Skip to main content

Requirements for Improvements to the IETF Email List Archiving, Web-Based Browsing, and Search Tool
draft-sparks-genarea-mailarch-improvements-02

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7842.
Author Robert Sparks
Last updated 2016-04-06 (Latest revision 2016-01-06)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Intended RFC status Informational
Formats
Reviews
Stream WG state (None)
Document shepherd (None)
Shepherd write-up Show Last changed 2016-01-22
IESG IESG state Became RFC 7842 (Informational)
Action Holders
(None)
Consensus boilerplate Yes
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD Jari Arkko
Send notices to rjsparks@nostrum.com, housley@vigilsec.com, jari.arkko@piuha.net
IANA IANA review state IANA OK - No Actions Needed
IANA action state No IANA Actions
draft-sparks-genarea-mailarch-improvements-02
Network Working Group                                          R. Sparks
Internet-Draft                                                    Oracle
Intended status: Informational                           January 6, 2016
Expires: July 9, 2016

  Requirements for Improvements to the IETF Email List Archiving, Web-
                     based Browsing and Search Tool
             draft-sparks-genarea-mailarch-improvements-02

Abstract

   The Web-based IETF email archive search tool based on the
   requirements captured in RFC6778 was deployed in January 2014.  This
   memo captures the requirements for a set of improvements that have
   been identified during its initial years of community use.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on July 9, 2016.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 1]
Internet-Draft   List Archiving and Search Requirements     January 2016

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  List Search and Archive Tool Improvement Requirements . . . .   2
     2.1.  Viewing by Thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     2.2.  Navigation from the message list view . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.3.  Navigation from a single message  . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.4.  Message list UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     2.5.  Improve Support for Mobile Devices  . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.6.  Improve Use of Display Space  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.7.  Use without Javascript  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.8.  Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   5.  Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   6.  Changelog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
     6.1.  01 to 02  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     6.2.  00 to 01  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
     7.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7

1.  Introduction

   The [RFC6778] archive search tool at [mailarch] has been in use for
   nearly two years.  During that time, there have been repeated
   requests for several improvements.  This memo captures the
   requirements for a concerted development effort to provide those
   improvements.

2.  List Search and Archive Tool Improvement Requirements

2.1.  Viewing by Thread

   Currently, when the "Group by Thread" button is selected, the
   resulting list of messages is flat.  It is very hard to tell where a
   thread starts and stops.  This flat view interacts badly with sorting
   (triggered by clicking on the column headers), leading to results
   that are confusing and sometimes incorrect.

   This effort will:

   o  Modify the message list display, when grouped by thread, to show
      each thread hierarchically.

   o  Modify the sort performed by the clicking on the column headers to
      sort the overall list first by the parameters in the first message

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 2]
Internet-Draft   List Archiving and Search Requirements     January 2016

      in the thread, and then sort within the thread (ensuring the
      thread grouping doesn't change based on these sorts).  When
      viewing thread sorted this way, the hierarchy will be flattened,
      but the thread boundaries will remain visibly distinct.

2.2.  Navigation from the message list view

   This effort will add navigation to the message list view, whether
   viewing flat search results or viewing by thread, making it simple
   to:

   o  Navigate to the previous/next message by date in the set of listed
      messages.

   o  Navigate to the previous/next message in a thread, to the first
      message in a thread, and to the previous/next thread displayed.

   o  Navigate to any Referenced or Replies (displayed as Follow-Ups in
      mhonarc) for the currently selected message.  These are derived
      from the References header field in the displayed message, and the
      In-Reply-To header field or last value in the References header
      field of of all other messages in the archive).

   The UI will make it possible to hide these navigation elements.

2.3.  Navigation from a single message

   Currently, when viewing a single message, the only option for
   navigating to related messages is to return to the message list view
   (either by date or by thread).  This is implemented with a new search
   based only on the details present in the message itself.  No
   information about any search that led to the message is retained.

   This effort will:

   o  Add navigation to the single message view, enabling transition to
      previous/next in list and previous/next in thread.

   o  If the message page being displayed was arrived at by navigating
      from the message list view of a search result, add navigation
      enabling transition to previous/next in search.

   o  Add navigation to any References or Replies (displayed as Follow-
      Ups in mhonarc).  These are derived from the References header
      field in the displayed message, and the In-Reply-To header field
      or last value in the References header field of all other messages
      in the archive.

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 3]
Internet-Draft   List Archiving and Search Requirements     January 2016

   o  Make it possible to hide these navigation elements.

2.4.  Message list UI

   It is not sufficiently obvious that the message list panel can be
   resized.  The current handle is not visually distinct enough to
   signal the capability to the user, leaving many users believing they
   are restricted to the very short default list, even when viewing on
   large monitors.

   Additionally, there is a flaw in the code that fetches additional
   messages when scrolling to the bottom of what's currently displayed.
   If the message window is large enough that the default number of
   results does not fill it, no scrollbar appears, and scrolling to the
   bottom does not fetch additional results.

   The filter by list and filter by from sections to the left of the
   message list have no values in many circumstances, but it is not
   obvious why they are missing.  One notable condition is when the
   search result is very large - computing the values to put in these
   filters becomes prohibitively expensive.  Without foreknowledge of
   the decisions captured in the code, the behavior seems arbitrary and
   unintuitive.

   The current view truncates fields, leaving trailing ellipses, when it
   doesn't need to.  This leaves space underutilized on large displays,
   and may make selection (particularly of long email addresses in the
   filters) much more difficult than it should be.  On small displays,
   the column of filters dominates the display, leaving only a small
   amount of space for the actual message content.

   The current view requires the user to select each message in the
   message list to get the URI to that message.  This makes it difficult
   to open several messages in different windows, or to build a list of
   URIs for use in a message or other applications.  It is also not
   obvious that double-clicking a row in the list will open the message
   in a separate window.

   This effort will:

   o  Make the ability to resize the panels on the message list display
      easier to find.

   o  Account for the size of the message list panel when choosing how
      many messages to fetch, filling the panel whenever there are
      enough results to do so.

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 4]
Internet-Draft   List Archiving and Search Requirements     January 2016

   o  Provide a message explaining any condition leading to filter
      values not being populated (such as "Refine search to enable
      'From' filtering").

   o  Allow subjects to fill the column on large displays.  Show fully
      expanded list and email addresses in the popups for the filters.

   o  Provide a link on each row of the list to the URL for that row's
      message.

   o  Add an export type that produces a file containing a list of URIs
      to each message in in the list.

   o  Add a hint to the UI that double-clicking on a row in the list
      will open a single-message view of the associated message in a
      separate view.

2.5.  Improve Support for Mobile Devices

   The current view becomes difficult to use on small displays,
   particularly phone displays in portrait mode.  This effort will:

   o  Add a responsive interface, presenting a useful interface on both
      small and large displays.

2.6.  Improve Use of Display Space

   The current view underutilizes the available display space.  This
   effort will:

   o  Make the message content the primary point of each view.

   o  Reduce the unused space on the display.

   o  Remove the filter column responsively when the display width is
      small.

2.7.  Use without Javascript

   The current web-based archive search tool requires javascript to
   function.  This effort will extend the tool to allow users that have
   disabled javascript in their browser to retrieve and navigate through
   search results using the message list and single message views.

   This effort will not attempt to preserve all of the functionality
   provided with javascript enabled.  In particular, when running with
   javascript disabled, these features will not be available:

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 5]
Internet-Draft   List Archiving and Search Requirements     January 2016

   o  Resizing of the message list panels

   o  Dynamically filter by time, list, or from.  (The filter column
      will not appear).

2.8.  Administration

   This project will:

   o  When logged in as an administrator, add a link from the message
      view to the admin page for the message.

   o  Add correction of the appropriate thread indices to the handling
      of administrative imports of messages.

   o  Implement a redirection handler mapping legacy archive URLs to the
      appropriate mailarch page.

   o  Make the underlying template consistent across all views presented
      by the tool.  In particular, ensure the correct IAOC designated
      logo appears consistently on all views.

3.  Security Considerations

   The requirements for improvement to the mailarch tool captured in
   this document do not introduce any exceptional security
   considerations.  They add additional navigation points, and the
   implementers should consider the impact of rapid navigation using
   these new mechanisms (see the security considerations of [RFC6778]).

4.  IANA Considerations

   This document has no actions for IANA.

5.  Acknowledgments

   The following people have provided particularly useful input for this
   document: Lou Berger, Chris Bowers, Brian Carpenter, Russ Housley,
   Pete Resnick, Dale Worley.

   If you've provided input, and are not listed here, please send the
   editor a reminder and accept apologies in advance.

6.  Changelog

   RFC Editor - please remove this section when formatting this document
   as an RFC.

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 6]
Internet-Draft   List Archiving and Search Requirements     January 2016

6.1.  01 to 02

   1.  Minor reordering to make improving the experience for mobile
       devices explicit, and a top level section.

   2.  Added requirements focused on easily obtaining URLs for the
       individual messages from a message list.

   3.  Added requirements to allow navigating to References and Replys

6.2.  00 to 01

   1.  Restructured requirements to clarify when new navigation elements
       would be available.

   2.  Added a requirement to be able to hide the new navigation
       elements.

   3.  Added explicit requirement for a responsive view addressing use
       on small devices.

   4.  Corrected typo in references.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC6778]  Sparks, R., "Requirements for Archiving IETF Email Lists
              and for Providing Web-Based Browsing and Searching",
              RFC 6778, DOI 10.17487/RFC6778, October 2012,
              <http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6778>.

7.2.  Informative References

   [mailarch]
              "Mailarch", November 2015, <https://mailarchive.ietf.org>.

Author's Address

   Robert Sparks
   Oracle
   7460 Warren Parkway
   Suite 300
   Frisco, Texas  75034
   USA

   Email: rjsparks@nostrum.com

Sparks                    Expires July 9, 2016                  [Page 7]