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Gmail, We Need to Talk

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Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#51

Post by alkonaut »

I'm not going to add another "just use plain text" comment. I really want to send images (in the text, not just attached), and simple rich text features such as bold text can really help readability. But that's not a huge responsive webpage crammed into an email -- it's just rich text. It's html entirely without style, neither inline nor in a header. That should be the standard email format apart from plaintext. My client can style all emails like I want them in terms of fonts and so on. Consistently.

If the sender wants me to see a website, just send me the damn link?

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#52

Post by icebraining »

ryan-c wrote: post #30
icebraining wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Images are much less problematic for Gmail users since they started proxying them[1]. Now the sender can't tell if you opened the email by checking if the image was downloaded. [1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail-...

I was aware of the proxying, but didn't realize that gmail always prefetched the image. This implies that even sending each recipient a unique image URL will not work?

I believe that's correct - it always fetches the image, so there's no leak.

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#53

Post by CamperBob2 »

icebraining wrote: post #32
gdulli wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps has really become a chore to use, too. I remember getting directions used to be easy once and now it's like interacting with enterprise software.

What? If you left-click in a place, a small card appears with an arrow that you can click to get directions. If you right-click, you can get directions from or to the place. And if you search, you also get a very visible round button with an arrow and the label "Directions". How is it hard? EDIT: Sorry if this came out as aggressive. I'm just dumbfounded, that's all.

I think part of the problem is that Maps looks different at random times. I just took this screenshot to answer your post:

http://i.imgur.com/SaHMCF2.png

Yes, there's a round "Directions" icon. This time. Frequently, searches for a given address don't bring up that icon or any other UI affordance that indicates how I might get directions to the destination.

However, Maps does reliably fill half the screen with photos, random chunks of white space, and other irrelevant visual junk as seen in the above screenshot.

I had absolutely no idea that Maps had a right-click menu, so thanks for that tip (seriously). Right-clicking on an AJAX-based Web page is obviously not a standard or expected UI concept... but given what Google has done with Maps over the last year or so, literally anything helps.

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#54

Post by lmm »

icebraining wrote: post #50
lmm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You used to be able to just click the directions tab and fill in the from and to in the textually-labelled boxes on the left. Now you have to provide it the incantation in the order it wants; in particular you must put the destination in first and then go back and put the start point after. I don't even know if you can do "via" any more, never mind how. And it seems incapable of remembering what mode of transport I w…

You don't have to put the destination first: in the search box, there's a directions button, just press it and it'll show both boxes! I'm with you on the "it forgets the transportation mode" complaint, by the way; even Google Now seems incapable of using it, despite being able to parrot back the setting in the config panel.

The magical mystery UI is the worst part, actually. I (evidently) have no idea what the capabilities are, because the input boxes appear and disappear arbitrarily when you do things.

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#55

Post by icebraining »

scintill76 wrote: post #44
icebraining wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Images are much less problematic for Gmail users since they started proxying them[1]. Now the sender can't tell if you opened the email by checking if the image was downloaded. [1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/12/gmail-...

Huh, I was going to argue that the User-Agent string would probably leak the same data as media queries, but if it's a generic proxy fetching them, then I guess not.

It's a server-side proxy, no user-agent except whatever the Gmail devs set :)

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#56

Post by bsbechtel »

gdulli wrote: post #26
rconti wrote: post #23

GMail, we need to talk. We need to talk about how substring searches do not work, 11 years after your launch. We need to talk about how you've slowly engineered out everything that was good and unique about GMail. We need to talk about how you "flattened" the style, removed colors from threaded messages, and just decided to use shades of grey everywhere. We need to talk about how difficult it is to tell one message f…

Maps has really become a chore to use, too. I remember getting directions used to be easy once and now it's like interacting with enterprise software.

This is basically the only reason Apple Maps ever had a chance, IMHO.

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#58

Post by icebraining »

CamperBob2 wrote: post #53
icebraining wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? If you left-click in a place, a small card appears with an arrow that you can click to get directions. If you right-click, you can get directions from or to the place. And if you search, you also get a very visible round button with an arrow and the label "Directions". How is it hard? EDIT: Sorry if this came out as aggressive. I'm just dumbfounded, that's all.

I think part of the problem is that Maps looks different at random times. I just took this screenshot to answer your post: http://i.imgur.com/SaHMCF2.png Yes, there's a round "Directions" icon. This time . Frequently, searches for a given address don't bring up that icon or any other UI affordance that indicates how I might get directions to the destination. However, Maps does reliably fill half the screen with photo…

I can't say I've experienced the lack of a directions button, but I agree that's a major UI failure.

Re: Gmail, We Need to Talk

#60

Post by sliverstorm »

newjersey wrote: post #20
isido wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. Sadly, plain text email seems to be endangered species. But perhaps there is still hope, markdown and pals have made some inroads as all around useful document formats.

I know this is an extreme but I like this extreme. When I say plain text, I mean plain-text. I mean not even markdown. Just plain text. The client can choose to make links clickable if they like. Any formatted document should come as an attachment (I'd prefer PDF). I guess it should be an attachment I expect or I probably wouldn't open it. In any case, I don't like emails with tracking. It feels forced. If you really…

I'm fond of plaintext, but sometimes I do need to force a fixed-width font for a portion of the email.
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