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A new Gmail inbox

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Re: A new Gmail inbox

#111

Post by dirkgently »

slg wrote: post #71
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…

While this UI might have changed a little, the feature set isn't new. The Smartlabels Gmail Labs experiment does the same automatic categorizing and filtering. I have used the experiment for a while and it is really pretty good about knowing what is what and in turn minimizing the amount of email that I see as soon as it arrives. In my experience it has been much more helpful than priority inbox system that Google ro…

It may look the same, but I think you are missing a bigger picture.

Google is at the forefront of machine learning. They have been doing it for a long time, and lately, they have taken it to a different level with new features rolled out across their various services.

For example, and you'd probably know, in Google Plus, now you can search pictures by the subject which can purely analyzes the data (without meta-data) and give you all the pictures of your cat.

I guess this new Inbox works in the same vein - I don't think it's just a big table of senders and their classifications - this seems to be more intelligent than that.

But it's okay to blindly criticize Google - in fact, it happens automatically if you are using a Macbook Air.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#112

Post by Osmium »

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…

How about those newsletters you're happy to read occasionally, but you don't want to interrupt you with notifications etc.?

I've got into the habit of marking all email with "unsubscribe" in it as read by default. I'll still see it when I open up my inbox, but it avoids me ever seeing a notification for something useless.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#113

Post by SEMW »

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 blurs the line between the "content" of my inbox and advertising

Yeah. They used to automatically file non-spam promotional emails into a separate folder where you could safely ignore them, but now they just go into your regular inbox! Money-grabbing so and so's.

(...is what you'd be saying if this feature were being eliminated rather than introduced...)

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#114

Post by dirkgently »

adventured wrote: post #14

So 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…

> So they're giving me sub folders ("tabs") for my inbox folder. How very 1999.

And this is why /r/technology is going downhill.

OH, wait a minute! Never mind..

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#115

Post by moskie »

dragonwriter wrote: post #110
moskie wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 l…

I suppose. But the weird aspect here is the prominence of the button. The point of filtering out spam (given the more pleasant name "Promotions" now) is to put it into a place where it won't bother me. Now, they're suggesting I have a big fancy "Promotions" button at the top of my inbox. Why would I want that button there?

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#117

Post by hamburglar »

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…

Out of curiosity, what do you do when you run into an OSS project which requires you to subscribe to a mailing list in order to ask a question? I find the friction of this high enough that I end up staying subscribed forever (and filtering the mail) rather than unsubscribing and possibly having to resubscribe later. I'm glad gmail doesn't have a quota for email bandwidth...

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#118

Post by freyr »

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 have a separate email address for this purpose. Anybody I know personally or trust gets my regular email address. Anybody who might sign me up for a newsletter gets my spam email address. I don't get any newsletter spam at my regular address.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#119

Post by lucb1e »

napolux wrote: post #100

Nobody cares about Google+. And they still put it everywhere.

I care and they make it worse. It's becoming more and more like Facebook, more chatty instead of with interesting content. Besides the obvious eternal September, which means more users and is a goal of theirs, they discourage long posts and comments by shortening how much you see of it, and making the expand link less visible. I now consciously make sure it breaks mid-sentence so that people know there's more.

Re: A new Gmail inbox

#120

Post by slg »

dirkgently wrote: post #111
slg wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While this UI might have changed a little, the feature set isn't new. The Smartlabels Gmail Labs experiment does the same automatic categorizing and filtering. I have used the experiment for a while and it is really pretty good about knowing what is what and in turn minimizing the amount of email that I see as soon as it arrives. In my experience it has been much more helpful than priority inbox system that Google ro…

It may look the same, but I think you are missing a bigger picture. Google is at the forefront of machine learning. They have been doing it for a long time, and lately, they have taken it to a different level with new features rolled out across their various services. For example, and you'd probably know, in Google Plus, now you can search pictures by the subject which can purely analyzes the data (without meta-data)…

I am not sure what you think I am missing. Google has offered this type of filtering before. I have continued to use it for the last year and really enjoy it.

The already existing feature is more intelligent than "a big table of senders". For example, some of the emails I receive from Amazon are sent directly to me as notifications and some are filtered away into Promotions to be viewed on my schedule. It is smart enough to know that I don't want my day interrupted by Amazon's next sale but do want to see my order confirmations from Amazon as soon as they are received.

I am not criticizing Google, I am just noting that this is not a new feature but a Gmail labs experiment graduating into the main Gmail feature set with a fresh new coat of UI polish.

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