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How to cope with the Gmail redesign

jasoncrawford.org

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Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#141

Post by j_baker »

statictype wrote: post #113
pg wrote: post #88

This article made me finally bite the bullet and convert. I've been using the new design for the last several hours. I happen to have a window open with the old design, so I know it's not merely my imagination that the new one is worse. Not enormously so, but definitely worse. Read mails are more legible in the old version, because there is more contrast between black letters and the old light blue background than be…

or worse still, more consistent So you believe that consistency among UI screens should take a backseat to usefulness? I agree with this but I know there are a lot of people who believe the opposite - that consistency is more important to good design. And this isn't limited to big companies.

I'd argue that a consistently poor interface is preferable to an inconsistently well-designed interface. I can get used to a poorly-designed UI if I only have to learn how to do so once. It's when I have to learn different ways to do the same thing that it becomes annoying.

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#142

Post by comex »

tome wrote: post #115
rdl wrote: post #92

I can't imagine using gmail for high-volume email; I've used it at various times due to being lazy about setting up something better, but ugh. mutt is so much better, using maildirs synced with imap (with mbsync or something). Totally customizable, per-folder triggers, and works in a terminal.

Yes, I can't understand why highly computer-literate people use GMail. There must be something very compelling about it because it's so popular, but no one's ever explained to me what it is. If anyone here wants to explain, I'd appreciate it! I use mutt too, which I find incredibly flexible. The only downside I experience compared to GMail is that searching is not as powerful. Am I missing something?

I've never used mutt, but I depend on Gmail's conversation view (a smoother experience than going through messages one by one) and easy searching of gigabytes of email; a proportional font, auto-linkification, and built-in video chat don't hurt either.

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#143

Post by esc »

Hurdy wrote: post #140
esc wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the answer. Based on the discussion here, one especially cool new feature would be a 'classic' mode that would mimic the look and feel of the old design :)

It's not possible to please everyone when you do a UI change and have 300+ million users, but we do try to fix some issues people have with the new design (e.g. setting for text buttons, high contrast theme). Of course it has to look consistent with other products so there are some limitations. Our community manager wrote a much more eloquent answer to that topic on reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/google/comments/sk7…

The link was an interesting read, and you make a valid point that some of the issues have been solved by features like the button texts.

Actually my point was exactly that everyone seems to have their own favorite thing they miss about the old design. So for me it would make more sense to build a mode (on top of the new codebase) that would mimic the old design instead of implementing fixes one-by-one. Then everyone who liked the old design better could just change one setting that is easy to find and be done instead of playing with bunch of individual settings in different menus to achieve the same thing. I think it would stop a lot of complaints even if it would not be perfect.

I understand that there might be very good reasons why it is not feasible, this is just my 2 cents.

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#144

Post by gleb »

pg wrote: post #88

This article made me finally bite the bullet and convert. I've been using the new design for the last several hours. I happen to have a window open with the old design, so I know it's not merely my imagination that the new one is worse. Not enormously so, but definitely worse. Read mails are more legible in the old version, because there is more contrast between black letters and the old light blue background than be…

I think the reason is simpler - Larry Page is in charge now. His approach is to trust the designers not users. And that approach results in products designers like and users don't. See http://vimeo.com/29965463 for discussion on how things have changed in Google w.r.t design.

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#146

Post by dominik »

My single largest complaint about the redesign?

When you search your messages, the buttons to go to the next page of search result are inexplicably only at the top of the results, not at the bottom.

Before I realized this design oversight, I spent a few minutes perplexedly scrolling to the bottom of search results, flabbergasted that those were all the results.

You can imagine my frustration at the design team when I finally realized: Oh, the pagination buttons are at the top...

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#147

Post by joeyh »

joelthelion wrote: post #126

Using a web-service and raging when it gets redesigned or closed is pretty stupid. People who don't like when other people decide for them should use real email clients with a standard protocol such as IMAP.

You say that and get downvoted..

My email client is a shell built up carefully to my needs over years. Inhabiting it has shaped me in turn. I know that it won't change without my say, and if I move to another shell one day it will be my own choice. From this perspective it's so weird to see those who have flitted from shortlived flower to flower bemoaning their passing.

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#149

Post by potatolicious »

gleb wrote: post #144
pg wrote: post #88

This article made me finally bite the bullet and convert. I've been using the new design for the last several hours. I happen to have a window open with the old design, so I know it's not merely my imagination that the new one is worse. Not enormously so, but definitely worse. Read mails are more legible in the old version, because there is more contrast between black letters and the old light blue background than be…

I think the reason is simpler - Larry Page is in charge now. His approach is to trust the designers not users. And that approach results in products designers like and users don't. See http://vimeo.com/29965463 for discussion on how things have changed in Google w.r.t design.

There's nothing intrinsically wrong with designer-first UI. After all, none of the points pg pointed out are engineering related.

The problem here is that there is still a confusion between graphics designers and interaction designers. A lot of companies let the former do the job of the latter, and it shows.

Re: How to cope with the Gmail redesign

#150

Post by rdl »

comex wrote: post #142
tome wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I can't understand why highly computer-literate people use GMail. There must be something very compelling about it because it's so popular, but no one's ever explained to me what it is. If anyone here wants to explain, I'd appreciate it! I use mutt too, which I find incredibly flexible. The only downside I experience compared to GMail is that searching is not as powerful. Am I missing something?

I've never used mutt, but I depend on Gmail's conversation view (a smoother experience than going through messages one by one) and easy searching of gigabytes of email; a proportional font, auto-linkification, and built-in video chat don't hurt either.

Searching is the one thing I still need to figure out for mutt (I cheat now by sending a copy of everything to gmail just for search). Linkification is handled by the terminal program.
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