Comment 36 for bug 691380

(In reply to comment #26)
> > "I think we need a clearer picture of the desired UI."
>
> Thomas, you can see the desired UI in action <a
> href=http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/all-older.html>here</a>
> and examine the source code for the desired UI <a
> href=ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/thunderbird/releases/3.0.6/>here</a>.

nice try :) I don't think we can just go back to the old UI. When developers introduced quick filter bar, they had their reasons - problems of the old implementation. These problems still apply, even though we might not be all happy with the new implementation. To name a few:
- Having quick filter and global search in one box was confusing and undiscoverable; it was difficult to use because you would have to change dropdown options each time between local filter and global search (unless we implement some sort of potentially difficult magic to distinguish between the two, like ctrl+enter and such, see existing bugs)
- the old system of picking a predefined quick filter set of criteria from dropdown list was perceived by some as very inefficient and bulky. To provide all options for everyone, you need a list of about 10 different options (wild guessing), too many anyway, considering that all we want is any arbitrary combination of just 4 criteria: sender, recipient, subject, body. That's why we now have the much easier system of secondary toolbar with those 4 criteria to toggle and fine-tune results after the fact.

So what we need is an UI and/or behaviour that avoids those old problems,
e.g. something like Charles proposes in comment 31 (which just arrived, so not yet covered here). But still, it's complex enough and easier to discuss with pictures of mockup UI which really help to eliminate problems and ensure we're all talking about the same thing.