open source UIs

Take Firefox and Thunderbird.

Please. (ba-dum-pish)

But seriously, look at Firefox and Thunderbird. A web browser and email reader, developed under shared auspices and even sharing some modules. (You can tell because sometimes Firefox freezing will cause Thunderbird to freeze. But I digress.)

Here is how little priority there is, toward user interface. Think about this: in an email reader, what is the action most analogous to reloading a web page? Clearly, it is checking the servers for new email. What else could it be? And here is where the brain-damage shows itself:

Under firefox, ctrl-R does a reload. Fair enough. But what does that do in thunderbird? No, not refresh, but rather reply. WTF?

Now, let's go at it from the other direction. In thunderbird, to check for new messages you press ctrl-shift-T. I dunno what that stands for; "take messages"? And why does it need two modifiers? It's definitely my most frequently used command in thunderbird. But the best part is this: in firefox, ctrl-shift-T will in fact open the previously closed tab.

Two applications, supposedly part of a suite, and they're in complete discord.