Mail Demo
This is a demo of what a sub_arctic mail program might look like. This
is not a real mail program although it would be easy to make it
real if you used
NDC.
All of these mail messages were just ripped out of my inbox one
day; I apologize to those that sent me these messages.
Features To Check Out
- The three lists at the top of the screen stay
synchronized no matter which one you click on. This is
accomplished automatically and without programmer intervention
after the listbosxes are configured.
- The listboxes can handle both non-contiguous (Ctrl-click
and drag) and contiguous selection sets (Shift-click).
- The thin black lines between the listboxes and below them
are "separators" which may be dragged to resize various
components. This is also done without programmer intervention
after the system is set up; it is implemented using constraints.
- The focused on object (the object with the red box around
it when it is selected) can be dragged out of the list. After
you have dragged a few pixels away from the focused object,
you will see an envelope which can be dragged out into the big
area below the listboxes- the "playing field." If you drop it
there, you'll see the mail message. (This is the same result
that you'll get from double clicking on an item in the list,
as well). If you have multiple items selected when you drag,
you'll get all those objects in the playing field.
- If you try to drop a message back onto the listboxes,
it will "fly home" via an animation.
- You can drag mail messages out of the top set of listboxes
and drop them onto the to-do list.
- If you would like a more detailed summary of a mail message
which is sitting in the to-do list, point at it with you
mouse and then leave the mouse still for a couple of seconds.
- The mail messages out on the playing field may be moved
around by clicking and dragging on the area to the right
of the three buttons at the top. Double clicking on that
same area changes the stacking order of the mail messages.
- If you point at one of the buttons on the mail messages
and then leave the mouse still for a couple of seconds,
you'll get some explanatory text about what the button does.
- Double-clicking on messages in the todo list restores the
messages back out onto the playing field.
Ian Smith
Last modified: Tue Oct 1 18:37:16 PDT