'A Fresh, Clean Look.' Gmail Is About To Get a Makeover (fortune.com)

Google says it is working on a big refresh for Gmail on the web. From a report: The upgrade was revealed in a message from Google to administrators of G Suite accounts -- G Suite being the suite of Google services that organizations can use on their own web domains, rather than Google's. The message stated that the changes would be coming to consumer Gmail accounts, as well as G Suite accounts. Google said the refresh would include not only a "fresh, clean look for Gmail on the web," but also easy ways to access other Google services, such as Google Calendar, from the Gmail web app. The company recently started winding down its Chrome apps for all platforms but Google's own Chrome OS. Windows, Mac and Linux users are now being encouraged to instead use Google's web apps, and it's only logical that those interfaces are now getting upgraded to include the functionality that would otherwise be lost. The Verge has screenshots of the new interface.

Comments

User control

[ardmhacha]

"Google is implementing smart replies for Gmail on the web, the same feature from mobile Gmail that provides suggestions to quickly reply to emails."

I don't like that but if is easy to switch off I could live with it.

Hope it's better than Google Finance makeover!

[methano]

Google just finally killed their old Finance page. The new one is a complete POS. Let's hope the guys in charge of that 'improvement" don't get anywhere near Gmail.

Re:Hope it's better than Google Finance makeover!

[Anonymous Coward]

The calendar too. I used to be able to add events like "meeting tomorrow at 2PM" with natural language, now I have to fill in a form.

Re:Hope it's better than Google Finance makeover!

[nightfire-unique]

You have to wonder if it was their intention to exit the business altogether. I can't imagine anyone finds the new Google Finance useful at all. First time I've ever migrated back to Yahoo for anything.

Ah yes, the classic "makeover."

[Anonymous Coward]

Over they ears we have learned that software hits its functionality high point... but the company still employs people who are supposed to make it better.
After the high point all they can do is make it worse. It is like paying cooks to make cookies and after they have the perfect dough, you tell them to keep adding ingredients. "Dog ownership is trending right now so please add stuff that is dog related to the dough.", "DIY bathroom fixes are trending right now so please add something toilet related to the dough." "My nephew is taking art classes at college and is really into driving and animals. add some roadkill related stuff to the dough", "The CEO has to have a colon exam this week, add something colon related to the dough." "... hey composting is trending right now.."
"Man are our customers going to LOVE these cookies!"

We call this the "Microsoft Method". Hide, remove, or break the tools. Add "pretty" and with it double the number of steps to do something. More shiny and less functionality!

Fuck Webmail!

[macraig]

To hell with that. I use Thunderbird, and for good reason. It's one extra measure of control for me, one less for Google.

Re:What the fuck. No!

[squiggleslash]

I'm mostly anti-change on websites, but... I'm not with you on Material Design. At all. It's a great system that fixes most of the crap that UX designers have been foisting on us. It has faults, but it brings back the use of 3D after years of this obsession with flat UIs, it's easy to see what's touchable and what isn't, it works well on both mobile and desktop UIs (so you're not having to switch between two languages for icons for example), and it's pretty clean and elegant using - something I wouldn't say has ever been true of GMail.

I saw the screenshots. They don't look worse than GMail does already. I'm hopeful this is positive change, and, for older hardware, that they leave the original UI (not the current one, but the "HTML mode" thing) available for those who need something lighter.