Account Color in messagelist

[Olger]

I only found AquaMail yesterday, after my long time MailWise app started playing up, and am loving it. The customization options seem endless, and I can (almost) tweak it to how I like it. There's pretty much only one thing that bothers me. I've set it to display a gradient colored bar for the account on the right hand. It's the gradient that I don't like. It doesn't fit the look and feel. Is it possible to make that (another) option, yes or no gradient? So that it displays a solid (thin) bar at the right with the color of the account?

I don't know how I've never come across AquaMail in the past, but I'm glad I found it now.
Keep up the good work!

[mikeone]

Hi,
In addition to @Paris Geek's suggestion you are able to set different background colours for each account in account list:

Long press on Account name > Assign colour

You will find some predefined colours, which are also customizable: use the tab "Custom" and toggle the wheel and/or the two slides.
Furthermore you can define a colour with a specific Hex value in the tab "Exact".

[Olger]

I don't find any "gradient" in message list.

Are you mentioning the little colored triangles? You can get rid of them in App settings -> Look and feel

Are you mentioning the vertical bands at the right in Smart folder? Don't show them (App settings -> Smart folder), only thin horizontal bands will be displayed with account/folder name.

The vertical bands in Smart Folder, yes. I don't like the horizontal account/folder name either. :-P Found that earlier. Got rid of the triangles too.
I have been hunting through the various settings, and reading the FAQ, which gave me a few additional clues to other things.

I like the vertical bands, just not with the gradient. :-D I think it looks cleaner that way. See attached file for comparison (note  I didn't bother to replicate all the stars...)

[Olger]

Hi,
In addition to @Paris Geek's suggestion you are able to set different background colours for each account in account list:

Long press on Account name > Assign colour

You will find some predefined colours, which are also customizable: use the tab "Custom" and toggle the wheel and/or the two slides.
Furthermore you can define a colour with a specific Hex value in the tab "Exact".

Those are some of the first things I go for. :-D

[Olger]

Regarding the stars, my suggestion:
- Don't display them (Message List setting)
- Set a background color to enhance "starred" messages (see last setting in Message List)
- Define a swiping action to mark/unmark starred (elegant and minimalist)
- Set different colors and boldness for read/unread messages (in Message list settings) to distinguish starred read from starred un read

I like the stars, not an issue. I only mentioned that I couldn't be bothered replicating them in my mockup.

Regarding the gradient colors in Smart folder (which I don't use since I prefer to see the folder name): you should see them on Samsung 6 Edge+ or 7 Edge curved screens. Awesome.

Ah, that makes more sense then. But would still appreciate an option to turn that gradient off as I don't have a curved screen on my S4...

[Kostya Vasilyev]

The gradients only kick in under a specific set of circumstances:

- Smart folder (as opposed to a single folder)
- "Account / folder labels" turned off
- "Compact view" turned on

This leaves basically no room for nice vertical bars (as in your mockup), they just end up being too narrow to be useful.

Yes, I agree that the gradient is not that nice looking, but what other options can you recommend?

[Olger]

The gradients only kick in under a specific set of circumstances:

- Smart folder (as opposed to a single folder)
- "Account / folder labels" turned off
- "Compact view" turned on

This leaves basically no room for nice vertical bars (as in your mockup), they just end up being too narrow to be useful.

Yes, I agree that the gradient is not that nice looking, but what other options can you recommend?

I have account/folder labels turned off. Turning compact view on or off doesn't make a difference (I wouldn't expect it to either). Just to be clear, I'm talking about the "Settings->Messagelist->Slim padding" option. Couldn't find a "compact view" option so assume that is what you mean?

I generally use the smartfolder view, as I like a unified inbox. Being able to add other folders to the smartfolder is a nice feature, but not one I use. I move emails to other folders asap to keep a zero inbox.

I appreciate the gradient could look awesome on a curved edge phone (as others have commented) and don't want to take that away from them. But on a phone without a curved edge, I feel a simple solid vertical bar, maybe 3 or 4 pixels in width, looks way better. As mentioned earlier, by making this a setting, people can choose whichever they prefer.
I used MailWise before, and when it started playing up I was forced to look for something else. In hindsight I'm glad as it led me to AquaMail, which has the same options and then some.
MailWise uses thin vertical bars on the right, in the color of the account, and that works just perfect.
Which is why I commented on the gradient.

So, what I am suggesting is replacing the gradient (which would be 15 or 20 pixels total width) with a solid vertical bar (against the right edge) of about 3-5 pixels wide. And make this a setting so people can toggle between gradient and solid bar.

See attached screenshot of a unified inbox on MailWise (not my emails, found it on Google Images).

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Yes, I meant slim not compact.

Like I said, if the user happens to enable that, then the amount of space for the proposed vertical bar is just too small, hard to see. Have tried it before.

Has nothing to do with curved screens. Just the bar too narrow to be useful.

Maybe I should remove the setting for "account / folder hints" so there are always text labels ("account / folder") above each message? It's the default too.

[Olger]

Yes, I meant slim not compact.

Like I said, if the user happens to enable that, then the amount of space for the proposed vertical bar is just too small, hard to see. Have tried it before.

Has nothing to do with curved screens. Just the bar too narrow to be useful.

Maybe I should remove the setting for "account / folder hints" so there are always text labels ("account / folder") above each message? It's the default too.

Oh no, don't do that. :-D
I'm sure there are others (like me) who don't want to use that label. That's the appeal (from what I read) about AquaMail, it has a massive amount of settings, allowing for each and everyone to customize it to their liking.
I like a slick and clean interface and to me, that gradient doesn't fit. I've used the vertical bars in MailWise and must say I respectfully disagree, I find them very useful. They make for a clean indicator which account the message belongs to. Being able to set the color of the account, I can make those vertical bars more or less visible.
As long as enough pixels are used for the width of the bar (which would be much less than the current gradient uses, probably a third).
I appreciate that you personally may not feel the need, but that's why this could be up to the enduser. AquaMail is all about customization, so this would fit right in. Allowing the enduser to decide how they want to use it.

Before I forget again, AquaMail is an awesome job.

[GregW]

Agreed! Don't remove option to hide account/folder! And BTW, I love the color gradient as is. AABTW, this app is excellent work!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Kostya Vasilyev]

The just posted (on Sunday) 1.6.2-dev4 uses color bars as you suggested.

You can get it from the forum here (under "Development builds") or via Google+ / Google Play:

https://plus.google.com/communities/112921486711044378404

[Kostya Vasilyev]

Re: Those bars are very thin, even a large screen. The gradient was better, those bars being hardly perceptible.

Don't talk to me, talk to @Olger (above).

Maybe you guys could settle it with baseball bats (mafia style).

[Olger]

Sorry guys, haven't been here a while. I assumed I would get an email when someone responds to a thread I replied into (as is the case in many other forums) but I guess not. Also couldn't find a setting in the forum to enable this (which doesn't necessarily mean it's not there, just that I haven't found it).

Anyway, regarding the thin bars, I had been hoping for it, but only found today that Kostya had changed those. I expected an update through Google Play which I hadn't seen yet. I didn't realize updates are not necessarily available for every device. I've got a Samsung S4 mini (running Carbon ROM 4.4.4), which is still stuck on v1.6.1.5 in the store. I downloaded the later releases 1.6.2.0 and 1.6.2.2 (which both seem to work fine) and am now enjoying the thin bars. Thank you for that Kostya.

@Paris, I didn't ask for the gradient to be removed, I merely asked to have the choice of a gradient or thin bar. I find the thin bar much nicer to look at, but my Samsung doesn't have a curved edge. The thin bars suit my device very nicely. Not in the way, much cleaner but providing just enough visual cue which mailbox they belong to.
That though is my personal taste.

[Olger]

Thin bars like they are implemented currently are fine. Kostya has made them thicker than in the first version.
Thank you for your answer, enjoy Aquamail.

Ah ok, I skipped the dev version as I figured I'd probably have better luck with the next stable after that (1.6.2.0).

[mikeone]

Sorry guys, haven't been here a while. I assumed I would get an email when someone responds to a thread I replied into (as is the case in many other forums) but I guess not. Also couldn't find a setting in the forum to enable this (which doesn't necessarily mean it's not there, just that I haven't found it).
...

Hi Olger,
You will find this option right below the box of your reply;
1. Tap on "Attachments and other options
2. enable the checkbox "Notify me of replies"
[screenshot #1]

The general setting for this option you will find in your forum's account settings:
> Profile > Modify profile > Notifications >enable Turn notification on when you post a reply to a topic
[screenshot #2]

It's so easy as it sounds :-)