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Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

googleappsdeveloper.blogspot.co.uk

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Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#121

Post by johnmw »

maratd wrote: post #89
MrDOS wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I imagine that Google wants to roll this out to Apps users before general Gmail users. That'll be a first. Historically, Google has deeply neglected Apps users. My Apps account didn't get G+ until almost a year after it became generally available.

> Google has deeply neglected Apps users. That's a funny way of looking at it. I pay Google money for my account so that I have, above all, a reliable system to use for my business. No beta bullshit. And with Google Apps, that's what I get. Regular users are the guinea pigs and once a feature has proven itself year(s) later, it's added to Apps. As someone who runs a business, I'm quite happy with that approach. I get…

Good point. I think in the days before Google starting charging for Apps, many of the users were the tech-head-early-adopter crowd. Which is why many were so disappointed that they got all the new innovations last.

I think everyone would be happier if Apps users could signal to Google they would like to be a 'new features beta tester'.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#122

Post by QuantumGuy »

Just need to make sure I am getting this. Actions will make things happen once you open the email right? I am rather confused by this whole concept. Furthermore when will Google give me more control over my inbox like a builtin ifttt system? I mean filters does alot but I want more and not just for gmail but for all Google services. Example certain days I go to the gym but I only go if it is not raining. I wish I could tell calendar schedule gym if not raining. Is that what actions is?

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#123

Post by reddit_clone »

bigtones wrote: post #100

We were one of the companies to support this during the launch announcement today, and we've been playing with it for the past month or so. It's an awesome feature for transactional emails that require a quick action to be performed - we use it for task notification emails where you can check off a task as complete right within the email client. It's based on an open standard, and plain old HTTP POST so not specifica…

Again, what is the difference between this and clicking a link? Instead of showing a link , they show a button is it? Adding a bunch of crap into email body is worth that?

This is right out of Microsoft's embrace/extend playbook.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#124

Post by JoeKM »

planetjones wrote: post #46
dmbaggett wrote: post #41

Lots of strangely negative reactions here. We ( http://inky.com ) think this is a positive development and plan to support it as well. We're happy Google has promoted open standards in doing this.

I don't think the reactions are strange at all. Google have a bad track record in implementing things and then abandoning them for one. I want my email to be a consistent experience - not to get some different behavior if I access through a certain device. Email and its simplicity was universal - I saw the same text on my phone, tablet, laptop and desktop. Will every mail sender who makes use of this, include the JSO…

> Google have a bad track record in implementing things and then abandoning them for one.

Google Reader drama isn't ever going away on HN, is it? The loud minority keep bringing it up regardless of what innovative products Google develops.

> I want my email to be a consistent experience - not to get some different behavior if I access through a certain device.

One decade ago most clients poorly supported HTML email, if at all. It was an inconsistent experience. Understandably it was new technology, so most of us patiently waited until the standard was adopted by email clients.

Same thing here.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#125

Post by porges »

MrDOS wrote: post #69
untog wrote: post #57

The fact that this was posted on the Google Apps blog is telling- I imagine that Google wants to roll this out to Apps users before general Gmail users. I'm surprised by the reaction in here- yes, it's an addition to the standard e-mail system. Do we really want that system to stand absolutely still? If that's the case, why are we cheering so much web browser development? Surely a browser from 1997 should be good eno…

> I imagine that Google wants to roll this out to Apps users before general Gmail users. That'll be a first. Historically, Google has deeply neglected Apps users. My Apps account didn't get G+ until almost a year after it became generally available.

Google Now still doesn't support a lot of cards for Apps accounts either.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#126

Post by d43594 »

dragonwriter wrote: post #115
d43594 wrote: post #35

Whatever happened to the Unix philosphy? 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well'. Last thing I want in my inbox. Call me a purist but email is for emailing people.

> Whatever happened to the Unix philosphy? 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well'. Its still a valid and important way of constructing software systems. But users mostly don't want a separate UI for each of those components, they want them strung together in a way which provides a simple experience that allows them to get the things they want to do done.

Then write a dashboard facility without polluting your existing applications by bolting barely related features onto them.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#127

Post by dragonwriter »

roc wrote: post #120
dragonwriter wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So... you're saying it should have been conceived of as a particular file type and attached, like all other non-message-related elements? No, if I was saying that, you would have seen those words in my message rather than yours. If you want to say that, go ahead, but don't misattribute it to me. But if you were to make that argument, I'd probably point out that its not "non-message-related" (actually, the biggest p…

> "No, if I was saying that, you would have seen those words in my message rather than yours." No-one was 'misattributing' anything to anyone. It was a figure of speech. Welcome to the sarchasm my friend. > "its not "non-message-related"" A bad word choice on my part. it is indeed message related ; I was just (poorly) trying to draw a line between the message itself and the potentionally-actionable addenda. This whol…

> The filetype is more than the encoding.

HTML isn't an encoding, and HTML is the filetype in which the structured data used for schemas-in-email is embedded, using open standards for embedding various kinds of data in HTML.

> And should a given client not be aware of these 'actions', using a file-type enables the host system to present an application or extension that is.

It is now quite common for systems that handle HTML to provide mechanisms for extension to provide additional functionality that don't rely on segregation of related data into separate files with separate types.

> Embedding it within the email not only disadvantages those not using the big email clients

Parsing microdata and JSON-LD isn't exactly difficult; obviously Google specifically as the first mover has some advantage, but I don't see how this disadvantages any other client any more than any new feature a client implements.

> but it places ones email provider in the middle of a non-email exchange between the user and another service.

How is it a "non-email exchange"? Its an exchange conduct through email. That's an "email exchange".

> If anything, the way functionality has been created in 2013 is exactly why we should take care to not see things like this become a carrot for data silos.

How is the completely-open framework involved a "carrot for data silos"? You keep asserting conclusions without explaining your rationale.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#128

Post by dragonwriter »

d43594 wrote: post #126
dragonwriter wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Whatever happened to the Unix philosphy? 'Write programs that do one thing and do it well'. Its still a valid and important way of constructing software systems. But users mostly don't want a separate UI for each of those components, they want them strung together in a way which provides a simple experience that allows them to get the things they want to do done.

Then write a dashboard facility without polluting your existing applications by bolting barely related features onto them.

> Then write a dashboard facility without polluting your existing applications by bolting barely related features onto them.

How is automatically recognizing meaning and surfacing action requests from email a "barely related" feature to an existing email client?

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#129

Post by kbenson »

sixbrx wrote: post #119
kbenson wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a large disconnect between people that use/default HTML on in their mail clients, and people that don't. Additionally, as always, people take it as an attack against themselves when you threaten an action they do often and like doing. For my (probably our? ) part, I prefer text email to a large degree. I do enjoy the ability to view in HTML a few select correspondences I get, but they could just as easily be…

> People that reply with color coded text to denote who's speaking cause me a unique type of pain Not all of us do it on purpose, sometimes it's Outlook helpfully changing our text color to blue after we've copy/pasted from some text from a correspondent. I usually notice this right after I send. Sometimes if someone has a name that's unusual to me, you can tell I had to copy/paste it because it's blue and the rest i…

A solution to this seems to be to set the default composition to plain text, which may or may not have other negative consequences depending on your usage. At least that's a solution in Thunderbird, I have no idea if Outlook handles this well (or at all), and any caveats it may have. I imagine it does handle it, Outlook has historically been pretty feature heavy and I know people would have asked for this.

Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox

#130

Post by keeperofdakeys »

MrDOS wrote: post #69
untog wrote: post #57

The fact that this was posted on the Google Apps blog is telling- I imagine that Google wants to roll this out to Apps users before general Gmail users. I'm surprised by the reaction in here- yes, it's an addition to the standard e-mail system. Do we really want that system to stand absolutely still? If that's the case, why are we cheering so much web browser development? Surely a browser from 1997 should be good eno…

> I imagine that Google wants to roll this out to Apps users before general Gmail users. That'll be a first. Historically, Google has deeply neglected Apps users. My Apps account didn't get G+ until almost a year after it became generally available.

I believe the google apps administrator has the ability to set whether new features should be enabled instantly, or delayed.
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