One thing I dislike in the new Google styling is the general lack of contrast. It makes navigation a bit slower due to delayed object recognization for power users.
Everything just takes milliseconds longer to sink in.
This is my biggest complaint as well. The new features of the UI are great, but it still looks pretty bad. There's a lot of white space and very little contrast between elements are groups of elements. The "Compose Mail" but just sort of hangs there awkwardly. The top row of action buttons are aligned to the left, so at higher resolutions there's just a chunk of whitespace to their right, even though the inbox itself fills the entire width of the container.
On a related note, I find it very difficult to distinguish between the white background of unread message rows from the very-slightly gray background of read rows. (Probably worth noting that I'm mildly colorblind though.)
The bold subject on unread messages helps, but it isn't enough for my eyes.
1) using the page space for fixed "app-like" UI instead of just presenting the page. UI on top of UI really doesn't make using their pages better for me. The scroll bars get smaller, the effective vertical space of my screen usable for content goes away exactly at time the screens on notebooks get always less vertical pixels. Things go horribly wrong recently. Compare 1973:
At the same time, I find it to be a lot easier on the eyes. As a "power user" spending a lot of my day staring at my inbox, I like this a lot better. Pretty soon all of the buttons will be second-nature anyway.
The new search dropdown is what I am excited about. I know that the operators were always there and advanced search was a click away, but what can I say, I am lazy.
I'm lazy too, and that's why I prefer to type in keywords rather than having to tab-tab-tab-tab-tab until I get to the relevant field or worse, having to grab my mouse to select the kind of search I want to do. It seems it will still be possible to type directly keywords in the field so it's okay. I hope they also let all the key-binding (for instance, '/' to focus the searchbox).
Now, let's hope that the next step is not to make Gmail just a Google+ app, like they did with Google Reader.
Seems like they addressed a lot of the initial gripes people had with the new UI preview. I'm hopeful that similar evolution will be coming to Google Reader.
Each time Google updates Gmail, there is another hit on accessibility for visually impaired users. With each new version, zooming makes the content area smaller and smaller, while making the (significantly less useful) editing elements and other mostly uninteresting things larger and larger. Adding more padding and reducing contrast is completely at odds with accessibility (and, potentially, a good desktop mail experience). I think I can still get by with Gmail at high zoom, but one or two more changes and I’ll have no choice but to jump ship to something else (or go fulltime with Outlook, which is overkill for personal mail).
It makes me really sad to see that accessibility is getting worse at Google, not better. The problem isn't limited to Gmail, it's also now in core search and probably just about everything else since the G+ wave of updates. :(
I've been thinking of jumping the Google ship these days. Dropbox killed google docs for me, G+ didn't attract enough of my friends for it to be worth my time, Google reader went from my favorite waste of time, to outta sight, outta mind, Gmail got rid of my custom color scheme, and makes it impossible to read big long email threads all at once, and I can't even tell which emails I'v read the contrast is so effin bad. The only thing I'd have a hard time leaving is chrome, but I just bought my first mac, and Safari doesn't seem too bad. Google is still a powerhouse, but I wonder if they didn't just do this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE
I use a netbook for my gmail. This new UI is, once again, a big negative from me because of all the wasted "white space".
I hate this love affair we have at the moment with white space. To me, it's wasted space. I guess I just hate scrolling or maybe I should just move to Asia.
We know that you use Gmail from a variety of screen sizes and devices, so now the spacing between elements on the screen will automatically change based on the kind of display you’re using.
Looks like it will re-size elements automatically based on screensize.
Inevitably when you develop web technology at scale you end up asking the question of whether you should degrade the experience of the common case to make it ~comfortable for, e.g., netbooks.
Usually the answer, at least for a service like GMail, is to just ignore the netbooks. I actually think that's the right answer almost always, but I would absolutely love to hear the opposing view, as this is a position that I feel I don't fully understand.
I had similar problems on my small screen with Google Voice. I found a Greasemonkey script which solves most of them. Once Google starts forcing me to use the new Gmail interface, I'll probably make something similar for Gmail.
I get the point that designers want to design and fiddle with everything like little children, constantly, regardless of how other people have actual work to do regardless of their playtime.
However constantly changing any user interface is a fantastic way to make customers furious when they can no longer find things and have to stop to adapt, over and over.
Why not allow the old look to function for years instead of weeks or months. There is no way you are going to convince me google doesn't have the resources to do that, it's not a massive internal change, it's a visual layer.
I really need to make a point to switch to Thunderbird and imap in 2012 - google is getting on my last nerve on every product they offer.
> However constantly changing any user interface is a fantastic way to make customers furious when they can no longer find things and have to stop to adapt, over and over.
Can you explain what you mean by "constantly changing"? It's clear that Google is going through a big visual refresh and rolling all of it's products over to one new unified design, but that's something that hasn't been done in a long time, it's not a constant state of significant change.
> Why not allow the old look to function for years instead of weeks or months. There is no way you are going to convince me google doesn't have the resources to do that, it's not a massive internal change, it's a visual layer.
Years is a long time for Google to have to hold onto old code and support both versions (as well as the mechanisms to allow the both to exist). And as you say, it's "just" a visual change, for most users it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt to. And I'm sure that if you had specific complaints about its usability, the team at Google working on this would be happy to hear from you.
For every old user that hates the change, there are a million people who have never used gmail before and will like it when they switch. Why should progress be held back because you can't adapt?
(I don't really like Google's new style either, but it doesn't really upset me or damage my experience in any way.)
Based on what I've seen from this blog post, my initial impression is that I don't think I'm going to like the new Gmail UI (I haven't been able to use it, so this is based on the preview). But I'll be perfectly happy when they arrive.
One of the many reasons I switched to GMail was the fact that they didn't charge to access mail from a POP3 (and now IMAP). Neither protocol is perfect (or perhaps it's the implementation in the variety of mail apps that support it), but the bottom line is that there are limitless numbers of clients that support those protocols, which allows me to abandon the web platform if I choose to.
When my bride complains about the next Facebook UI overhaul, I always think of this. To clarify, I'm always stuck thinking of Facebook in terms of old-school online service like AOL with features that fit better in the 21st century...I get that it's not e-mail+ or e-mail-. And I appreciate that it has a powerful API, the usage of which allows me to avoid the UI overhauls for the limited feature-set that I enjoy. But for e-mail, I still prefer the provider with the most options.
Count me in as perfectly fine with the new UI changes because I don't have to care if I don't like them.
I love the use of white space and the clean looks of Gmail, but it pains me to see when "UI designers" build an interface where 20% of the screen is taken up by useless objects.
I understand Google wants me to search and to use G+, but for user's sake, could you shove all that into 1 button and make it expand on click, so I could actually use my gmail screen for something like... answering emails.
Is this too much to ask?
Google, the new Yahoo!?
p.s. No, the "compact" view doesn't really solve the problem. The objects get smaller and narrower, but the top banner still takes up all the premium space.
This is a very refreshing look. They've really simplified and glossed over a lot of the details of email going on underneath. I wonder if they were able to do this in a way that still has all the features of the original, or else what didn't make the cut.
I absolutely love the fact that you can control the density of the emails. This was a huge deal-breaker for me with the new theme and made me go back to the old theme. I'd be more than happy to try this new look out.
Are other Google products using the same layout engine or are they just copying the visual appearance? I'd like to have the same layout controls available in Docs, Calendar, Reader etc.
In your domain admin panel, make sure that you opt into the quick release cycle as opposed to the scheduled one. Since they added that option, apps really doesn't lag any more feature-wise
It looks good. But the one thing I do notice is that the screenshots they've provided in the blog don't have a strip of ads running down the right hand side of the page. I'll be interested to see what it looks like with those in.
One unmentioned feature I loved is the ability to hide the chat and "invite" sidebars. On the lower left corner there's two unobtrusive buttons to toggle chat and invite (does anyone use that?) visibility.
I'm still waiting for a UI where I can just drag the components I need, a la browser's toolbars.
The compact view looks much much nicer than the dense version of the preview theme they have now. Hopefully they'll add a few darker lines here and there too.
I'm very impressed. They really solved a lot of the issues I had with preview, such as multiple views for different screen sizes/resolutions.
Overall, the highly visual approach allows some hidden but useful features to emerge for the average user. However, I'm still on the fence about the excessive padding on the individual email items.
Web-based "apps" have this great feature: updates require no work on the part of the user. And they have this terrible bug: updates require no work on the part of the user. With real (i.e. native) software, users get to decide. Important deadline approaching? Click "not now" for any and all updates.
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|14 years ago|reply
Everything just takes milliseconds longer to sink in.
[+] [-] devonrt|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] peterjmag|14 years ago|reply
The bold subject on unread messages helps, but it isn't enough for my eyes.
[+] [-] icebraining|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] acqq|14 years ago|reply
1) using the page space for fixed "app-like" UI instead of just presenting the page. UI on top of UI really doesn't make using their pages better for me. The scroll bars get smaller, the effective vertical space of my screen usable for content goes away exactly at time the screens on notebooks get always less vertical pixels. Things go horribly wrong recently. Compare 1973:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto
therefore:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3184798
2) using the BIG RED BUTTON for creating a post! Really? RED like "stop sign" red? Like a "SELF DESTRUCT" red? Aww.
[+] [-] timothya|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Kylekramer|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] p4bl0|14 years ago|reply
Now, let's hope that the next step is not to make Gmail just a Google+ app, like they did with Google Reader.
[+] [-] FrejNorling|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joebadmo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmix|14 years ago|reply
It seems like gmail has previously changed at a glacial speed (for better/worse).
I hope they continue to improve the UX of gmail on a continuous basis.
[+] [-] davux|14 years ago|reply
It makes me really sad to see that accessibility is getting worse at Google, not better. The problem isn't limited to Gmail, it's also now in core search and probably just about everything else since the G+ wave of updates. :(
[+] [-] ImprovedSilence|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] brador|14 years ago|reply
I hate this love affair we have at the moment with white space. To me, it's wasted space. I guess I just hate scrolling or maybe I should just move to Asia.
[+] [-] raldi|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] qixxiq|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simondlr|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mbrzuzy|14 years ago|reply
Looks like it will re-size elements automatically based on screensize.
[+] [-] antics|14 years ago|reply
Usually the answer, at least for a service like GMail, is to just ignore the netbooks. I actually think that's the right answer almost always, but I would absolutely love to hear the opposing view, as this is a position that I feel I don't fully understand.
[+] [-] p9idf|14 years ago|reply
http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/114048
[+] [-] ck2|14 years ago|reply
However constantly changing any user interface is a fantastic way to make customers furious when they can no longer find things and have to stop to adapt, over and over.
Why not allow the old look to function for years instead of weeks or months. There is no way you are going to convince me google doesn't have the resources to do that, it's not a massive internal change, it's a visual layer.
I really need to make a point to switch to Thunderbird and imap in 2012 - google is getting on my last nerve on every product they offer.
[+] [-] timothya|14 years ago|reply
Can you explain what you mean by "constantly changing"? It's clear that Google is going through a big visual refresh and rolling all of it's products over to one new unified design, but that's something that hasn't been done in a long time, it's not a constant state of significant change.
> Why not allow the old look to function for years instead of weeks or months. There is no way you are going to convince me google doesn't have the resources to do that, it's not a massive internal change, it's a visual layer.
Years is a long time for Google to have to hold onto old code and support both versions (as well as the mechanisms to allow the both to exist). And as you say, it's "just" a visual change, for most users it shouldn't be too difficult to adapt to. And I'm sure that if you had specific complaints about its usability, the team at Google working on this would be happy to hear from you.
[+] [-] jrockway|14 years ago|reply
(I don't really like Google's new style either, but it doesn't really upset me or damage my experience in any way.)
[+] [-] mise|14 years ago|reply
We don't know when someone is aging from day to day, but if we see them year to year then we can see the change.
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] reduxredacted|14 years ago|reply
One of the many reasons I switched to GMail was the fact that they didn't charge to access mail from a POP3 (and now IMAP). Neither protocol is perfect (or perhaps it's the implementation in the variety of mail apps that support it), but the bottom line is that there are limitless numbers of clients that support those protocols, which allows me to abandon the web platform if I choose to.
When my bride complains about the next Facebook UI overhaul, I always think of this. To clarify, I'm always stuck thinking of Facebook in terms of old-school online service like AOL with features that fit better in the 21st century...I get that it's not e-mail+ or e-mail-. And I appreciate that it has a powerful API, the usage of which allows me to avoid the UI overhauls for the limited feature-set that I enjoy. But for e-mail, I still prefer the provider with the most options.
Count me in as perfectly fine with the new UI changes because I don't have to care if I don't like them.
[+] [-] navs|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cade|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] abraham|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kirillzubovsky|14 years ago|reply
I understand Google wants me to search and to use G+, but for user's sake, could you shove all that into 1 button and make it expand on click, so I could actually use my gmail screen for something like... answering emails.
Is this too much to ask? Google, the new Yahoo!?
p.s. No, the "compact" view doesn't really solve the problem. The objects get smaller and narrower, but the top banner still takes up all the premium space.
[+] [-] CGamesPlay|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] atarian|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] anigbrowl|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fleaflicker|14 years ago|reply
http://code.google.com/p/closure-library/
[+] [-] tambourine_man|14 years ago|reply
I use Gmail's backend but I can't use something that won't find “client” in “mynewclient”.
Amazing that a company known for search can't provide this simple and essential feature.
[+] [-] gigawatt|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kenny_r|14 years ago|reply
I activated it on a new domain yesterday: http://i.imgur.com/PoQ2F.png
[+] [-] aprescott|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pilif|14 years ago|reply
In your domain admin panel, make sure that you opt into the quick release cycle as opposed to the scheduled one. Since they added that option, apps really doesn't lag any more feature-wise
[+] [-] untog|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] VikingCoder|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kqueue|14 years ago|reply
I am staying on the old version.
[+] [-] watmough|14 years ago|reply
If enough people hate this, they may slow the intro, but this may be the worst of all Clusts, the one that fails, but is hailed as a glorious success.
[+] [-] BoppreH|14 years ago|reply
I'm still waiting for a UI where I can just drag the components I need, a la browser's toolbars.
[+] [-] twodayslate|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ernestipark|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] orky56|14 years ago|reply
Overall, the highly visual approach allows some hidden but useful features to emerge for the average user. However, I'm still on the fence about the excessive padding on the individual email items.
[+] [-] mauriciob|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rnadna|14 years ago|reply