removed, as account creation is only a rare occurrence, and access should be consolidated to the Tools>Account Settings path.
    • New Address Book Card...
      
      This item should be removed, because functions for editing the address book should only be found in the address book UI. This function should be relegated to a menu inside the Address Book window.

• File (cont'd)
  • Open Saved Message...
  • Attachments
    
    this submenu has changed already in the trunk
    • (list of attachments)
    • Save All
  • Close (Window)
  • Save As
    • File
    • Template
  • Get New Messages for
    [toolbutton]
    • Get All New Messages
      
      In the suite, this item is labelled "All Accounts", much nicer
    • (list of accounts follows)
  • Send Unsent Messages
  • Subscribe...
  • Rename Folder
    
    This could be removed if Edit|Folder Properties allowed renaming (the F2 keyboard shortcut could remain)
  • Compact Folders
  • Empty Trash
  • Offline
    • Work Offline
    • Download/Sync Now...
    • Offline Settings
    • Get Flagged Messages
    • Get Selected Messages
  • Page Setup...
  • Print Preview
  • Print...
    [toolbutton]
  • Exit/Quit (but not available on Macs)</h3>

• Edit
  • Undo
  • Redo
  • Cut
  • Copy
  • Paste
  • Cancel Message
  • Delete Folder|Message
    [toolbutton]
  • Select
    • All
      
      unnecessary separator here
    • Thread
  • Find
    • Find in This Message...
    • Find Again
    • Find Previous
    • Search Messages...
    • Search Addresses...
  • Folder Properties...
  • Preferences
    
    Edit|Preferences is platform-specific, e.g. Linux; Windows (and other?) platforms use Tools|Options

• View
  • Toolbars
    • Mail Toolbar
    • Search Toolbar
    • Status Bar
    • Customize...
  • Layout
    
    Perhaps make this be an item that spawns a dialog in which you select the view you want? I haven't actually really considered this suggestion, so keep in mind it's just a suggestion and may actually be a regression.
    • Classic View
    • Wide View
    • Vertical View
    • Message Pane
  • Sort By (with a load of options)
  • Messages (with a load of options)
  • Threads (with a load of options)
  • Headers
    
    Eliminate in favor of a "Properties" menu item, as described below
    • All
    • Normal
  • Message Body As
    • Original HTML
    • Simple HTML
    • Plain Text
  • Display Attachments Inline
  • Text Size
    • Increase
    • Decrease
    • Normal
  • Character Encoding
  • Message Source
  • Message Security Info
    
    Create a generic "Properties" dialog that includes such info about the current message as: security info, headers, size, etc. The properties here would mostly be the non-visible ones when the preview pane (or whatever it's called in Thunderbird) is opened.

• Go
  • Next
    • Message
    • Unread Message
      [toolbutton]
    • Flagged Message
    • Unread Thread
  • Previous
    • Message
    • Unread Message
      [toolbutton]
    • Flagged Message
  • Mail Start Page

• Message
  
  see bug 236833
  • New Message
    [toolbutton]
    
    redundant with File|New|Message, cited above
  • Reply
    [toolbutton]
  • Reply All
    [toolbutton]
  • Forward
    [toolbutton]
  • Forward As
    • Inline
    • Attachment
  • Edit Message as New
  • Open Message
  • Move
    [toolbutton]
  • Copy
  • Label
  • Mark
    [toolbutton]
  • Create Filter from Message...

• Tools
  • Address Book
    [toolbutton]
  • Extensions
  • Themes
  • Message Filters...
  • Run Filters on Folder
    
    You can do this from within Message Filters, and running the filters should either be an automatic thing or an every-so-often thing that doesn't deserve menu space.
  • Junk Mail Controls
  • Run Junk Mail Controls on Folders
    
    This should be removed in favor of access through Junk Mail Controls for similar reasons to those for removing Run Filters on Folder.
  • Delete Mail Marked as Junk in Folders
    
    See previous, although this action is a more common occurrence and may need more accessible placement than the previous item.
  • Import...
  • Account Settings... (Windows only, Mac/Linux have it in Edit)

• Help
  • Release Notes
  • Mozilla Thunderbird Help
  • About Mozilla Thunderbird

I suggest that release notes should be subsumed by Mozilla Thunderbird Help. (This would mirror Firefox's Help menu, which had release notes at one point but later removed them.) The release notes are available through there, and I have great difficulty believing they're needed that often.

Mac-only Menus

• Thunderbird (Mac only)
  • About Thunderbird
  • Preferences...
  • Quit Thunderbird

I have no suggested changes for this menu; it fits with what I know exists for Firefox (or what may eventually exist - I don't use a Mac, and I might be confusing current status with status after some patches I've been watching get reviewed and checked into source).

• Window (Mac only)
  • Minimize
  • Zoom
  • Bring All to Front
  • Mail & Newsgroups
  • Address Book

These menus are pretty normal as well. I don't know the rationale for having both 'Mail and Newsgroups' and 'Address Book' in this menu, but it's only a fifth item in what's already a small menu. Someone more knowledgeable on Mac conventions should speak up here if there's a possible problem.