This feature is definitely getting misconstrued. There's been a lab for it for ages (not the new layout, but automatic labelling of these categories) and it works really well. Looks like they're A/B'ing it in (I haven't got the new layout yet), so if you haven't got it yet, enable the smart labels lab and see what you think.
A new Gmail inbox
81–90 of 313 posts
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#82I'm encouraged that they seem to allow you to toggle this new inbox on/off as you wish. In contrast to the "new" compose box which will eventually be forced onto everyone.
I'm just gonna hijack this thread in case any gmail devs are dropping by. the new compose box is a joke - why would you force users to write emails in a small window in the bottom right corner?!
I'm not a gmail dev and am not shy of criticizing Google when warranted, but I actually like the compose box. My understanding of the purpose of it is that it allows you to read email in a single browser window while having a compose window open simultaneously. I've found this is helpful when I need to copy/paste addresses or other information from existing emails into a new email. In the past I've previously had to have multiple windows open to do that.
I can see how it is a personal preference issue but it does server a useful purpose as far as I can tell.
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
You don't think people would set up a tab to keep all of the noisy "this is what's on sale this week" emails separate if they could?
Yes, I would like to keep them separate, but I would not like to have a big prominent link to them at the top of my inbox. See the labels listed in the mobile app screenshot ("Family," "Fun," "School")? I (and most other people, I would think) would much sooner like to have big buttons to those things at the top of my inbox. Not "Promotions."
I think you under-estimate how much people care about these types of e-mails. At work we manage the mailing list for a big restaurant chain. Their "active users" subset of their mailing list makes up about 1/3 of the total, and that 1/3 opens 40% of the promotional e-mails they are sent within 2 days. For a lot of people "Promotions" e-mails both represents a leisure activity (hunting for bargains), and social activities (lunch with colleagues, dinner with friends, evening at the theatre etc.).
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#84So they're giving me sub folders ("tabs") for my inbox folder. How very 1999. What Gmail is really doing is adding more layers of complexity. Now they have hard wired folders (inbox, sent, etc), labels (aka custom folders), tabs in the inbox, and importance markers (starred / not). They're making the same mistake that consumed many of Microsoft's email efforts: adding complexity thinking that's how you add 'power con…
not forced to use it. What would you rather they add?
How about useful search?
Currently, you can't direct searches within nested folders. You either search all messages, or search within one folder/label. So for example, I have e-mails grouped by project, and within big projects there are sub-labels:
project1/testing
project1/doc
project1/proposals
...
project2/testing
...
Search also could use a grep-like capability. The "advanced search" options are a bit of a joke, especially coming from a company that cut its teeth on search.
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#85Looking at my girlfriend's gmail Inbox makes my eyes bleed, it's a mishmash of seemingly irrelevant email, lots of promos or facebook notifications more than half of which is unread. I sometimes find it hard to control myself not to "clean it up". This seems like a perfect addition for her... as for me, I've already setup my filters and am already happy with gmail as is; I don't think this will interfere with that. Seems like a feature designed for the 99% of people who don't frequent HN.
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#86All this advanced functionality and still no sorting by date. :(
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm just gonna hijack this thread in case any gmail devs are dropping by. the new compose box is a joke - why would you force users to write emails in a small window in the bottom right corner?!
I felt the same way at first. Then I noticed two things: (1) I could write several messages at once. Useful if you want to look things up, and keep multi-tasking. (2) I can refer to other messages while writing one.
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Re: A new Gmail inbox
#88These comments are pretty sad. I know we feel the need to comment on everything right away these days, but honestly there isn't much to say about this feature until we've actually used it. HN almost universally believes in execution over the idea, yet here we are trashing an idea before seeing the execution. It's great that Gmail is trying to innovate and improve the email experience. Maybe this feature won't work ou…
Knee-jerk reactions are a big problem on this site. Perhaps there should be a delay between a story posting and comments being allowed.
People wanting to censor dissent are a big problem on this site.
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#89I find all these new email products (Sparrow, Mailbox, etc.) interesting on a UI/UX level but they're highly irrelevant to me. I always read about how hard it has become to manage one's inbox, but I really don't have a problem with it. My system is simple: do not sign-up for newsletter or notifications (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, etc.) you won't read, unsubscribe anytime you realize you don't read the ones you r…
It's almost impossible to /avoid/ getting signed up for a pile of "newsletter" spam. Pretty much everybody that has access to my email address floods me with them.
Keep hitting the 'unsubscribe' links. For those that don't work, put in a filter to auto-delete before you see them.
Re: A new Gmail inbox
#90Will this new inbox work with Google Talk or it's Hangout only?