Thunderbird Addressing Plugin

Entering “To:” addresses when composing a new mail in Thunderbird is a bit icky. It forces one address per line, meaning the To: lines take too much screen real estate when you’ve got multiple addresses. It needs to:

• Work like Gmail or (dare I say it) MS Outlook.
• Not look like it limits addresses to one-per-line.
• Have TO: addresses on one line, CC: on another line, etc.

This isn’t a big job, but it’d improve the usability of Thunderbird in its primary task. Just that little bit extra to makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside.

More specifically, here’s what the plugin needs to do.

• Comma- and semicolon-separated addresses do work, but badly. The text must not go error-red, and pressing Enter must not auto-move them to separate lines.
• Thunderbird address completion works great, but it only works for the first address on a line, not after a comma.
• When you press tab to complete an address, it completes the address but places you into the subject bar. It should leave you on the same line after a comma waiting for a new address. It should only go to the subject line if you press it again after the comma.
• Pressing Enter should take you to the next address bar which should be the CC: bar, not another TO: bar - because all TO: addresses will normally be on one line.
• In the TO: address box shift-tab moves you back to the TO: drop-down (and your cursor awkwardly disappears), but you expect it to move to the previous address line. Same for tab.