61–70 of 234 posts
Well at least there's a giant red COMPOSE button, because every time I see a giant red button, I think COMPOSE! I'm hoping that they'll do another revision soon to make it look more like the recently updated G+ design, which actually puts some visual separation between content and navigation (and also doesn't have giant red buttons).
It's interesting to me to see so many people grumble at interface changes whether it's Facebook or Gmail.
I really do buy the "change aversion" theory. I never used Gmail before the current design, and now I use it every day without problems. I click an email and I can read it. Importance and starring work as expected. And, the interface is very smart about not moving things out from under me when I make a change, much like Chrome's tab bar. Except for the slowness, I think this UI is a fine way to handle email.
The three points the author pointed out are some glaring usability issues that can be a problem for a big chunk of people. Just because you or I can use it without a hitch doesn't mean its a great design.
It's funny, a couple of years ago I was reading articles about how Google's design teams were supposedly hamstrung by their culture of incessant testing. I remember anecdotes about a/b testing 41 different shades of blue and designers being made to provide data for their choice of border width. Now a whole bunch of people who haven't seen Google's test data are adamant that their redesigns are a usability disaster. U…
OK. I'll call them inept and pan their design based on months of USE. As far as I'm concerned, there's only one example needed to prove the failure of this new design: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6034/6310566055_4a5f5d4a53_b.j...
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/bmihblnpomgpjkfdde...
This and similar tools let hide and modify GMail with custom CSS and Javascript. Instead of trying to convince Google to behave rationally, it's easier to try to warp the new interface into something usable. I think about half the things in the article are already covered.
If only I could figure out a way to get the "stars" on the same side in the message view as on the overview...
It's funny, a couple of years ago I was reading articles about how Google's design teams were supposedly hamstrung by their culture of incessant testing. I remember anecdotes about a/b testing 41 different shades of blue and designers being made to provide data for their choice of border width. Now a whole bunch of people who haven't seen Google's test data are adamant that their redesigns are a usability disaster. U…
When Brin took the lead, the design culture inside Google changed. My facts may be slightly off, but Brin essentially gave a lot more freedom to designers. As part of the Google redesign (or +ifying), Brin gave all the design responsibilities to the same division that's been producing some Google's commercials. This is undoubtedly a division that appreciates design more, but arguably doesn't appreciate the data as mu…
All of the things that he's complaining about are changeable in settings. And not even buried three levels deep -- they're right on the first settings page! 1. Pick a different theme. I have one with a blue background, not the default light/white one. 2. Go into the general settings, and change your star to a different colour, ie. enable the red, or blue one, or the green checkbox. Now they stand out. 3. Go into the…
Well at least there's a giant red COMPOSE button, because every time I see a giant red button, I think COMPOSE! I'm hoping that they'll do another revision soon to make it look more like the recently updated G+ design, which actually puts some visual separation between content and navigation (and also doesn't have giant red buttons).
There isn't on my GMail, because I figured out how to change the theme ...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What did you find hard to read about the site? I was able to read it just fine. (just double-checked). Nice big text with high, but not too high, contrast. What's not to like?
I'm sorry but the text is tiny! It looks no bigger than 8px. Are you reading it on a mobile device perhaps?
To be fair to the blogger, he probably is also a victim here: he's probably reusing a theme (edit: yep, scroll to the bottom) whose designer committed the tiny-text idiocy.
At least he didn't do low contrast and tiny text like most other sites do (e.g., posterous). :)