Need compact density View for folder tree WHILE using spacious Default density View for message list & content
With Thunderbird 115.4.2., the program no longer permits a compact density for the folder tree if you also need or prefer a more spacious ("default") setting for the emessage list and contents.
These spacing preferences should be separated...because the folder tree view does not change from minute to minute, so it does not need to be seen and studied as often. BUT the message list is constantly changing so users always need to at it more closely and frequently as messages are constantly arriving.
So more space more is more important for the message list than it is for the folder tree view. And if you have many folders, as I do, you may want a more compact view of the folder tree to reduce need for constant scrolling....even though you may want--or need--an easy to skim and see view of the message list, as I do.
After the redesign in the current version 115.4.25, it has now become either all too small, or all too spacious, but no longer possible to have a compact tree view for the folders and a more spacious or default view fpr the message list and contents.
Can you please separate the density setting for the folder tree from the setting for the message list, or otherwise permit a setting that looks like "compact" for the folder tree list displayed at left, but also permits a more spacious, or "default" spacing for the message list when displayed horizontally above the message content?
All Replies (7)
The densities of the Threads Pane (message list) and Folder Pane can be set separately with css:
/* threads pane row height */
tr[is="thread-row"] {
line-height: 30px !important;
}
/* folder pane row height */
li[is="folder-tree-row"] {
line-height: 30px !important;
}
The first part is for Table View. For Cards View:
/* threads pane card height font */
.thread-card-container{
height: 60px !important;
font-size: 18px !important;
}
Help/Troubleshooting Info, Profile Folder, Open Folder, close TB, create a new folder named chrome, create a new document in chrome with a text editor, name it userChrome.css, Save as type: All files *.*, copy in the above code, change the numbers as desired. Double-click toolkit.legacyUserProfileCustomizations.stylesheets to true in Settings/General/Config. editor, restart TB.
sfhowes said
The densities of the Threads Pane (message list) and Folder Pane can be set separately with css:/* threads pane row height */ tr[is="thread-row"] { line-height: 30px !important; } /* folder pane row height */ li[is="folder-tree-row"] { line-height: 30px !important; }
This will not work properly if you set, for example, 40px and start scrolling through the list of emails. There is a problem with scrolling.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunderbird/comments/15conez/comment/k0gi9tl/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1423577#answer-1608118
The suggested CSS fix has bugs and can make TB unusable, I have realized after using it for a few days.
Bug 1: Withe classic table view on Windows 10, the Folder Tree only responds to the userChrome.css setting if TB View/Density is set to Compact." While Density is "Compact," the spacing shown for line height does change, independently, according to the CSS file's "px" numbers for Folder Tree and the threads panel / Message List.
2. However, Bug 1 makes TB unusable, because of BUG 2: Bug 2. When View Density is set to "Compact" but the Message List /Threads panel is more spacious (due to the CSS line height settings), you can't scroll and click through a long list of messages because every time you click, TB jumps to highlight that message, but it jumps off the visible display of the Message List; apparently the program is calculating where to place the focus and highlight the clicked on message BY NOT USING THE ACTUAL LINE HEIGHT set by the CSS but some other line height (presumably based on "Compact" density?)
If you try to click, or scroll and select (Shift Click) several messages, you can't: they vanish off the visible display after you click 9on them.
So TB is not usable in this condition. If scrolling, click, and focus code were aware of the line height that is actually in effect in the message list, I think things would be great. But at present, this means you can't select, delete, etc., from a message list if it contains more than 10 or 20 messages, if you are seeking a readable line height for the list and a more compressed line height for the folder tree. At this point, after 3 days of trying to cope with this, I am debating downgrading to previous TB. Will you report this as a bug, or am I expected to do that?
Thank you.
Thank you for being responsive, and for the links. My problem is a little different than that described in those links. (My hardware acceleration is off, by the way).
1. Scrollng is fine (usually). The wheel of my mouse works perfectly at any Density setting, and with any number ##px between 18 and 40 for the thread rows, in the CSS template that you provided to me. Wheel on mouse stopped working for about 30 minutes last night for some unkown reason...otherwise, wheel scrolling is perfect. [Page down and pg up aren't routinely operative, nor are up arrow and down arrow to scroll, but that's a nasty problem that I'm not focusing on right now).
2. Clicking and selecting a message in a Message List, is my problem. The problem is: I click on message in the list (table view), and the click causes a "jump-scroll" movement out of the screen "window" with the focus and the message that I tried to click on below the bottom cut-off of the "window" or "viewport" or whatever you call the rectangle on the screen that contains the message list. So I have to scroll after clicking to go find the message I clicked on, and I can't select a group of several messages because the focus is always jumping off the screen and is crazy.
3. This problem, #2 above, DOES NOT HAPPEN...can be made to vanish, in only two ways that I have found:
A) If there is a userChrome.css file with a ##px value for Thread Row Height of 27 AND the View/Density is set to Default; In this case I can click, select, scroll, select many emails, early in the list, late in the list, it is all stable, predictable and acceptable).
B) The problem also does NOT occur if one removes or renames the userChrome.css file that contains settings for row height and tree folder line height settings and Card line height settings as you provided to me. Without those settings in useChrome.css, Density can be compact or Default or Relaxed, it all works.
Outside of these two conditions, the problem happens, big time, and it makes TB not usable anylonger.
..
As mentioned in the first link, the line-height and density have to be chosen to provide a stable display. If I set the height to 40px with Relaxed density, selecting messages in the Thread Pane (message list) is sufficiently stable, especially in Vertical View. There is no difference if the alternative code here is applied.
Did not work for my .. however choosing the top right menu button and selecting "Density = compact" does exactly was I was looking for !
This happens if some "designer" touches the layout !
"See how roomy and breathable that is? See all the white space that helps prevent cognitive overload?"
No, I am not opening TB to just stare at it for fun an marvel at the "roomy" white space which wastes my screen space ! Now I have to scroll 2x through my folder pane to get to the folders I needed. How dare to push that on users without an easy option to switch ?
Although I have enough works to do, now I have to waste hours of valuable time to fix this shit ... Thank you Product Design Manager Alex Castellani !!
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