130 Pixels for Sender & Subject

Why does Windows Live Mail (and Windows normal Mail) use sooooo much room in
the preview pane to show the sender and subject?

Is there any way I can reduce this size without losing any of the
information displayed? (I know I can turn it off).

Like most people probably, I work with my email in the preview pane, I don't
double-click and open up emails to respond or read them.

Outlook Express used a far more reasonable proportion of the screen height
to display this same information.

As more and more people switch to using wide screen laptops, the vertical
height usage of the screen has never been so important, why have M$ taken
such a stupid design step and can I do anything about it?

Thanks

David

"Bookham Measures" <bookham_measures@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:15E556E6-305C-4625-A973-C6B9D879D0D0@xxxxxx I agree with you, the reading pane does not have enough space and like
you I do not want to turn off the header either. I have adjusted the
reading pane a bit to have enough reading space by grabbing the top
upward lessening the thread space. It's not the best solution but it
works for me.

Hi, David.

As you know, this is called the "Message header (News)" and it can be turned
off - but not adjusted - in View | Layout. And I agree with you - and with
many beta testers and others who have complained - that it hogs WAY too much
vertical space. So the WLM Team is well aware of the issue and we don't
understand why they haven't fixed it. Maybe they are reserving space for a
larger photo thumbnail or some surprise feature to be added later?

But, as long as we are stuck with it anyhow, couldn't they use a bigger,
bolder font for the "Newsgroups:" line? I know this information is repeated
in the Title Bar way up at the top of my screen, but that also is hard to
spot quickly. I read a few dozen newsgroups regularly and it sure would
help if it were easier for me to remind myself that "You are HERE!" ;^{

While they are at it, they could make the sender's name@xxxxxx in this pane
a bolder font, too.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"Bookham Measures" <bookham_measures@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:15E556E6-305C-4625-A973-C6B9D879D0D0@xxxxxx

We recently reduced the header size by several pixels. Right now, the news
header in our builds is 111 pixels tall. This is not necessarily the size
it will be in the next version, of course, but we are aware many customers
would prefer an even shorter header. It has been discussed in the past. If
more customers voice support for it, it may gain a higher priority.

I definitely know how you feel about this. I've been an OE user for many
years, and the shorter header is nice sometimes. If we were to introduce a
shorter header, would you prefer file attachments to be displayed in the
header (like they are in Windows Live Mail) or in a drop-down menu like in
Outlook Express?

Thanks for using Windows Live Mail!


David [MSFT]


"Bookham Measures" <bookham_measures@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:15E556E6-305C-4625-A973-C6B9D879D0D0@xxxxxx

If that's the case, I would pitch in my 2 cents to say lessen the vertical
space as well. Not reducing the font size that much, just all that light
blue space.

Sandman

"David [MSFT]" <dgould@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:#SVWNWeQIHA.4584@xxxxxx

You mean like this? See screenshot.
--
©LarryEº

"Sandman" <sandmanwNOSPAM@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:800BBA9F-7AB4-4CE2-AE6C-83EF163B574E@xxxxxx
If that's the case, I would pitch in my 2 cents to say lessen the vertical
space as well. Not reducing the font size that much, just all that light
blue space.

Sandman

"David [MSFT]" <dgould@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:#SVWNWeQIHA.4584@xxxxxx

Hi, David.

Thanks for that update.

With 1280 x 1024 resolution (not leading-edge these days), I can live with
the current header size. And I appreciate the long list of folders in the
Folder Pane; I can see many more NGs that in OE. (29 of my 31 subscribed
NGs in 5 news accounts, plus Quick Views and other overhead)

But I hope the Team saw my request for a more-visible identification in that
header of which NG I'm reading. ;<)

It's easy to recommend WLM over WM these days. I used OE for about a
decade, but not in the past year, so I don't clearly recall how it compares
to WLM, but I'm happy with most of the new and improved features in WLM.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@xxxxxx
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

"David [MSFT]" <dgould@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:#SVWNWeQIHA.4584@xxxxxx

No. I want to reduce vertical space. I don't care so much about
horizontal space. The current header takes up about 5 lines. Some
of those items could easily be combined on one line, which means
the total header space could be reduced to 3 lines.

--
Gary VanderMolen [MS-MVP WLM]


"©LarryEº" <me@xxxxxx> wrote in message news:155E5BEB-67EA-49C0-A7F9-A0BC7EC0C077@xxxxxx

David,

My personal preference would be to not have anything showing in the header
EXCEPT the email address of the sender, his name and any attachments in the
message. The entire thing should not take up more than 3 lines.

But ideally, this should be customizable to the user to display whatever he
need in the header, just as he can select which columns he would like to view.

Adam


"David [MSFT]" wrote: