[Phpgroupware-developers] re: 1.0 feature requests

[Brett Shadbolt]

Hi,

I have various requests, some of which I hope could be included in the
upcoming 1.0. Generally I like the phpgw framework but where it fails badly is
in the integration of the key applications - it acts too much like a
collection of disconnected applications and not enough like a coordinated
system. On this note I concentrate on the apps which I (and probably others)
consider most important - e-mail, addressbook, calendar, infolog, projects,
filemanager. These and perhaps a few others should be absolutely core to phpgw
and should work seamlessly.

e-mail

1) when viewing inbox/sent folders, etc - a column indicating if the
sender/recipient in already in the addressbook. This would save time having to
lookup addressbook only to find you don't need to add the person because they
already exist.

2) ability to attach files either from the local computer and/or from
filemanager. What is the point of having online files if we can't e-mail them.

3) much tighter integration between e-mail and addressbook, better lookups,
fewer clicks

4) when adding a new contact, adding/selecting an organisation should be
transparent - i.e. from a user perspective we don't care about the separation
of person and organisation. When adding a user it should automatically ask for
organisation and once a few keystrokes have been entered if organisations
already exist which match the keystrokes, then we can select the correct one,
if not, keep adding data. i.e. keep the tables separate if this makes for
better database structure but have a single user interface for
viewing/adding/editing both person and org. I will also cover this more in the
addressbook wishlist.

5) ability to create e-mail templates and integrate field lookups from
addressbook. A proper corporate e-mail solution which could be used for
sending out personalised invitations, etc. This will also need better
lookup/search ability in addressbook.

Addressbook

1)The new separate person/org tables might be great from a developer
standpoint but a pain for users as we now have to make more clicks to
add/edit/view data in addressbook. As outlined in e-mail, this table
separation should be in the background, users need to seamlessly access both
user and org data in the same screen. When I look up a person I want to know
their address, company, website, phone and fax numbers, etc and be able to log
calls, meetings, todos against that person.

2) When adding a new person, you cannot add a new org so if adding a person
from e-mail, this can't be done as you have to exit e-mail, add the org, enter
e-mail then add person from there - too complicated and cumbersome.

3) linking a person from infolog doesn't work.

4) importing of contacts doesn't work well - again the separation of person
and orgs doesn't work well here. I have tried importing and failed and have
given up using addressbook for anything serious until it matures.

5) ability to allocate multiple categories for each person and have bertter
lookup/search features. for example in the current PIM I use I have created
categories for each of the countries I work in and all of the professions
which which I work. Being able to allocate and then search of various
combinations of categories allows me to bring up a list of say all accountants
in Singapore or all lawyers and accountants in HK and Thailand, etc

6) Having searched, we should be able to send out customised e-mails to the
selected people using templates created in the e-mail app which link to merge
fields from addressbook. e.g. One filed I would use in addressbook is for
salutation (as in Dear John or Dear Mr Smith). So, we should be able to create
an e-mail template which includes a field code for the salutation field and
will then when merged create personalised e-mails for all of the people
selected in the lookup. This is great for company newsletters which can then
be personalised or sending out personalised invitations, etc (could also be
used for spam but there are already easier ways of doing this and benefits
outweigh drawbacks).

Calendar

Calendar is pretty good for me, no major suggestions, except ability to sync
with a fat client and/or palm easily.

Infolog

1) don't seem to be able to properly link people to entries. The ability to
log activities against people in addressbook would be nice.

2) more a bug but I can't seem to get the popup calendar to work when
selecting a due date.

3) Unless a really good reason exists, drop notes and todos as separate apps
and get infolog fixed. I like the infolog concept but find it a bit buggy.

Projects

1) The ability to link files to projects is essential.

2) the ability to link people from addressbook as clients

Filemanager

1) This needs to integrate much better with various applications.

2) better navigation, more like a classic windows explorer type interface
showing tree view - this makes it easier to move up or down directory trees.

3) ability to define a default or home directory. i.e we have a standard
directory where all common documents are stored - I would like to set this as
the default so that when anyone goes into filemanager, they start here.
Starting in the home directory and then having to navigate one level at a time
is time consuming and confusing.

Others

1) easy syncing to fat client and/or palm device

2) a fat client with at least e-mail, addressbook, calendar and infolog.
Preferably cross platform.

3) a much better templating/theme system. Some things seem to work on some
themes and not on others and the whole thing is hard to follow. Make it easier
for people with only basic programming knowledge to create/modify themes.

That's it for now.

Finally, please don't get me wrong, I like what has been done so far and
certainly appreciate the work and effort everyone has made but you did ask for
requests. Phpgw has the opportunity to really become the standard by which
other gw solutions are measured, but fewer clicks, a cleaner user interface,
tighter integration, easier themes and a few new features are needed.

I look forward to 1.0 with great anticipation

Cheers,

Brett Shadbolt