On latest dev version, noted a few things that would improve usability imo and probably not hard to do (if you know how). Theses are all in ref. to the "write new message" tab.. you see after you click a topic link.

1. Display the message topic somewhere on top of this page. I suggest right above recipients... see attached
2. Display all occurrences of currently signed on user as "me" rather than username (like Gmail)
3. Put a column header label of "From" over the author column... again, attached .png shd help show what I mean.

CommentFileSizeAuthor
readwritetabtweaks.png14.55 KBaharown07
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Comments

NaheemSays’s picture

NaheemSays CreditAttribution: NaheemSays commented

From that list number 1 is a recent (pretty serious) bug that should be fixed by #398916: Remove hook_form_alter in favor of a more flexible privatemsg_new form (The title is supposed to display where is says "write new message").

As for number 2, I personally disagree with that. Just imagine a user that registers with the username "me" then it would be possible to have a discussion between me and "me", which will get confusing fast. (similar problems with "You" or other pronouns.)

I personally have no opinion on proposal 3. I can live with it eitherway.

aharown07’s picture

aharown07 CreditAttribution: aharown07 commented

On #2... LOL... if a user signs up w/account of "me" he/she deserves whatever confusion ensues. :)

NaheemSays’s picture

NaheemSays CreditAttribution: NaheemSays commented

True. I like using the username "You". Can cause much carnage - but I prefer it when its on my terms.

Liam McDermott’s picture

Liam McDermott CreditAttribution: Liam McDermott commented

I like these, the 'me' idea is a good one in my opinion, and we know litwol loves to copy gmail. :)

litwol’s picture

litwol CreditAttribution: litwol commented

Actually i am with nbz on this one. I think that we should not impose the use of "me" or "you" in this context. However this may become a good feature if i we have an admin setting which allows site admin to customize this text to be anything they want. As well as a placeholder such as that would mean the site admin wants the actual username to show up instead of a static text.

lets discuss this a bit more, how can we make it flexible enough.

aharown07’s picture

aharown07 CreditAttribution: aharown07 commented

Options are good. All for that. If there's an admin setting, works great for me.

walker2238’s picture

walker2238 CreditAttribution: walker2238 commented

I like the idea of using "you", it gives it a more personal feel. Also outputting this as plain text will fix any confusion of someone having the username of You... which would be as a link. Another idea is to only use this feature for displaying the participants of a threaded message in the message view.

Berdir’s picture

Berdir
Primary language German
Location Switzerland
CreditAttribution: Berdir commented
Component: User interface » Code
Status: Active » Closed (duplicate)

#2 is going to be incorporated into #837748: Usability: CSS/HTML/Text Improvements (Make it easier to read private messages).

#3 is not necessary anymore because there will not be a separate column for the author anymore.

@nbz: You're welcome to test/review that other issue :) I think the link/no link difference will work in most cases (except when you don't have access to the user profile..)