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Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

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Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#171

Post by graeme »

cromwellian wrote: post #162
pg wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a reason for this pattern. When I complained to a friend at Google about the new GMail compose, he said that what was driving it was that Larry wanted a beautiful, consistent look throughout all Google's products. That sort of motivation leads to design disasters. The various Google products may have been inconsistent, but each of their designs was the product of long evolution. Steve Jobs could probably have…

The new Maps interface isn't driven by the idea of making it "consistent" with GMail, it's driven by the same idea that Google Search's homepage used to represent -- simplicity. The Map is the UI. A single search box. You type in POIs, the Map is constructed around the search results. The old Google Maps (the tile based one) was based on the idea of a multi-pane map with gadgets and a side panel of 10 ranked search r…

Interesting idea. However, my two year old machine that was top of the line in 2011 couldn't run the new maps.

This is not uncommon from what I've read.

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#172

Post by cromwellian »

graeme wrote: post #171
cromwellian wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new Maps interface isn't driven by the idea of making it "consistent" with GMail, it's driven by the same idea that Google Search's homepage used to represent -- simplicity. The Map is the UI. A single search box. You type in POIs, the Map is constructed around the search results. The old Google Maps (the tile based one) was based on the idea of a multi-pane map with gadgets and a side panel of 10 ranked search r…

Interesting idea. However, my two year old machine that was top of the line in 2011 couldn't run the new maps. This is not uncommon from what I've read.

Performance issues are valid, the Map obviously taxes machines more because it is using GPU rendering, but I would expect them to optimize it as time goes by.

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#173

Post by porker »

dasil003 wrote: post #65
Avshalom wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa whoa whoa. short by definition ? I use email to you know write to people if I want short I can text or chat or tweet or smoke signal. I rather assume email is long by definition.

Okay I played fast and loose, but I meant this: By definition of the length of a day, if you are sending any serious volume of emails then most of them are going to be short.

Given the mess long email conversations become, if as CTO you're sending that many short emails I'd say you're using the wrong medium.

A PM tool makes it much easier IME for the team to keep track of, and on top of, messages relevant to their projects, and reference them later.

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#174

Post by cromwellian »

studentrob wrote: post #168
cromwellian wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new Maps interface isn't driven by the idea of making it "consistent" with GMail, it's driven by the same idea that Google Search's homepage used to represent -- simplicity. The Map is the UI. A single search box. You type in POIs, the Map is constructed around the search results. The old Google Maps (the tile based one) was based on the idea of a multi-pane map with gadgets and a side panel of 10 ranked search r…

It was always a single search box. And it always centered around results. Removing the side panel makes it so I now can't use a browser text search to find the results I want faster. So, I disagree, and I think the old way was both easier (because I knew it) AND simpler (less complex). What now? And here is the difference between Google employees and their users. Google believes, and has told their employees, that wh…

I think we've seen lot of instances of major vendors changing something, and everyone complaining, and then the new design becomes the new normal. Practically every Facebook redesign got pissed on.

Apple famously got ripped for Final Cut Pro X, for many of the same reasons people are ripping the new Maps (bunch of power user features removed)

I personally prefer the map to show the results. They are spotlighted and easy to see. The result box on the side used to annoy me because I'd have to keep moving the mouse and/or eyes from the list to the map and back. The new Maps consistently pops up the Infobox in the same place too.

You can't please everyone, but on mobile and touch devices, having a multi-pane interaction model is lame anyway. So really, the desktop is simply converging with the tablet.

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#175

Post by [deleted] »

dasil003 wrote: post #29

The self-righteous anger about the irredeemable horror of the new Gmail compose is starting to get a bit old. First of all, it's not as one-sided as people are making it out. I was also annoyed when it first came out, but there are some clear benefits. Being able to browse email in the background while composing email is a huge win for my email workload (CTO for a 30-person company). There are some important philosop…

[deleted]

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#176

Post by SilasX »

dasil003 wrote: post #65
Avshalom wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa whoa whoa. short by definition ? I use email to you know write to people if I want short I can text or chat or tweet or smoke signal. I rather assume email is long by definition.

Okay I played fast and loose, but I meant this: By definition of the length of a day, if you are sending any serious volume of emails then most of them are going to be short.

Still doesn't follow from the definition...

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#177

Post by crwll »

gbog wrote: post #79
plorkyeran wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything about the new Google Maps besides the maps themselves is so mindbogglingly bad that I have no idea how they thought it was ready for public consumption. It seems to be missing most of the features of the classic Google Maps, and those that are present are far harder to use. The UI for the public transit schedules is pretty much the only thing that seems like it could be an improvement once I get used to it…

The New Android map app is bad too. Rip the menu button, no way to get other routes suggestions anymore, I didn't find a quick way to switch from navigate view to route view. All that is still the move toward less and less control for the user, initiated by Apple. I hope Google can revert soon, now that it is actually Apple which is coping with Google.

Other routes are there:

When you have searched for a destination, click on the bottom right where it shows the commute type (car, bus, bicycle, walking) and estimated time. From there you'll find a list of three suggested routes (at least I do). When clicking on any of the the suggested routes, it'll show all of them in the map and you can also choose a route by clicking on it in the map.

Additionally, I get back from navigation to route view just by pressing the back button. Works just like it should?

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#178

Post by tanzam75 »

Demiurge wrote: post #105
onelovelyname wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great point, thinking of it that way gives some insight into why Google may have changed the UI.

The insight being is that Google is now discarding the professional crowd who bought into their Apps for ADD teenagers. Time to look for alternatives.

Google Apps generates less than 3% of Google's revenues. (Probably much less.)

Thus, not enough of a money-maker to influence the direction of Gmail.

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#179

Post by enraged_camel »

cromwellian wrote: post #174
studentrob wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was always a single search box. And it always centered around results. Removing the side panel makes it so I now can't use a browser text search to find the results I want faster. So, I disagree, and I think the old way was both easier (because I knew it) AND simpler (less complex). What now? And here is the difference between Google employees and their users. Google believes, and has told their employees, that wh…

I think we've seen lot of instances of major vendors changing something, and everyone complaining, and then the new design becomes the new normal. Practically every Facebook redesign got pissed on. Apple famously got ripped for Final Cut Pro X, for many of the same reasons people are ripping the new Maps (bunch of power user features removed) I personally prefer the map to show the results. They are spotlighted and e…

>>I think we've seen lot of instances of major vendors changing something, and everyone complaining, and then the new design becomes the new normal. Practically every Facebook redesign got pissed on.

You might be getting confused. There's a difference between the new design becoming the "new normal," and the new design being tolerated because there aren't any real alternatives to the product. After all, the only reason Facebook users stopped complaining about each redesign is because they realized Facebook doesn't care what users think. (But I bet when major advertisers complain behind closed doors, they listen.)

Google Maps is not like Facebook. While it is currently the dominant maps service, it is not the only one. Not only that, but it also cannot rely on a strong network effect to protect it like Facebook can; if all your friends are on Facebook, then being on MySpace is kind of dumb. Can you say the same about Google Maps?

Here's the idea: you can afford to make sweeping, disruptive design changes if and only if you have a virtually unbreakable monopoly in your market. This is why Microsoft could risk changing the MS Office interface back in 2007. Even if they had screwed up, what would people switch to? There wasn't a good enough alternative. Again though, can you say the same about Google Maps?

Re: Anxiety over the new Gmail Compose

#180

Post by gbog »

crwll wrote: post #177
gbog wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The New Android map app is bad too. Rip the menu button, no way to get other routes suggestions anymore, I didn't find a quick way to switch from navigate view to route view. All that is still the move toward less and less control for the user, initiated by Apple. I hope Google can revert soon, now that it is actually Apple which is coping with Google.

Other routes are there: When you have searched for a destination, click on the bottom right where it shows the commute type (car, bus, bicycle, walking) and estimated time. From there you'll find a list of three suggested routes (at least I do). When clicking on any of the the suggested routes, it'll show all of them in the map and you can also choose a route by clicking on it in the map. Additionally, I get back fro…

Just tried it and it is like you say, thanks. Influenced by the previous version, I thought pressing back button would exit navigation.

Then one more complain: in the previous version I could get a metric scale from the labs, which I think is not there anymore. I think a map without a scale is a toy-map.

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