Enhancement of e-mail client user interfaces and e-mail message formats
View Patent ↗An enhancement to e-mail user interfaces and message formats includes a dynamic preview window to view and retrieve attachments and summaries of e-mail messages directly in the e-mail list view or inbox view without opening an e-mail message. The efficient viewing mechanism further allows previews without cluttering the listing of the e-mails in the inbox by allowing the client to detect special preview instructions within an e-mail and run executables within the preview window. The enhancement is applicable to standalone e-mail clients (POP or IMAP based) and to web-based e-mail systems.
1. A method of enhancing an e-mail user interface, comprising:
associating a trigger with an e-mail in an inbox view listing of e-mails;
upon activation by a user of said trigger, opening a temporary window solely for said e-mail on said inbox view, said temporary window being positioned dynamically to appear at a location proximate to said trigger in said inbox view to provide to the user a visual connection to said email;
rendering within said temporary window a portion of text of a body of said e-mail, said text being displayed so as to fit within said temporary window without scrolling;
providing user controls within the temporary window, said controls including a clickable reply control allowing a user to reply to the e-mail;
said temporary window being expanded upon said reply control being clicked and a text box with a send control being displayed within said temporary window to allow the user to enter reply text and send the reply text to a sender of the e-mail upon the send control being clicked.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said temporary window on said inbox view is automatically closed upon one of deactivation of the trigger associated with said e-mail, after a predetermined time has elapsed, or upon the user activating another trigger associated with another e-mail.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said sending comprises communicating with an e-mail application to forward said text entered into the text box as an e-mail.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said sending comprises communicating with an e-mail application that communicates with an instant messenging server to forward said text.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said rendering comprises automatically rendering said text upon opening of the temporary window.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said trigger comprises an icon adjacent to said e-mail, and said method comprises activating said trigger upon positioning a cursor relative to said icon.
7. The method of claim 6 further comprising changing the appearance of said icon in response to information referenced by the e-mail being modified by an entity other than the user of the email application after said email has been delivered to the inbox of the user.
8. An enhanced e-mail user interface for an e-mail client application on a computer comprising:
computer program storage storing executable instructions for controlling the computer to provide:
a trigger associated with an e-mail on an inbox view listing of e-mails displayed on said computer;
a temporary window created solely for said e-mail on said inbox view listing upon activation of the trigger by a user, the temporary window being positioned dynamically to appear at a location proximate to said trigger in said inbox view to provide to the user a visual connection to said e-mail;
a portion of text of a body of said e-mail being rendered so as to fit within said temporary window without scrolling;
user controls within said temporary window, including a clickable reply control allowing the user to reply to the e-mail; and
said temporary window being expanded upon said reply control being clicked and a text box with a send control being displayed within said temporary window to allow the user to enter reply text and send the reply text to a sender upon the send control being clicked.
9. The interface of claim 8 further comprising communicating with an e-mail application to send the text entered into the text box.
10. The interface of claim 9 further comprising a communicating with an instant messenger to enable sending the text entered into the text box.
11. The interface of claim 8 , wherein said e-mail comprises an e-mail header, and said trigger comprises instructions in said header that direct the e-mail application to load another application into the temporary window to enable interaction with the e-mail.