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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         R. SparksRequest for Comments: 7842                                        OracleCategory: Informational                                       April 2016ISSN: 2070-1721Requirements for Improvements to the IETF Email List Archiving,Web-Based Browsing, and Search ToolAbstract   The web-based IETF email archive search tool based on the   requirements captured inRFC 6778 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 document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is   published for informational purposes.   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has   received public review and has been approved for publication by the   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet   Standard; seeSection 2 of RFC 5741.   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained athttp://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7842.Copyright Notice   Copyright (c) 2016 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the   document authors.  All rights reserved.   This document is subject toBCP 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                        Informational                     [Page 1]

RFC 7842         List Archiving and Search Requirements       April 2016Table of Contents1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22.  List Search and Archive Tool Improvement Requirements . . . .22.1.  Viewing by Thread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22.2.  Navigation from the Message List View . . . . . . . . . .32.3.  Navigation from a Single Message  . . . . . . . . . . . .32.4.  Message List UI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42.5.  Improve Support for Mobile Devices  . . . . . . . . . . .52.6.  Improve Use of Display Space  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52.7.  Use without JavaScript  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52.8.  Administration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64.2.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6   Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6   Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71.  Introduction   The IETF email archive search tool, as specified in [RFC6778]) and   available 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 Requirements2.1.  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      in the thread, and then sort within the thread (ensuring the      thread grouping doesn't change based on these sorts).  When      viewing threads sorted this way, the hierarchy will be flattened,      but the thread boundaries will remain visibly distinct.Sparks                        Informational                     [Page 2]

RFC 7842         List Archiving and Search Requirements       April 20162.2.  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 References 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 the last value in the References      header field 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  Add navigation enabling transition to previous/next in search, if      the message page being displayed was arrived at by navigating from      the message list view of a search result.   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 the last value in the References header field of all other      messages in the archive.   o  Make it possible to hide these navigation elements.Sparks                        Informational                     [Page 3]

RFC 7842         List Archiving and Search Requirements       April 20162.4.  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.   o  Provide a message explaining any condition leading to filter      values not being populated (such as "Refine search to enable      'From' filtering").Sparks                        Informational                     [Page 4]

RFC 7842         List Archiving and Search Requirements       April 2016   o  Allow subjects to fill the column on large displays.  Show fully      expanded list and email addresses in the pop-ups 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 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:   o  Resizing of the message list panels.   o  Dynamically filtering by time, list, or from.  (The filter column      will not appear).Sparks                        Informational                     [Page 5]

RFC 7842         List Archiving and Search Requirements       April 20162.8.  Administration   This project will:   o  Add a link from the message view to the admin page for the message      when logged in as an administrator.   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 that the correct logo as      designated by the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC)      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.  References4.1.  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>.4.2.  Informative References   [mailarch]              IETF, "Mail Archive", <https://mailarchive.ietf.org>.Acknowledgments   The following people have provided particularly useful input for this   document: Lou Berger, Chris Bowers, Brian Carpenter, Russ Housley,   Pete Resnick, and Dale Worley.Sparks                        Informational                     [Page 6]

RFC 7842         List Archiving and Search Requirements       April 2016Author's Address   Robert Sparks   Oracle   7460 Warren Parkway   Suite 300   Frisco, Texas  75034   United States   Email: rjsparks@nostrum.comSparks                        Informational                     [Page 7]