- It feels cramped and crowded with my inbox as a backdrop
- Vertical reading space is limited
- The toolbar is aligned at the bottom of my screen which causes me to run into the OS X dock, which I set visible on hover
- It compresses all message recipients (To, CC, ...) into a single row which makes you have to double-check if everyone's in the right place
- The formatting popover appears over your content if you want it to persist
- I feel verbally limited by its small writing area
- They haven't solved the "too many IM and compose windows are open" problem. When you get into this situation, things feel really crowded and messy.
- The hover state on the formatting toolbar "+" is jarring because the item you hovered over changes underneath you, making you (sub?)consciously worry about a misclick since it will launch a damn-obtrusive Google Drive dialog
- Between the appearance of Gmail as a whole, and this as an addition, my feeling of information overload when dealing with email has only increased. Gmail just isn't very "zen."
Google is trying to kill off the CC and BCC. I support this to a degree.
In the future, expect to be able to write email from Gmail to your Google+ circles, though. Fuller integration is coming and I don't like this as much.
A particular nit: It's harder to change which e-mail address I'm sending from. Old way: use drop down list to select the from address I want. New way: click To field. From address drop down list magically appears. Use drop down list to select from address I want. This was so intuitive I had to look it up in the online help.
More generally, I don't like that there's a window within my Gmail tab. I don't like being invited to mess around with window-sizing and -placement instead of just being left to write my e-mail. It reminds me of MDI, but without the saving grace of being able to maximise the child window. Why have I got to use a horrible little subwindow instead of something closer to full width?
I can't see how it's supposed to be an improvement. What does it do better than the old way?
I think I'm missing something --- when I click "compose", the window I get allows me to change my sending e-mail address with a dropdown right away. Right?
I think there are some pretty unintuitive "features" it has. Example: reply to someone that has sent you an e-mail. Gmail sends you to a new section of the page below their e-mail, and allows you to start typing your response (just like it used to be!). Now, change the subject. How? Well...press the "back" button, of course. But then what happens? Apparently that compose view isn't right anymore, so it pops it out into a window. Why? I'm not sure.
But in general I also feel that things just seem really cluttered when you compose e-mails in a window alongside your chats. I usually have 4+ chats going, and it usually hides a couple when I compose the e-mail. It also just _appears_, as fast as a popup, over my field of view on the page --- I don't find that transition very pleasing, TBH. One might argue it's the same for gchat windows, but maybe I just got used to those. Or maybe it's time for a revamp for those, too. (Which might actually be coming soon, anyway)
Why the does the (tiny!) window open aligned to the bottom right of the screen? I hate this feature. When I compose an email, I want the typing area front and center, not squished to the bottom right of my screen. Who composes email in a miniscule squished-to-a-corner text area?
The 'user interface designer' who came up with this, and the Product Manager who approved this should (imo) be stood against the nearest wall and shot. GMail has been on a steady downhill path from when the 'new design'ers ran amok.
It feels like a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
What does the new compose window gain you? Nothing. It's smaller and more cramped for no good reason. Oh sure, you can see the emails in your inbox while composing, but I almost never need to do that.
I contribute a lot to tech mailing lists on Google Groups, so I spend a lot of time writing long, detailed technical responses to emails. I prefer having a big screen to do my composition. Making it smaller for no obvious benefit annoys me.
If the new Compose interface was actually that awful, it wouldn't have seen the light of day. What do you think Google employees use for all their email all the time?
The window is not that tiny - compare it to the chat window, for example. And since so many of my emails reference other emails, it's nice to be able to browse my inbox at will without opening new browser frames.
I was thrown off a bit by the auto-hiding of CC and From fields, but it's habit by now to use Tab and Shift-Tab to navigate the form elements. Thankfully, it's still about as keyboard-accessible as before, since I don't like to use my mouse much.
I have no idea how to do simple things, and each time I want to do those things I spend a few minutes noodling around the interface hovering over various parts of the UI hoping for a tool tip.
Ha -- I still remember getting so confused as to how I go to my contacts when they changed gmail's look a year or so ago. I was actually starting to think the only way was going to "www.google.com/contacts", but eventually I got curious as to what the drop down arrow with the completely uninformative current choice of "gmail" was gonna give me.
I actually love it and have been using it for months now.
1. You can compose multiple emails at a time
2. You can copy-past from/to draft/existing emails/new emails
3. You don't need to change windows when you need to write an email. Works just like how google chat and facebook chat work embedded within the main page....it doesn't interrupt your flow.
When they came out with it months back, my first reaction was -- "wow that's brilliant!".
I think that your #1 is pretty "you specific". In other words, what percentage of gmail users need to "compose multiple emails at a time"? I'd guess it's right around 0.0000000001% (which represents you specifically hehe). I'm joking around a bit but seriously - that's not a "feature" that most people need, is it?
Personally, I like changing my flow to work on an email. Chat is different - I want to do that inline with other things. Email though requires a different focus level (or it should) thus having a dedicated page works better for me.
It's only awful because I've been used to the way they've been doing compose for years. They only made very gradual changes so it didn't affect my flow too much.
With the new interface, it makes me pause for a second when I want to get something done quick. I imagine I'll get used to it and you all will too.
More work to accomplish the same things. More "undiscoverable" UI.
But, particularly regarding the latter, I don't know yet how many phone calls to explain this to my parents and walk them through it repeatedly until they remember it (for lack of having an effective reference to consult).
for me it's that when I'm writing an email I want it to be on the focus, on the center of the screen, the new compose is positioned in the lower right corner and it just doesn't feel right.
- I often read my mail on a second monitor. The new compose shows up at the furthest place from my eyes.
- I often drag attachments onto the upper portion of the old compose and it would attach it for me. Now the only way I can drag seems to be inline with my mail. Some recipients find it difficult to download attachments that are in line with the email.
- Once I enter my subject, there doesn't seem to be a way to switch my from to another email.
There's only two things I can see that might be the issue:
The rich text toolbar is gone (the keyboard controls are still there), and the toolbar that is there hides most of its icons until you hover over the '+' icon, even though it doesn't save any space.
The second is the only one I see as negative, but I can understand that people would dislike the first, too.
[+] [-] munaf|13 years ago|reply
- Vertical reading space is limited
- The toolbar is aligned at the bottom of my screen which causes me to run into the OS X dock, which I set visible on hover
- It compresses all message recipients (To, CC, ...) into a single row which makes you have to double-check if everyone's in the right place
- The formatting popover appears over your content if you want it to persist
- I feel verbally limited by its small writing area
- They haven't solved the "too many IM and compose windows are open" problem. When you get into this situation, things feel really crowded and messy.
- The hover state on the formatting toolbar "+" is jarring because the item you hovered over changes underneath you, making you (sub?)consciously worry about a misclick since it will launch a damn-obtrusive Google Drive dialog
- Between the appearance of Gmail as a whole, and this as an addition, my feeling of information overload when dealing with email has only increased. Gmail just isn't very "zen."
[+] [-] raghava|13 years ago|reply
Sums it up the best. Going through the points mentioned in their review list (on https://support.google.com/mail/answer/2645922?p=newcompose&...), I feel by 'clean', it's just an attempt to Appleify* the gmail experience.
*designing stuff specifically preventing individual users from using it as they desire
[+] [-] 1123581321|13 years ago|reply
In the future, expect to be able to write email from Gmail to your Google+ circles, though. Fuller integration is coming and I don't like this as much.
[+] [-] mooism2|13 years ago|reply
More generally, I don't like that there's a window within my Gmail tab. I don't like being invited to mess around with window-sizing and -placement instead of just being left to write my e-mail. It reminds me of MDI, but without the saving grace of being able to maximise the child window. Why have I got to use a horrible little subwindow instead of something closer to full width?
I can't see how it's supposed to be an improvement. What does it do better than the old way?
[+] [-] asafira|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] asafira|13 years ago|reply
But in general I also feel that things just seem really cluttered when you compose e-mails in a window alongside your chats. I usually have 4+ chats going, and it usually hides a couple when I compose the e-mail. It also just _appears_, as fast as a popup, over my field of view on the page --- I don't find that transition very pleasing, TBH. One might argue it's the same for gchat windows, but maybe I just got used to those. Or maybe it's time for a revamp for those, too. (Which might actually be coming soon, anyway)
[+] [-] plinkplonk|13 years ago|reply
The 'user interface designer' who came up with this, and the Product Manager who approved this should (imo) be stood against the nearest wall and shot. GMail has been on a steady downhill path from when the 'new design'ers ran amok.
[+] [-] JustARandomGuy|13 years ago|reply
What does the new compose window gain you? Nothing. It's smaller and more cramped for no good reason. Oh sure, you can see the emails in your inbox while composing, but I almost never need to do that.
I contribute a lot to tech mailing lists on Google Groups, so I spend a lot of time writing long, detailed technical responses to emails. I prefer having a big screen to do my composition. Making it smaller for no obvious benefit annoys me.
[+] [-] beering|13 years ago|reply
The window is not that tiny - compare it to the chat window, for example. And since so many of my emails reference other emails, it's nice to be able to browse my inbox at will without opening new browser frames.
I was thrown off a bit by the auto-hiding of CC and From fields, but it's habit by now to use Tab and Shift-Tab to navigate the form elements. Thankfully, it's still about as keyboard-accessible as before, since I don't like to use my mouse much.
[+] [-] ricardobeat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|13 years ago|reply
I have no idea how to do simple things, and each time I want to do those things I spend a few minutes noodling around the interface hovering over various parts of the UI hoping for a tool tip.
[+] [-] asafira|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mansigandhi|13 years ago|reply
1. You can compose multiple emails at a time
2. You can copy-past from/to draft/existing emails/new emails
3. You don't need to change windows when you need to write an email. Works just like how google chat and facebook chat work embedded within the main page....it doesn't interrupt your flow.
When they came out with it months back, my first reaction was -- "wow that's brilliant!".
[+] [-] ScottWhigham|13 years ago|reply
Personally, I like changing my flow to work on an email. Chat is different - I want to do that inline with other things. Email though requires a different focus level (or it should) thus having a dedicated page works better for me.
[+] [-] sherm8n|13 years ago|reply
With the new interface, it makes me pause for a second when I want to get something done quick. I imagine I'll get used to it and you all will too.
[+] [-] pasbesoin|13 years ago|reply
But, particularly regarding the latter, I don't know yet how many phone calls to explain this to my parents and walk them through it repeatedly until they remember it (for lack of having an effective reference to consult).
[+] [-] woodchuck64|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] NathanCollins|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] msamiry|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sliprat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cgopalan|13 years ago|reply
- Its small but not tiny.
- It allows me to reference previous emails while composing a new email. I think this helps a lot.
They could have had a tab-based solution too where the new email would be in a separate tab. But this one keeps the new email in view which is better.
[+] [-] dragonwriter|13 years ago|reply
The rich text toolbar is gone (the keyboard controls are still there), and the toolbar that is there hides most of its icons until you hover over the '+' icon, even though it doesn't save any space.
The second is the only one I see as negative, but I can understand that people would dislike the first, too.
[+] [-] codegeek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] meerita|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daniel-cussen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] justhw|13 years ago|reply
less focused
hate popups