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Re-Designing the classic email client

vanschneider.com

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Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#51

Post by the_gipsy »

Uh, let me see. Attempt nº 5712 to revolutionize the way we use email. Tell me more.

"Mark as read" is useless? I thought nowaday we had "archive", "search" and such from gmail... no mention of that. OK then, let's see what you offer...

"Clutter-free interface", "clean typography" and the mystery option "what you really need"? Are you (f) kidding me? This can't scream "I'm thunderbird but made by graphical designers" any louder.

Oooh Actionsteps! I have NO idea what you are, but you must be "what I really need"! Scroll, scroll, still no idea... Aha! I have Favourites (why didn't I come up with that?), and Actionsteps, which "organize" my stuff. So like, categories, but with a mysterious name.

And, it can handle attachments! What year is this?

Plus facebook etc integration like that's something I'd ever not want to disable.

Attempt nº 5712 archieved.

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#52

Post by frm1001xplrr »

hapless wrote: post #8

This guy has teeny tiny letters hardcoded into JPGs on his web site. I can't read it. Fortunately, this means I can disregard what he has to say about UI/UX. Sometimes the medium IS the message.

Really, it's not that big of a deal...

Chrome: Zoomy (http://goo.gl/40hiR) Firefox: Zoom Page (http://goo.gl/80Pa9) Etc.

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#53

Post by untog »

podperson wrote: post #36

Don't fix email. Fix communication. Why, on my iPhone, do I have: 1. An email app (which required a major update to unite mail boxes) 2. A "messages" app (which abstracts out two different message systems) 3. A phone app 4. A contacts app 5. Twitter 6. Facebook 7. Skype What I want to do is (a) send messages to people (I don't care how), (b) check messages I've received (from anyone, using any method), (c) manage my…

I realise that this may sound like I'm descending into fanboyism, but this is actually something that annoys me about iOS- it's far, far too app-centric.

Take Windows Phone for example: tap a contact in WP and you see their tweets, Facebook messages, your SMS and e-mail history with them. The messages app integrates SMS and Live chat seamlessly. Ideally this system would open up to allow any third party to plug into these hubs (and from the early signs of WP8, it will), but it's still already lightyears ahead of Apple's offering. Even Android, with it's system of intents and actions, provides more integration than iOS. I'm baffled as to why they've not tried to do anything about this.

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#54

Post by kristiandupont »

podperson wrote: post #36

Don't fix email. Fix communication. Why, on my iPhone, do I have: 1. An email app (which required a major update to unite mail boxes) 2. A "messages" app (which abstracts out two different message systems) 3. A phone app 4. A contacts app 5. Twitter 6. Facebook 7. Skype What I want to do is (a) send messages to people (I don't care how), (b) check messages I've received (from anyone, using any method), (c) manage my…

I don't think I would want that. It sounds great in theory but in practice, there is a reason why I am on all those different channels. They reason is that they are different, even if that difference is subtle.

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#55

Post by dpark »

huhtenberg wrote: post #40
dpark wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These kinds of comments aren't necessarily inappropriate here. When someone's writing about "great interaction design", it's reasonable to point out the terrible interaction design of their site. If someone were discussing "great font design" on their blog and using Comic Sans, it'd be pretty surprising if they were not attacked.

Well, if the top comment starts with "holy shit", it typically drags all other comments in the same direction. Also, questioning someone's font survey by attacking their use of Comic Sans is, bluntly put, retarded. You still need to account for the quality of the content to make a judgement.

Did you seriously complain about someone else saying "holy shit" and then follow it up by calling my comment "retarded"?

And no, it's not "retarded" to question someone's expertise when they're presenting themselves as an expert and making critical errors. Your opinions on fonts are at best suspect if you use Comic Sans for the content of your blog. Likewise, your opinions on interaction design are at best suspect if your blog is rendered as pixelated jpgs, fades in slowly, breaks middle click, and is laid out more like an Apple product page than a page intended to convey meaningful information.

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#57

Post by simantel »

ineedtosleep wrote: post #44
podperson wrote: post #36

Don't fix email. Fix communication. Why, on my iPhone, do I have: 1. An email app (which required a major update to unite mail boxes) 2. A "messages" app (which abstracts out two different message systems) 3. A phone app 4. A contacts app 5. Twitter 6. Facebook 7. Skype What I want to do is (a) send messages to people (I don't care how), (b) check messages I've received (from anyone, using any method), (c) manage my…

> Tiny incremental improvements to email will only nibble at the edges of the larger problem. Let me communicate with a unified UI and unified contacts. Isn't that Google's main intent with integrating Google Voice onto phones? The recipient use case seems to work well under the Google apps where Google Voice shows your SMS and voicemails, a quick click would bring you to Gmail. The only issue I see here, is that I t…

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "a cross-app indicator of new email," but you can actually have voicemails and SMS forwarded to your email from Google Voice, creating a sort of "universal inbox."

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#59

Post by untog »

manmal wrote: post #18
hapless wrote: post #8

This guy has teeny tiny letters hardcoded into JPGs on his web site. I can't read it. Fortunately, this means I can disregard what he has to say about UI/UX. Sometimes the medium IS the message.

Looks really bad on my retina Macbook pro, all pixelated. If he's to do that JPG stuff, he ought to include x2 images :)

The retina Macbook is going to be in a small minority for a while yet- don't expect people to be leaping out of their seats to accomodate you!

Re: Re-Designing the classic email client

#60

Post by antninja »

brianlovin wrote: post #14

Is there anything out there right now that handles email attachments like described in this pitch? I would love the ability to see all the attachments ever sent to me, organized by date/sender/filetype. Or clicking on a contact and seeing all attachments I've shared with that person.

I used Zenbe's webmail when it was free and it did just this. Now their site is off and I've learned they have been acquired by Facebook in 2010.
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