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A new Gmail inbox

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Re: A new Gmail inbox

#101

Post by willis77 »

thrownaway2424 wrote: post #94
adastra wrote: post #79

Disaster. 1) I just turned it on, and it is not customizable at all . You cannot create custom tabs, and you can't even pick what goes into the tabs they have created. 2) When you turn it on, it disables Gmail's multiple inbox. Multiple inbox is the only thing saving my email from being a complete and utter disaster right now. 3) Judging by how they are forcing the new compose on everyone it is reasonable to expect t…

Gmail previously had 5 types of inbox view. Now it has 6. Feel free to choose the one you like.

Gmail previously had 1 type of message compose. Now it has 2. Feel free to choose the one yo--oops, now it has 1. The one you didn't choose.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#102

Post by dragonwriter »

baddox wrote: post #99
bretthopper wrote: post #36

These 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…

Isn't it more like min(idea, execution)? Good execution of a bad idea (if that's even possible) is still a bad thing (not that I think this is a bad idea).

> Isn't it more like min(idea, execution)?

Its more like idea * execution, where the range for each input (and the output, consequently) is [0,1].

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#103

Post by blktiger »

nwh wrote: post #78
Timothee wrote: post #40

I 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.

I used to think that way. Then I started actually using the unsubscribe links and (surprise!) I found that I stopped getting so much junk. I don't really have to hit unsubscribe very much anymore, just whenever my name gets added by some new service I signed up for.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#104

Post by medell »

bbx wrote: post #38

The main difference I can see with labels (at least for power users) is that the mails get filtered automatically by Google in these categories. I believe that most of us here on HN won't see this feature as revolutionary but it might help the less tech-savvy ones. For quite some time, I've been happy with GMail because I set up a system through which each email is ultimately stored in one of my predefined labels. I…

This seems like a natural step in inbox evolution and I can see it being useful for many of my less savvy friends & family.

Some recent startups have tried to solve this problem, i.e. my friends at Lightermail: http://www.lightermail.com

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#106

Post by Jack000 »

rayiner wrote: post #20

Wait, are these categories fixed? If so, more proof that gmail is now made for kids: "We get a lot of different types of email: messages from friends, social notifications, deals and offers, confirmations and receipts, and more." That doesn't remotely begin to describe my inbox, but then again I haven't been in high school for a long time now. Where is the tab for "bills"?

Gmail was originally for the power user, but now it's for the masses. Most people don't customize their tools, so these changes fits in well with their pivot to "casual users".

Maybe this means opportunities will arise for a newer cooler mail service.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#107

Post by Timothee »

nwh wrote: post #78
Timothee wrote: post #40

I 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.

Any time I get something I don't want I click the unsubscribe link. If the link doesn't work, if there aren't any or if I need to do more than legally necessary (e.g. logging into my account), I click "Report spam" in Gmail.

I don't feel bad about clicking it because I trust Gmail as a whole to be smart enough not to penalize an account globally if I'm the only one reporting it. Plus, when I do it, it's because it's actually spam.

Over time, it really works.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#108

Post by medell »

Timothee wrote: post #40

I 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…

Good advice for zero inbox, unfortunately most people aren't this organized and don't think this way and it seems like Google wants Gmail to benefit the most people.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#109

Post by pbiggar »

The problem that I have, and that many here seem to have, is that as "advanced" users, we've already built a fully-customized system for ourselves. Like when Dropbox came out, and we all had git/svn/cvs versions of the same thing going back years.

As a result, any changes are inevitably going to break our workflow. Even changes that are better for the common man cannot be better than our customized system.

For example, now it filters social email into the same folder: great, I can ignore it while I'm at work. Except my twitter alerts from my company account. So it breaks.

As another example, you apparently can't customize the tabs, and it disables multiple inbox. I spent a few years coming up with the optimum GTD steup for myself in gmail, and it's broken now.

I think the solution here is really for people like me to use a different email client. Gmail has become the defacto winner, but there's probably a market in making a different client for tech-savvy, very heavy users, with customizable interactions.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#110

Post by dragonwriter »

moskie wrote: post #27
aiiane wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate on why you feel it's disheartening?

It comes off as something being masked as a "feature," when in actuality it is just something that is trying to get me to spend money. It seems like it blurs the line between the "content" of my inbox and advertising.

> It comes off as something being masked as a "feature," when in actuality it is just something that is trying to get me to spend money.

I dunno. Automatically identifying "Promotions" and sending them off to their own tab seems to be good for helping me avoid dealing with things trying to get me to spend money when I don't want to, just the same as doing the same thing for "Spam" does.

> It seems like it blurs the line between the "content" of my inbox and advertising.

Seems to me to be exactly the opposite: having a "Promotions" tab separate from the "Primary" inbox, and especially automatically routing promotional material to that "Promotions" tabl seems to draw the line between the normal content of my inbox and marketing/advertising material more clearly than it is without that feature.

(Which, if you think about it, makes sense from a purely self-interested point of view for Google-as-ad-seller; the easier it is for you to isolate and ignore email-based advertising, the more valuable the web-based advertising that Google sells is.)

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