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I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

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Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#91

Post by mixmax »

esalman wrote: post #82
mixmax wrote: post #74

Here's another total usability fail: Tab sends the e-mail you're currently writing instead of indenting text. Everywhere else tab indents text, and when you write an e-mail in gmail you'd expect it to act consistently with how it's used everywhere else. Start writing in gmail, hit tab to indent some text. Congratulations you've now sent half an e-mail to you boss.... I can't fathom who thought this was a good idea.

Tab+Return sends email.

Thanks - I didn't notice that. After having mistakenly sent a few embarrassing half e-mails I've stopped using tab altogether in gmail for fear of doing it again. When I indent text it's spaces instead of tab - unlike anywhere else.

This proves the point that it's terrible UI though...

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#92

Post by jdavis703 »

mixmax wrote: post #91
esalman wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tab+Return sends email.

Thanks - I didn't notice that. After having mistakenly sent a few embarrassing half e-mails I've stopped using tab altogether in gmail for fear of doing it again. When I indent text it's spaces instead of tab - unlike anywhere else. This proves the point that it's terrible UI though...

The to: field is always the last one I fill out to prevent half-baked thoughts from escaping.

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#93

Post by w1ntermute »

mixmax wrote: post #74

Here's another total usability fail: Tab sends the e-mail you're currently writing instead of indenting text. Everywhere else tab indents text, and when you write an e-mail in gmail you'd expect it to act consistently with how it's used everywhere else. Start writing in gmail, hit tab to indent some text. Congratulations you've now sent half an e-mail to you boss.... I can't fathom who thought this was a good idea.

One easy solution to this (and many other general email mishaps) is to enable Gmail's undo button for sending email: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/1284885?hl=en

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#94

Post by sengstrom »

jlarocco wrote: post #80
Fuzzwah wrote: post #15

I'm torn between strongly agreeing with these points and wanting to comment pointing out that none of them matter..... I hate change for change's sake, but the new gmail compose window has made me more efficient. It took some getting used to however. Responses to the points made in the article: 1) I can’t easily delete my signatures. Forget about deleting your sig and generally cleaning up email threads. Decent email…

> Drag and drop from the address bar. So easy. This is stupid. For starters, it means people can only insert links to sites they currently have open in their browser...

I for one tend to open the link I'm about to send just to be sure I got the right one and it shows what I intend to communicate... So there it is, ready for drag and drop :)

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#95

Post by tomkarlo »

mixmax wrote: post #91
esalman wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tab+Return sends email.

Thanks - I didn't notice that. After having mistakenly sent a few embarrassing half e-mails I've stopped using tab altogether in gmail for fear of doing it again. When I indent text it's spaces instead of tab - unlike anywhere else. This proves the point that it's terrible UI though...

I highly recommend turning on the "Undo Send" extension in the Labs part of settings. It lets you choose to undo settings for ~5 seconds after you press send. It has saved my bacon countless times, not because I hit send accidentally, but because I realize I want to add one more thing or recipient to an email.

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#96

Post by shrikant »

k3n wrote: post #69
Fuzzwah wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can honestly say I've never used text formatting in an email, so I realize we're coming at this from two different directions. If I need a list of things in an email I'll do this: - step 1 - sub step a - sub step b - step 2 - etc Which gets me thinking about how cool it would be if gmail accepted and displayed markdown formatting..... Would that be a winner for you too?

I hate just about anything and everything about MSOutlook, but this is one feature that I sorely miss in GMail. In MSO, at least if you have the option turned on (although I think it's on by default), you start a new list simply by typing "* some text". When you hit enter, a new bullet-point is automatically created, and hitting enter twice without entering text ends the list. Likewise, typing "1. some text" begins a…

That's because Outlook uses MS Word internally for email composition and rendering.

Earlier (Outlook 2003), it used to be obvious and also configurable. Now you're stuck using it with all its quirks and annoyances. (Yes, I'm not a fan..)

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#97

Post by ebbv »

tomkarlo wrote: post #90
cmircea wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody thinks Photoshop has a good UX, but that's not the point; the point is it's been consistent, with only small, helpful changes. If Adobe redesigned the Photoshop interface they'd instantly love half their market share, as people using software professionally don't like or have the time to learn something new just because it's better in some odd way. Microsoft did that with Office, the whole Ribbon fiasco, but t…

Yes, but Photoshop has a totally different target market from Gmail, which is why the article's comparison is nonsensical if not entirely wrong. Gmail is designed for everyone and has to support the full spectrum of users, in particular the new ones (because they're the ones picking new email accounts - consider that they're partially trying to target people who still don't have email). Photoshop is designed for a ve…

If your point is that his analogy wasn't great, I think we'll all concede that point.

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#99

Post by pfg »

cmircea wrote: post #50
pfg wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I made a screenshot (seems like the pictures aren't working for the cache links): http://i.imgur.com/lSC4g0C.jpg

Surely you could've made it a PNG! http://awesomescreenshot.com/00e18gxe65

Damn you, imgur! I actually uploaded a PNG :(

Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something

#100

Post by shrikant »

ebbv wrote: post #67

I can't remember the last Gmail change that was actually an improvement. In general Google's changes since the Google+ rollout have been 90% terrible. There's been a couple of changes to Youtube that are better (like the really big mode), but overall changes to all Google services have been bad. I feel like they've really lost the plot.

I may be in the minority here, but I actually think most changes to the Gmail interface have been improvements.

My biggest gripe was when they did the overall visual refresh, which reduced the information density on my small laptop screen. Then they added a "Density" switcher, which made things alright again.

I actually like it when interfaces change. Even when I was super busy I wouldn't mind learning and adapting to changes interfaces. Oh well, I guess I just like change for its own sake.

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