The Compose New Mail button lacks attention. The icon is almost lost in the UI. It is a primary function to write a new email, it needs to be obvious.
The search bar lacks focus. The search feature is a bit faded & is not obvious at a glance.
The starred emails don’t stand out well because the star is the same colour & smaller than the important/not important icon
Proposed Solution
The words “New Mail” next to the icon & perhaps a subtle bg colour change or divider would help separate this option from the mail boxes below.
A subtle bg shade behind the search bar, or a stronger dividing line, would help separate it from the mails below, which it is is lost in.
Stars could have stronger boldness when activated or the bg colour of the subject could change. “important” is decided by sender, & most emails have this tag. But Star is chosen by the client & this should stand out more.
Some of this should be pretty easy to achieve by hacking the CSS file. Basically, creating a theme that emphasises these elements. Adding words to the Compose button would probably be a bit more effort but you’re right - research shows that buttons without labels are less easily identified (and thus used) than buttons with labels.
Hi JohnP,
Thanks for your consideration.
I would just add that in the case of “Compose”, all the buttons in that column have labels, so it would also make sense for consistency.
MailSprings UI is carefully considered. Element spacing & subtlety of lines/bg’s has been applied with expert detail. Its an outstanding success in app design & a pleasure to use.
