Comment 90 for bug 691380

Wanted to comment on this part separately for obvious reasons:

(In reply to comment #83)
> and visually indicates if any filters are present (esp. advanced filters
> that can be active even without text in the box).

I think there should be some visual cue to always make it clear the current view is being filtered, something like I describe in my comment 45 - specifically:

***************** from comment 45

> The show/hide system is an attempt to make sure that people understood when a
> filter was being applied.

By 'show/hide system', you mean the show/hide of the entire Toolbar? I agree
that it can be useful for people new to Thunderbird, and/or just for people who
like toolbars and don't mind the space it consumes, but for people who dislike
huge toolbars, it is just in the way - *especially* on smaller screens
(netbooks). Having this 'optional' searchbox would make it possible for both
use cases (and users) to be fully satisfied.

> This was especially a worry when implementing the sticky button which would
> persist the filter everywhere. Perhaps we were not successfully, but that
> was the idea.

I understand, and think the first iteration was good, and the visual cues with
the diagonal pink (at least they look pink to me) when there are no results
help too, but I would take the idea a step further - have the lines there, but
also have a "0 of the 5,348 messages in this folder match your current filter
criteria." - or something like it - directly in the message list pane to
eliminate any further room for confusion. You could even add a big 'Clear
Filters' button in the message list pane.

Also - there could be an *optional* highly contrasted filter results line at
the very top of the message list pane, saying something like: "25 of the 5,348
messages in this folder match your current filter criteria."

> Thunderbird has, over the years, lots of reports of people unaware of a
> filter being applied to the current view.

I think the above 'Tooltip' idea could completely resolve this problem?

*************************** end from comment 45