State of the Bird 2024/25

blog.thunderbird.net

12 points·mzur··8 comments

> updates that make Thunderbird feel fresher

This is coded language for screwing around with the UI again 8-/

I've used thunderbird for decades, I wish they'd stop changing the UI, and make the basic IMAP fetch functionality work.

Having a true maildir storage format would also be nice.

I don't want _any_ software that I use in my workflow to "feel fresh". I want the UI to remain stable, so I don't have to retrain my muscle memory.

The scroll bars that disappear still annoy me. along with the recent changes putting their buttons across the top of the window...

> I want the UI to remain stable,

Certainly, though with one exception: Contextual help for controls, especially for infrequent actions like configuration, which to an ordinary user feels new every time.

Specifically, one or more of:

- Circled "i" links

- Hover-help

- Conflicting option selections to grey out, rather than disappear

Re: financial contributions - When I hear "investments in our shared values" I automatically assume they're referencing things outside of building an email client.

Please. Fix. Search. Please. Fix. Search.

They wrote about this recently. With "Panorama" [1] they want to introduce an SQLite DB for all messages that will also be responsible for the search index.

[1] https://blog.thunderbird.net/2025/10/video-conversation-view...

Perhaps give us a look:

https://marcoapp.io

Search is single-digit ms!

12345678910

I had to correct my child's kindergarten teacher on this same sequence.

The correct order is: 0123456789

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