Seth Godin posted an article today entitled Alphabetical order is obsolete. He makes a good argument that alphabetically sorted lists are often not the best user interface. I particularly liked his idea that an email client should sort junk mail according to the probability that each message is spam.
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Mark 03.13.08 at 11:00
I agree with Seth’s ideas as good features. I do NOT agree that alphabetical sorting is “wrong.” Different sorting methods are appropriate for different situations. I agree that, at times, I change my Inbox view based on different parameters, and that alphabetical is certainly not my default view. But do I find that ability useful often? Absolutely.
What IS wrong is not providing useful alternative views where it makes sense.