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Yahoo Mail turns 16, gets a makeover

72 points| scsper | 12 years ago |yahoo.tumblr.com | reply

61 comments

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[+] error54|12 years ago|reply
One thing that bothers me about their android app is that they trick users into clicking ads. What I mean is that when you open the inbox, you'll see an unread message at the top of the list but when you go to tap on it, an ad has already slid into place shifting the entire list of emails down leading people to tap on the ad instead. What's even more scummy about this is that the behavior isn't consistent so sometimes an ad will be in the top of the list, sometimes it won't so the user doesn't know if to wait for the ad to load or not.

I don't mind seeing ads in my free products, I just don't like being tricked into clicking an ad.

[+] nacs|12 years ago|reply
I've noticed this issue with quite a few mobile games as well.

After the loading screen has ended and the "Tap anywhere to play" screen appears, right as you get ready to tap the screen, an ad will slide in covering the screen and handle the tap. Scummy indeed.

[+] axisms|12 years ago|reply
gmail is doing that too
[+] debacle|12 years ago|reply
I switched over to outlook.com recently. The UI is far superior to Google's in a lot of ways, the ads are less in your face, and with the recent NSA revelations I'm not really too concerned if the NSA is getting my data from Microsoft rather than from Google.

The new Yahoo UI looks nice, and I'm really interested in seeing more competition among the big three. Google has been navel-gazing with the gmail UI for too long, really.

[+] Yhippa|12 years ago|reply
I recently moved my personal domain email to be handled by Outlook (since Google no longer has Apps for your Domain) and have been really happy so far. I don't know why I'm bothered by the ad bar in either Yahoo Mail or Outlook since Gmail has it too. Likely because Gmail's blends in much better to the interface?

The multiple smart inboxes in Gmail is a killer feature for me thoug

[+] computer|12 years ago|reply
When I visited the article I immediately thought I was looking at a screenshot of Gmail, until I noticed the ugly Yahoo banner ad on the right.

I guess Gmail is succesful and popular enough that copying them makes a lot of sense.

[+] JumpCrisscross|12 years ago|reply
"we’re giving you a monstrous amount of storage, 1TB (that’s 1,000 GBs), so you have ample space for all your emails and attachments."
[+] adrianb|12 years ago|reply
I thought Yahoo Mail didn't limit storage - they advertised it as "unlimited storage" a few years ago.

- terms and conditions apply, no abuse allowed

[+] masnick|12 years ago|reply
I'm surprised they still apparently have the big banner ad on the right-hand side. I know they have to make money somehow, but it really detracts from an otherwise pretty good-looking design.

Yesterday I saw someone using the previous version of Yahoo mail, and that banner ad had a strobe effect on the border that was constantly flashing. I'm amazed people put up with this -- I guess people have probably developed pretty strong ad blindness (hence the strobe ads).

If I ran a web mail company, I would not want to be part of the arms race of user ad blindness vs. more aggressive ads. As a user I'd take google's textual, potentially relevant ads over this any day. (No, I do not care if google "reads" my email. http://www.maxmasnick.com/2012/02/12/gmail_paranoia/)

[+] trailfox|12 years ago|reply
Yahoo + Adblock + customized ad opt-out and you never see any ads, and you don't have google reading your mail.
[+] stephenhuey|12 years ago|reply
Wow, conversations! They're introducing threads almost a decade after Gmail. I remember when I first made the switch from FastMail and Yahoo to Gmail. Gmail conversations were jarring even though I was somewhat used to threads from newsgroups, but after a few days I never looked back.
[+] bruceboughton|12 years ago|reply
It's 2013 and still no IMAP access in Yahoo Mail. Heck, it's only been around for 27 years.
[+] Terretta|12 years ago|reply
You can use IMAP from smartphones, and from Apple Mail. How to, per Wikipedia:

> Mac OS X users can directly set up an IMAP account in Apple Mail 4.4. After entering a full name, email address, and password, hold down the Option key. The Create button will change to Continue, allowing one to manually configure the account settings.

> Apple Mail 5.0 included with Mac OS X Lion supports easy and direct IMAP account setup.

[+] k-mcgrady|12 years ago|reply
Looks like Gmail with a different background image.
[+] marban|12 years ago|reply
What used to be Y! Plus (19.99) is now Y! Ad-free (49.99). Nice increase for less since they've made all other features available to freeriders as well.
[+] newscracker|12 years ago|reply
Since Yahoo now charges $49.99 for ad free email, I can only infer that graphical ads on the sidebar must be really profitable (or Yahoo has plans to put more ads everywhere) and that Yahoo does not really want to entice many users to opt for the paid plan.

Of course, it could be that these paid users partially subsidize other features (previously out of reach) for the "free tier" users, but the pricing is really high and will be immediately be out of consideration for almost all users.

I wonder how many new users would sign up for this (as opposed to those already on Mail Plus and grandfathered at $19.99).

[+] marban|12 years ago|reply
Addendum: Y! Plus subscribers will be grandfathered into the 19.99 plan.
[+] contextual|12 years ago|reply
You can get secure offshore email, hosted in Switzerland for less than that at http://NeoMailbox.net

I have no affiliation with them whatsoever other than the fact I use the service.

[+] exo_duz|12 years ago|reply
I remember when Yahoo was the goto email. Now that Gmail has the market share, will a fresh coat of paint relive the glory hey days of Yahoo Mail?

I'm using both and the best part about Gmail is the spam protection and the fact it's so easy to search. I have problems with Yahoo losing emails over the years and it's quite frustrating.

Just have to wait and see how this will affect it.

[+] garraeth|12 years ago|reply
Good to see the update.

But why hide my folders on page load now? And also not display how many unread in them on top of the little folder icon?

And why auto-reveal the next message when deleting the previous one (from the previous design change)?

At least give me an option to enable/disable these "features" please.

Frustrating. Two steps forward, one back.

[+] alyandon|12 years ago|reply
Agreed. It is amazing how it is possible for a product development team to come to believe that making me click several times to see the same information I could before via one click (or without clicking at all) is a good idea.
[+] lazyant|12 years ago|reply
And still I get ~0 spam in my gmail account and lots of spam in my yahoo account that seems easy to trap (the "buy v1agr4" type)
[+] genwin|12 years ago|reply
My Yahoo account that is just for personal use and trusted vendors gets ~0 spam. Another Yahoo account for the remainder gets lots of spam. Part of the difference may be that I religiously use the Spam button for the first account.
[+] zpk|12 years ago|reply
These idiots keep screwing with their products. Thank god Yahoo is now only a secondary email for me. They removed tabs, the tabs were a great convenience. They fubared their fantasy sports site, recently added back the white theme, amidst a massive backlash.

I just don't get it, why mess with all this so damn often, and piss users off....

[+] Miyamoto|12 years ago|reply
1. Yahoo doesn't change anything. Gets called unpopular and outdated. 2. Yahoo changes. Gets criticized as screwing their products.
[+] davidcollantes|12 years ago|reply
On the iOS app, they are still using the "old" keyboard, not the iOS 7 one. But the app seems to be getting better, which is good news for those using Yahoo mail.
[+] piyush_soni|12 years ago|reply
This is so, SO shamefully Gmail. :)
[+] sagarm|12 years ago|reply
It definitely reminds me of the layout of Gmail, but I think it looks better.

Is it better to use? I had one spam message in my inbox, and when I tried to mark it spam I was unable to do so due to a layout glitch. I refreshed and tried again...and again...and eventually the message disappeared.

Definitely some bug fixes to be made. Even after the bug fixes -- could I use it to manage my email the same way I do with Gmail, with thousands of emails in and hundreds out per month? Not today, but I look forward to seeing Gmail get some competition.

[+] netman21|12 years ago|reply
Ooh cosmetic changes. Sheesh, what about availability, security, and better/faster search?
[+] genwin|12 years ago|reply
An always-https connection would be great. I've had no significant availability or search issues, ever.
[+] andrewl-hn|12 years ago|reply
Yahoo Mail search is the best when it comes to going through some very old emails. Gmail search is effectively useless for me for everything that I sent or received half a year ago or earlier.
[+] camus|12 years ago|reply
So can I read my yahoo mails on gmail without having to pay just to read them on my client or what ?