FastMail compose support request

1-initial-request.md

I prefer web interfaces rather than desktop clients when possible, i.e., when the web interface is at least almost as good as the desktop client, so I use the FastMail web app almost exclusively. For the most part, it's great. I would prefer not to be reprimanded for pinning ancient emails every time I look at my Archive, but whatever.

But let's talk about Compose.

Let's say I'm writing a rich text email, and I want to create a numbered list. I click the numbered list icon in the toolbar, and get a 1. I write something, newline, 2. Great. Write some more stuff. Now I want to start a sublist. Tab! Awesome. I add a few more sublist items. Now I want to dedent and add an item to the root list. Shift+tab! Wait, nope, that focuses the subject field. WTF? OK, scan the toolbar... nope, nothing there. Well, the ⏵¶ and ⏴¶ buttons look promising, but mouseover indicates they're for left-to-right / right-to-left text direction settings (how many people actually change text direction in an email?). Okay, hmm. Hack time! I go back to my root list and add a new item, and then copy & paste my sublist into the preceding root list item. Uggh, it's now all at the root list level. Let's try and indent them. Set the cursor to the beginning of the line... tab... nothing. Hmm. Create another pseudo-element, empty, above. Tab to indent, (fn+)delete to pull next root list item into sublist. Yay! It's a terrible, overwrought hack, but it works!

Mad props for not being the infuriating cesspit of UX that gmail has become, yet I can't help but think there might be a better way?

P.S.: Command + right bracket = quote. WTF#2? What text editor do your devs use that that seemed like a reasonable idiom?

P.P.S.: Chrome 46.0.2490.80, Mac OS X El Capitan

P.P.P.S.: Sorry to complain so much, but really, FastMail is great. I just wish it were better.

2-subsequent-reply.md

Hi Christopher,

Just hit "enter" on a blank bullet point to decrease the list level.

With regards to your other questions:

how many people actually change text direction in an email?

All those that use Right-to-Left languages.

Shift+tab! Wait, nope, that focuses the subject field. WTF?

Generally people expect tab to move between fields in the compose screen. Now I realise we overload it to indent in the specific case where you are on a blank bullet point, so it would probably make sense to overload shift-enter to unindent in this situation too, although enter is even easier once you get used to it.

Let's try and indent them. Set the cursor to the beginning of the line... tab... nothing.

We already have this implemented and will be rolling this out in a few weeks.

Command + right bracket = quote. WTF#2? What text editor do your devs use that that seemed like a reasonable idiom?

Sublime Text, as it happens, but I believe it's a fairly standard Mac shortcut to indent/unindent. In emails, that's logically increase quote level, decrease quote level.

Regards,

Neil.

3-followup.md

Just hit "enter" on a blank bullet point to decrease the list level.

Ah, simple as that. I wish I had known. Is this documented somewhere?

All those that use Right-to-Left languages.

I appreciate that your toolbar default is parsimonious, c.f. Word: http://images.pcworld.com/news/graphics/152585-word_11.jpg, TinyMCE: http://ostatic.com/files/images/dbimage_6.jpg, but I would personally like to use the toolbar to change indentation, instead of, e.g., switching writing directions (which I never do, and which there is a context menu option for anyway). Can I configure / personalize that somewhere?

Generally people expect tab to move between fields in the compose screen. Now I realise we overload it to indent in the specific case where you are on a blank bullet point, so it would probably make sense to overload shift-enter to unindent in this situation too, although enter is even easier once you get used to it.

Do you mean over "shift-tab to unindent", not shift-enter? So that shift-tab does the same thing as enter?

Or if you only want to trigger the dedent when on a blank bullet point, what about the case where I want to dedent a non-empty subitem?

You've already overloaded tab to prevent the idiomatic form-navigation usage. I find this intuitive for a rich text editor, despite being non-idiomatic from a puritan a-form-element-is-a-form-element-is-a-form-element point of view. So, given that you've violated that norm, it seems logical to overload shift-tab as well.

Let's try and indent them. Set the cursor to the beginning of the line... tab... nothing.

We already have this implemented and will be rolling this out in a few weeks.

That will be nice, thanks.

Sublime Text, as it happens,

Me too, so my muscle memory / intuitions should agree with theirs

but I believe it's a fairly standard Mac shortcut to indent/unindent. In emails, that's logically increase quote level, decrease quote level.

In the context of a quote, sure. But to apply the semantics of <blockquote> on unstyled text when the user simply indents it seems to be a big assumption. More primitively, indent might mean something more like "set {margin-left: 4em}". But it can be even more powerful / flexible if interpreted contextually, in which case, if it's in a list, it should indent/unindent the list item under the cursor.

Thanks for your detailed response. I hope these points make sense and help make the Compose editor into a more self-consistent and predictable user experience.

4-followup-reply.md

Ah, simple as that. I wish I had known. Is this documented somewhere?

Most keyboard shortcuts are documented in our help pages here – https://www.fastmail.com/help/receive/kbshortcuts.html – however I see this one has been overlooked. I will make sure it gets added in.

Can I configure / personalize that somewhere?

No, sorry, we have no plans to allow the toolbar to be customised.

Do you mean over "shift-tab to unindent", not shift-enter? So that shift-tab does the same thing as enter?

Yes, sorry, I meant shift-tab.

More primitively, indent might mean something more like "set {margin-left: 4em}"

Maybe, but that rarely seems useful, whereas quoting is a fundamental part of many email responses, and having easy, consistent shortcuts to manipulate quote level is very useful to many users.

Regards,

Neil.