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Introducing the new compose in Gmail

gmailblog.blogspot.co.uk

181–190 of 202 posts

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#181
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find this theme great actually: it plain and simply doesn't work in Camino, which is my browser of choice, so I just blacklist any site which shows "the gear"

Seriously? Chrome, Firefox, Safari... etc... Time to upgrade and stop blaming the web for advancing.

I don't blame the web for advancing, when I see a reason for sites not to work I use an alternative browser. We're talking about a fucking blog here, not advanced data visualisation, if you just have to shit over the very core of the web for a blog, I can't bring myself to care about what you have to say: it won't matter that much anyway.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#182

It's amazing, when you ask "why would you need a whole page for composing an email?" there is no good answer. Someone dozens of years ago probably made that decision and it's just stuck.

Depends. I use Sparrow and despite the coolness of the "mini text area for reply - kind of like an IM response", I often prefer opening the compose in a new window as I might be interested in cc'ing others or sending with options, layout, etc.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#183

I hate being the guy who sidetracks a thread off the bat by complaining about something unrelated, but... Whatever blogspot theme Google uses for this blog is just god awful (oh, I see, this is it: http://gmailblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/as-you-may-have-noticed-gm... ), and I swear it gets worse every time I view a post there. To wit: When I load the page I see the orange "loading" gears. Then that sliiiiides up to reveal…

Ugh, why would anyone up-vote this comment? Some how this is the top comment, even though it doesn't address the content of the article. This happens all the time on HN and I find it very annoying. It's not just that I don't want to scroll past this comment. These meta-comments may seem harmless, but when this is the top comment, it stifles the entire discussion about the article. Instead of people discussing the mer…

some perspective: it's an article about a new way to compose email... not a big woop, and all the points in is irrele-rant were spot on; the blog's design antics are distracting. stop being so jerky.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#184
post #7

I can see the merits of this, but I'm curious about how it fits into a mobile strategy. My big complaint about email, especially gmail, is that it seems to insist on keeping too many elements from desktop to mobile. My mobile email needs are much more like my SMS needs, yet the UX for mobile Gmail (for example) largely resembles the desktop client. I know that's tangential, but it's what's on my mind regarding Gmail…

The thing is, who uses mobile GMail? Almost everyone I know uses a native client (Android or iOS). The mobile version of Gmail is definitely a second-class citizen, but I'm glad they're not letting it hold back development of awesome features like this.

I like Mobile Gmail much better than iPhone Mail client.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely agree. We all have some sort of window manager that deals with handling multiple windows in a consistent way. We don't need every website reinventing window management in their own half-assed manner, that is utterly inconsistent with other sites and other applications.

> We all have some sort of window manager that deals with handling multiple windows in a consistent way. Don't you like having tabs in your browser or windows in Vim? I remember the same argument being made when tabs were introduced in web browsers and yet, most people aren't complaining now.

I do use and like tabs, but they tend to have better window manager integration, as they are more or less a way to consolidate the "old" multiple window paradigm into a different interface, so for example I can cycle through my Firefox Tabs with Ctrl+Tab. For me they streamline the "usual" mode of browsing, but slow down other tasks, e.g., if I want to display something side by side I have to first pop them out into windows and let the WM handle it.

But what Google is introducing seems to be similar to their Google Talk "windows" that are already available in Gmail. They come in two modes: Either I get a small Ajax-y popup on the bottom right of my browser window, which I cannot resize, move or see when Alt+Tabbing/Ctrl+Tabbing. I absolutely loathe this mode. The second mode is where they pop out an actual window. I like this mode, as I can interact with the chat window as with every other window on my desktop. My assessment above is based on this experience.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#186
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, who uses mobile GMail? when my wife wants to use my tablet to check her mail.

Which type of tablet? This is solved in Android 4.2 with multiple accounts. You can both use the native client without privacy concerns.

no - that is not a solution. Say that was my co-worker. She doesnt want to leave her account open on my machine for multiple reasons - even if it is SELinux locked.

Mobile sites are useful for evanescent logins from tablets.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#187
post #32

Saving a draft, opening the old email, and then reopening your draft wastes valuable minutes. The new compose pops up in a window, just like chats (only larger). Minutes? I do sometimes wonder where the day goes... Alternatively, Shift-click on compose (or press capital C to with keyboard shortcuts on), and you'll get an actual window that you can move and resize. With the chat mini-windows I frequently wish that I c…

I completely agree. We all have some sort of window manager that deals with handling multiple windows in a consistent way. We don't need every website reinventing window management in their own half-assed manner, that is utterly inconsistent with other sites and other applications.

I agree. Plus the visual and mouse distance between the "Compose" button and the lower right corner Compose pane is far and uncomfortable. Ugh.

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to recall that both Google search and Gmail were initially popular with technically sophisticated users. I remember proselytising this amazing new search engine to people still using Lycos, or Yahoo, or Alta Vista, or whatever it was back then. I used to be able to get very accurate results in Google search with judicious use of quotes, excluded terms, and exact phrases. Now, Google second-guesses what I reall…

If you want to mention some recent searches that disappointed you, I'm happy to pass that on to the quality team here. If you're unhappy that Google is trying to autocorrect spelling or add/remove search terms, you might try the verbatim search tool: http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/11/search-using-your-t...

Good to see that PR is on the job of trying to convince people that they don't really want what they really want. It's funny that even verbatim search asks me if I'm sure that I spelt something correctly. I guess our definitions over verbatim differ but to me, in this context, it means "do this and stop second guessing me kthnx." It's also annoying that I have to switch to another mode every time I want to search. There appears to be no setting to set verbatim as the default and even if there was, one would either need to always be on the same computer (if the preference is saved in a cookie) or always signed in (if it's set on the account).

A suggestion - provide a subdomain with the old search, e.g. old.google.com. All of the mainstream customers get whatever UX/marketing think is best for them and everyone else gets to keep using a tool which they find useful - everyone wins!

Oh, and since you might be the right person to ask, why is Quora still turning up in search results when they censor most of the thread? They're even worse than Experts Exchange (and why are they still turning up in results too?).

Re: Introducing the new compose in Gmail

#190

I hate being the guy who sidetracks a thread off the bat by complaining about something unrelated, but... Whatever blogspot theme Google uses for this blog is just god awful (oh, I see, this is it: http://gmailblog.blogspot.co.uk/p/as-you-may-have-noticed-gm... ), and I swear it gets worse every time I view a post there. To wit: When I load the page I see the orange "loading" gears. Then that sliiiiides up to reveal…

+1000! I've been more and more bothered by that shit "gears" theme, too. High CPU usage, cannot be viewed without javascript capable/enabled etc. Sometimes I get the feeling the google devs are being replaced by retarded monkeys.
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