I'm expecting "this email designed for gmail" badges soon.
Both Microdata and JSON-LD are open formats.
The data format is open, but no other client will read and interpret these inbox actions
Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
51–60 of 147 posts
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#52Lots of strangely negative reactions here. We ( http://inky.com ) think this is a positive development and plan to support it as well. We're happy Google has promoted open standards in doing this.
I don't think the reactions are strange at all. Google have a bad track record in implementing things and then abandoning them for one. I want my email to be a consistent experience - not to get some different behavior if I access through a certain device. Email and its simplicity was universal - I saw the same text on my phone, tablet, laptop and desktop. Will every mail sender who makes use of this, include the JSO…
I see your point, but consistency of email display went out the window with HTML email. We (and Google, and hopefully everybody else providing mail readers) put a ton of work into sanitizing HTML before rendering it in the preview pane. This makes mail display a delicate balance between safety and preserving the sender's intent. It's already a far from trivial problem, and is one of the hundred or so non-obvious reasons why making a mail client isn't easy.
What's nice about what they've done here is that they've required an additional (but now standard) level of authentication for the senders who want to include this richer, more actionable content. And they haven't hardwired this into Google Plus or some other walled garden. That's welcome, IMO.
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#53Hmm. Making a universal email message have bespoke instructions for a specific mail provider. Call me old fashioned but I don't like that. Infact I still like to read my e-mails in plain text. Also, I dare say, not so useful for the many of us accessing gmail via Mac devices' mail clients.
1. It's a progressive enhancement so nothing stops working
2. It should be possible for any mail provider who chooses to implement these features, no?
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#54Why don't they support a mechanism which works with plain text emails? E.g. put the JSON stuff into a header field. Btw how would one suggest something like this officially? There seems to be no issue tracker or anything for gmail.
Statistically speaking, nobody sends plain text email any more.
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#55Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
> This thread is hilarious. Keep your heads in the sand. Does everyone need to get excited for features that existed in Outlook ca. 2000 A.D. just because they are wrapped in a shiny Web 2.0 veneer?
It did? Using an open format? I've never heard of that. Do you know the name of the feature?
They might allow for tar files in the subject and come to think of it, ogg files as well...
So what?
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#57The fact that this was posted on the Google Apps blog is telling- I imagine that Google wants to roll this out to Apps users before general Gmail users.
I'm surprised by the reaction in here- yes, it's an addition to the standard e-mail system. Do we really want that system to stand absolutely still? If that's the case, why are we cheering so much web browser development? Surely a browser from 1997 should be good enough for anyone?
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#58I'm expecting "this email designed for gmail" badges soon.
Both Microdata and JSON-LD are open formats.
The format may be open, the ability to use it isn't - you need to register with Google[1] or they won't display actions on your e-mail. This appears to be necessary for security reasons. Imagine if every e-mail provider did the same thing!
[1] https://developers.google.com/gmail/schemas/registering-with...
Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#59Re: Gmail: Introducing Actions in the Inbox
#60new tool for phishing. perfect.
I guess that's the negativity Larry Page was talking about yesterday, sad indeed.
Because security really is never a good reason to be skeptical and skepticism, no matter how valid, is just a cloak for hating on Google. I love GMail and lots of Google's products. I even like that this feature will be limited to companies that register with Google. It doesn't change the fact that those partners could be broken into and used to send out malicious emails.
Also, please don't try to insinuate that I'm against the feature. I'm not. I can stop using GMail if I ever want to. I just think everyone should consider their own security and decide how valuable it is to them based on reasonable possibilities.