New Interface design version 115.4.x

[eagleseed]

I am shocked how changes were made that have diminished both the aesthetic and ergonomics of the Thunderbird interface, at least on Windows. What am I referring to? Since this last change the font used in the tool bars seems lighter and thinner, all equal for each tool bar, making it now more difficult to see/distinguish the different headings. There are few visible dividers (which help) and few boxes. It seems that just for the sake of something new, maybe with the excuse of "simpler" or "clean" or "spartan" it has become more difficult to use, when it seems changes are generally geared toward making things easier to use.

There are a number of other design aspects that seem counter intuitive or inconsistent, as though there was little design oversite. I'll bullet point ones I noticed:

• the menu bar with its 8 menus are all very cramped compared to other tool bars, which are generously spaced out. Why?

• with the font color being a dark gray tone, rather than black (harder to read, and for no functional reason) there is a huge contrast to the think, blacker bolded text used for unread messages and, really oddly, for the search box CTRL and k. And they're in a box, whereas other items aren't, except...

• New Message box, super prominent, when nothing else is.

• putting the unread message number as bold white text in a rounded dark square is another style inconsistency that is visually out of place, giving extremely highlight attention to such a minor item. With the folder name already bolded this number could have been simply a black number without a box.

• moving over to the calendar tab, what advantage is there to remove the word "Today" from the Today button? There's tons of space on that bar, and it took me a while to find it, to figure that the small icon in there was the Today button. Why?

• also we see the selector on the other side of that bar (for day, week etc) stylistically inconsistent with all else, using an oval 'box' to contain it. Everything else on that page is rectangular. personally, I love it, and would prefer those roundie enclosures throughout the interface, including where there are no longer enclosers.

I also wonder why email gets a search box but the calendar doesn't. Instead there is the inconsistent "Find Events" hidden in a menu.

• finally a bigger and broader interface concern: the change in themes. I now have 3 options, an inaccurate rendition of my system theme, which is done distinctly from the prior version of Thunderbird or light or dark. And the "light" is a gray that isn't just bland but adds to the low contrast, difficult to distinguish issue.

• oh yeah, why, but WHY hide the theme options in the setting menu, and separated at the bottom?

When I first viewed that update I was stunned, and discovered for the first time how many "missing" settings there are, or rather, things that have no settings, such as a toggle for a choice of a "Today" icon vs the word.

I have attached my two theme options, and wonder if anybody else remembers how it was, and how now (unless you're a dark mode person) neither of these make for a pleasant view, or one as easy to read as before. ... Oops, I can't figure out how to insert an image? That's never happened before...