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Gmail's Big Upgrade Featuring New Web App, Confidential Mode, Nudges, and Snooze Goes Live (venturebeat.com)

Posted by msmash on from the it's-here dept.

Google on Wednesday pushed out the biggest revamp of Gmail in years. The company is bringing to the flagship Gmail service many (but not all) of the features it trialed in Inbox for Gmail, and adding a few new ones, too. From a report: While the overhaul does usher in a new look to the Gmail web app, bringing it into the material design fold, this update is more about throwing new features into the mix than moving things around and causing confusion. G Suite -- Google's paid productivity service for businesses, which also includes Gmail -- appears to be the core focus of this update, however these features will also be made available to standard Gmail users. [...] Google is adamant that no person within the company will ever read your emails, but that doesn't mean your email content is protected from third-party infiltration. To address this, Gmail will soon offer users a dedicated "confidential mode" -- on the web and in its mobile apps -- that is designed to protect against two kinds of attacks. [...] In addition to privacy and security updates, Gmail on mobile and the web is getting a bunch of new features to help solve the perennial problem of email overload. One of those tools is "nudging," which leans on Google's AI smarts and automated processing, similar to how its spam filter works, to remind users to follow up on a message they've received.

17 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Please... by Daetrin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Can someone please come up with some alternative to Flat/Material design that can become the hot new trend? Unless it involves just a pure white screen where you have to have previously memorized an invisible design layout it can't help but be better than what the industry is moving towards now.

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    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    1. Re:Please... by decipher_saint · · Score: 2

      I call it immaterial design, thousands of controls and options that all do nothing.

      --
      crazy dynamite monkey
    2. Re:Please... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 3, Funny

      Can someone please come up with some alternative to Flat/Material design that can become the hot new trend? Unless it involves just a pure white screen where you have to have previously memorized an invisible design layout it can't help but be better than what the industry is moving towards now.

      Okay. How about the all black on black color scheme in Disaster Area's stunt ship:

      "It's the wild colour scheme that freaks me," said Zaphod whose love affair with this ship had lasted almost three minutes into the flight, "Every time you try to operate on of these weird black controls that are labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. What is this? Some kind of galactic hyperhearse?"

      The walls of the swaying cabin were also black, the ceiling was black, the seats - which were rudimentary since the only important trip this ship was designed for was supposed to be unmanned - were black, the control panel was black, the instruments were black, the little screws that held them in place were black, the thin tufted nylon floor covering was black, and when they had lifted up a corner of it they had discovered that the foam underlay also was black.

      "Perhaps whoever designed it had eyes that responded to different wavelengths," offered Trillian.

      "Or didn't have much imagination," muttered Arthur.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    3. Re:Please... by Daetrin · · Score: 2

      You're right, i was being unnecessarily specific. Any UI scheme where the background and the interface elements are the same color scheme would be equally bad.

      Hmmm, how about plaid on plaid? Would it be better or worse if the rotation of the plaid was slightly different for the interface elements?

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      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    4. Re:Please... by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 2

      /sarcasm You just need to wait a few more years when the UI from ~2000 will be in vogue again and will be pimped as the latest shiny.

      While we are waiting can we also kill "endless scrolling" where a user has NO clue how far (vertically) they are along the (page) content? There is a reason scrollbars have a thumb knob.

    5. Re:Please... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      The problem with flat designs is that it is much less fault tolerant. A crappy traditional UI is still workable because everything is very clearly marked. With flat designs it's easy to create something that confuses the user. The Material design guidelines go a long way to preventing that, but they are by no means foolproof.

      The new Gmail seems okay though. It's obvious what is a button and what isn't. If the lack of contrast is too much for you try the light grey theme.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. How to get it. by ardmhacha · · Score: 5, Informative

    The linked article doesn't actually explain how to enable the new version. This CNET article does https://www.cnet.com/how-to/ho...

    "Regular Gmail users
    You can enable the new look and features by clicking on the Settings cog in the top-right corner, then selecting Try the new Gmail option."

    1. Re:How to get it. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      It's not available to me yet. Doing some checking it seems that they are actually doing a gradual roll-out, so you might have to wait a while for it to become available.

      The same is true of updates for Android apps. You read about some great new feature but it takes two weeks to get to your phone. I understand why they do it, hell I do it, but I'd love an "I'm feeling lucky" override option.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:How to get it. by ardmhacha · · Score: 4, Informative

      I was not able to see the option when using Firefox but I was able to when using Chrome. However once I chose the option I had the new version in Chrome, Firefox and Edge

    3. Re:How to get it. by JackieBrown · · Score: 2

      I'm sorry but I'm intrigued on how your post makes sense to the comment you replied to.

  3. Re:Nudging users? No thanks by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 2

    I am also a bit concerned about nudges. They could be super annoying, but I will wait to see how they work in practice. If they end up being good at identifying messages that really do need follow up, distinguishing those we ignored deliberately, it could be a valuable feature.

  4. Beware of the leopard by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

    You can enable the new look and features by clicking on the Settings cog in the top-right corner

    What are the chances of you being able to find the control to turn it off again if you don't like it?

    Assuming such a thing even exists.

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    1. Re:Beware of the leopard by gnick · · Score: 2

      What are the chances of you being able to find the control to turn it off again if you don't like it?

      I turned it on, off, and on again without difficulty. The control is in the same place.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  5. Don't care by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    I use Gmail via Apple's Mail program. As long as this setup works, I don't care what Google does to the web front-end.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  6. Re:Nudging users? No thanks by gnick · · Score: 2

    If they end up being good at identifying messages that really do need follow up...

    Which will be determined by parsing the contents of your email. They claim to have stopped reading mail for ad purposes, but they're still scanning our mail.

    --
    He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
  7. Change? Change BAD! by Merk42 · · Score: 2

    The first version of any sottware is the best version.

  8. Re:Nudging users? No thanks by Mostly+a+lurker · · Score: 2

    They claim to have stopped reading mail for ad purposes, but they're still scanning our mail.

    Well, I do not think they claim to be able to do spam filtering without browsing the content of messages. I, for one, consider that acceptable. Is this qualitatively different?