The spell checker used to be great. It was a one-click feature (even if you needed to change language). Now, with the "improved UI" it's hidden away under a drop down menu, which on click brings yet another floating menu where you have to click a second arrow to change language. It's a mess. I hope they don't take away the old compose UI.
I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
261–270 of 344 posts
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#262Here'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.
This is false.
Not only Tab doesn't automatically send the email but Google has not overwrittern anything. This is the default behaviour on a web page. Pressing Tab selects the next interactive element on a web page (a link, form elemnts etc.) and pressing space/enter activates it.
I'm guessing you press tab expecting to indent something, write a word and then press space to begin the next one which actually sends the message.
This is how forms on a webpage work and AFAIR this is how the compose function in gmail always worked. I think i have seen a couple of WYSIWYG text editors that "capture" the tab keypress and actually ident the text but this is far from the norm.
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#263Gmail used to have a single concept, and do very well at that. Someone thought up a vision for how an ideal simplified email client should work, and made that as a web application.
Then the usual cruft built up. People wanted to "add features," not realizing that doing so changes the concept of the whole. The interface became non-consistent.
In general, as companies grow, so does the cruft. Projects are no longer in the hands of a single visionary, but a committee. That committee makes demands of programmers, who graft on the new changes. These accumulate and soon inconsistency is the norm.
At that point, users flee to other projects.
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#264Does anyone really think Photoshop is a good UX for mass consumption (which is obviously the target for Gmail)? I've been using it since version 2, and I think it's a great product, but for new users it's a miserably difficult product to learn, especially for any kind of casual use. There's a reason why users love apps like Draw Something or (more relevantly) Instagram or Paper. They're able to easily achieve the res…
I think older versions were more consistent. The newer ones show tacked-on ideas. I'm sticking with V6, despite its age and incompleteness.
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#265Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#266Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
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...
It's messy that they replaced these conventions but I understand that gmail is not targeted at the geek population exclusively anymore. Also, I like minimalistic user interfaces and geeks should be able to adapt. Here is a mapping for gmail: Tab -> Ctrl + ] Shift + Tab -> Ctrl + [ Quote -> Ctrl + Shift + 9 (They are also helpfully annotated in the formatting menu in case you forget.)
These shortcuts don't work for me.
Not that I'd ever use them. On my AZERTY keyboard Ctrl + ] translates to Ctrl + Alt + shift + ). I always have to press shift to enter digits so I'm not sure how the last one is even supposed to work in theory.
I also don't seem to have a formatting menu. Are you sure you're not using a Google Labs feature?
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#268There is a tradeoff in HCI that is between ease and efficiency. It seems Gmail is less easy to use AND less efficient. The only improvement seems to be design.
Speaking as an Interaction Design student, please don't confuse looks with design - the whole article is essentially about how the author thinks this is bad interface design.
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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). If anything, the new Gmail with all the hiding and obfuscation going on is going affect the new users the most. The other users atleast know that something is possible and wi…
You're assuming that most users want to edit the subject of ongoing threads (and thereby break the thread.) I have my doubts it even occurs to most them. So not having that option visible makes sense. I understand what you're saying about hidden options being unknown, but generally overall cognitive load is one of the biggest issues for new users and one of the best ways to mitigate that is to remove visual complexit…
That's another bug in Gmail. If I send two emails to two different people titled "Proposal" they get threaded. Thanks Gmail!
Re: I feel like Gmail went from being Photoshop to Draw Something
#270Here'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.
The default behavior for "Tab" on the web is to move to the next element on the Tab order.
The Send button is located above/before the email body. One would not expect that focus is moved to one of the previous elements instead of the immediate next element.