Thanks to Ryan at CyberNet for this info. Mozilla has released a ‘Pre-Beta 1’ version of Thunderbird 2.0. Pre-Beta is kinda funky name, likely this is a release-candidate for Beta 1 since the install folder was Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0 Beta 1. Still hunting for release notes as well as an exact (other than mid-September) release date for the official ‘Beta 1’.
There have been some changes since the last Alpha 1 Release back at the end of July. It looks as if Mozilla has given Thunderbird UI a bit of a visual refresh as well. First screenshot below shows the some of the newly designed buttons and icons.I like the new icon for the ‘Junk Folder’. Second screenshot is the new Options Window.
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The New & Improved Options Window
I did notice a couple things when I installed this build and check my mail for the first time with it. First, the Notification Slider now gives the sender’s name, subject and 1st lines of the message, for all the messages that are downloaded during that particular ‘Get Mail’. This is an improvement over Outlook, which does not do the detailed slider when multiple e-mails come through on a ‘send and receive’. Now I wish Thunderbird would add the options like Outlook to delete the message or mark as read from the slider.
Second, the Buttons! extension, while it is compatible with this build, will cause problems with funky stuff appearing the bottom of the Thunderbird Window (see screenshot below). I don’t use this extension anyway, in fact I don’t really use many for Thunderbird.
Buttons! Extension breaks Thunderbird 2.0pb1
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Re your comments about the Buttons! extension breaking Thunderbird PB2. Do you know if the developer has a Web Site where there is a PB2 specific fix for this? I have Googled until I’m blind and cant’ find such. Thanks In advance.
Bill Crane
Thanks for the comment. It took a little hunting (boy I dislike the way Mozilla Update is setup) to locate the extension. Then I was able to locate the developers page which then took me over to mozillaZine forums for Buttons! 0.5.2. There I was able to find a new version that works fine with TB 2.0
>> http://www.schrade.com/thunderbird/extensions/Buttons/Buttons-0.5.2-Tb-2.0-en-US.xpi
Bit late to the party on this thread but I wanted to add I like the new pre-beta Thunderbird alot. However they still have not fixed the broken threading in newsgroups. This is a huge thing for me and for months now I have been trying to get it fixed.
@becs…
You know, I have never cared for Thunderbird as a news client. I have used XNews in the past, it is free and works fairly well. I guess this is something we might be able to look forward to being fixed in Thunderbird 3 next year?