What is the right way to rewrite Mozilla Thunderbird's thread pane?

I have an idea about alternate standard view of e-mail clients, like Mozilla Thunderbird. I need to display e开发者_如何学Goxpanded message bodies in one feed (like Google Reader displays RSS) instead of headers list + one message body.

Let me visualize this. Standard view: http://i.stack.imgur.com/R5OZ4.jpg. Google reader view: http://i.stack.imgur.com/CRBoM.jpg

I suppose that correct way is to hide XUL elements like threadPaneBox and messagepanebox and instead insert one new element. On startup i will load current folder's messages and render them in this new container.

So, question is - Is it right way to customize message view in Thunderbird? What is the right way to do this? What is the right place to ask this question (maybe it will be better go to some Thunderbird developers forum)? And finally, is writing extension for Thunderbird is best method to bring my idea to live?