A little surprisingly, Thunderbird, the widely-used email client, has introduced its latest Extended Support Release (ESR), Thunderbird 128 “Nebula.” Building on last year’s Supernova achievements, Nebula promises an enhanced user experience and quicker delivery of new features.
What’s News in Thunderbird 128 ‘Nebula’
Rust Integration
One of the major advancements in Thunderbird 128 is integrating the Rust programming language. This shift not only bolsters the code quality and performance but also bridges the functionality between desktop and forthcoming mobile versions of Thunderbird, speeding up development processes substantially.
Aesthetics and Usability Enhancements
The update introduces a redesigned Cards View, which debuted in Thunderbird 115 Supernova. The new layout is visually appealing and allows users to navigate their email threads quickly.
Additionally, the Folder Pane has been upgraded to render and search through unified folders faster, remember message thread states more accurately, and allow for multi-folder selection.
Improved Theme and User Interface
To provide a seamless user experience across various platforms, Thunderbird 128 has improved theme compatibility, especially for Linux users on distributions like Ubuntu and Linux Mint.
It is important to note that the email client now perfectly matches the system’s accent colors. Moreover, menu navigation has been streamlined to reduce cognitive load, making the interface more intuitive.
Personalization and Notifications
Thunderbird 128 allows users to customize the color of their account icons, which appear in the “From” selection when composing emails. Native Windows notifications have been optimized to disappear when Thunderbird is closed, ensuring a clutter-free notification experience.
Exchange and Mozilla Sync
The Thunderbird team is also close to launching the highly anticipated Exchange and Mozilla Sync support in an upcoming Nebula point release. Although these features are not yet finalized due to technical challenges, they are expected to roll out soon.
For additional information about all novelties in Thunderbird 128 ‘Nebula,’ refer to the release announcement.
Download Thunderbird 128 ‘Nebula’
Thunderbird 128.0 is available only as a direct download from thunderbird.net and has not yet been pushed as an automatic update. This approach allows the team to ensure no critical issues before enabling updates from earlier versions.
