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Submission details

16 +17/-1 votes

Windows Live Mail: Stop limiting user formatting choices!

Submitted by pmbAustin on June 21, 2009 to Aesthetics, Annoyance, Bug, Usability

Windows Live Mail takes away so much from previous versions. For example, I used to be able to select any font size I wanted. Now I'm limited to half a dozen pre-selected font sizes. WHY? Let the user have control!

The toolbar limits your choices, but what's even worse, is if you go to the Format->Font dialog, and select a choice you want, it silently changes it to one of the preselected choices! I wanted an extra large font for a header, and typed in 48, and my font SHRUNK DOWN to an 8pt font! No matter what I tried to type that was bigger than 36, it would reset it to 8pts.

Let the user be in control, and stop trying to second-guess them or silently change their options! Let users select any font size they want, any color they want, any formatting they want! This is beyond annoying.

High

High

Not fixed

Discussion (2 comments)

pmbAustin wrote on June 21, 2009, 4:29pm

Changed title from [Windows Live Mail: Stop limiting user choices!] to [Windows Live Mail: Stop limiting user formatting choices!].

.Chris wrote on June 22, 2009, 5:44pm

Microsoft has issues with that.

+1. I agree its annoying.

pmbAustin wrote on June 23, 2009, 4:56am

Yeah. Limiting user choices doesn't always make a product easier to use. Sometimes it just makes it more frustrating to use.

Really, going to Windows LIve Mail shouldn't feel like going backwards from the ancient Outlook Express. Stop removing features that are useful (like specifying any font, and having a full compliment of character and paragraph formatting icons on the toolbar), and stop adding features that are annoying or that nobody really wants (like the stupid "picture mail" which is just frustrating as hell and I wouldn't miss at all if they dumped it and just restored the ability to simply imbed pictures directly, in a striaght forward manner, the way every other mail client in the world works).

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