Slashdot Mirror
Slashdot Asks: How Do You Like the New Gmail UI? (vortex.com)
Earlier today, Google pushed out the biggest revamp of Gmail in years. In addition to a new material design look, there are quick links to other Google services, such as Calendar, Tasks, and Keep, as well as a new "confidential mode" designed to protect users against certain attacks by having the email(s) automatically expire at a time of the sender's choosing. Long-time Slashdot reader Lauren Weinstein shares their initial impressions of Google's new Gmail UI: Google launched general access to their first significant Gmail user interface (UI) redesign in many years today. It's rolling out gradually -- when it hits your account you'll see a "Try the new Gmail" choice under the settings ("gear") icon on the upper right of the page (you can also revert to the "classic" interface for now, via the same menu). But you probably won't need to revert. Google clearly didn't want to screw up Gmail, and my initial impression is that they've succeeded by avoiding radical changes in the UI. I'll bet that some casual Gmail users might not even immediately notice the differences.
The new Gmail UI is what we could call a "minimally disruptive" redesign of the now "classic" version. The overall design is not altered in major respects. So far I haven't found any notable missing features, options, or settings. My impression is that the back end systems serving Gmail are largely unchanged. Additionally, there are a number of new features (some of which are familiar in design from Google's "Inbox" email interface) that are now surfaced for the new Gmail. Crucially, overall readability and usability (including contrast, font choices, UI selection elements, etc.) seem so close to classic Gmail (at least in my limited testing so far) as to make any differences essentially inconsequential. And it's still possible to select a dark theme from settings if you wish, which results in even higher contrast. Have you tried the new Gmail? If so, how do you like the new interface?
The new Gmail UI is what we could call a "minimally disruptive" redesign of the now "classic" version. The overall design is not altered in major respects. So far I haven't found any notable missing features, options, or settings. My impression is that the back end systems serving Gmail are largely unchanged. Additionally, there are a number of new features (some of which are familiar in design from Google's "Inbox" email interface) that are now surfaced for the new Gmail. Crucially, overall readability and usability (including contrast, font choices, UI selection elements, etc.) seem so close to classic Gmail (at least in my limited testing so far) as to make any differences essentially inconsequential. And it's still possible to select a dark theme from settings if you wish, which results in even higher contrast. Have you tried the new Gmail? If so, how do you like the new interface?
I use an IMAP client to read my Gmail
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
So i can careless, i POP all my email to Thunderbird until i cant. then will create my own email server but as long as i can POP it im happy.
I think you mean "I couldn't care less". :-)
It's not plural in this case.
Their is a gender-neutral pronoun, singular.
Not going into the politics of it, I'm just a writer.
...
Since the bloody article can't even show the visual differences here are screenshots comparing the old and new:
* The left column/sidebar of Inbox, Important, Sent Mail, etc. is wider. Number of unread are now in their own sub-column instead of immediately after the Folder name.
Old left Sidebar
New left Sidebar
* Tabs (Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, Forums) no longer have a vertical line separating them. You HAVE to mouse over them to see where each button ends.
Old Tabs
New Tabs
* The 2nd column which showed the Senders and the number of emails in a thread no longer shows (#) but just the # number by itself making this harder to read.
Old senders
New senders
The Topic column is less wide, meaning you can't see entire short emails now.
Old subject
New subject
Do. Not. Want.
--
"Get off my LAN." -- Grumpy old programmer
Here are step-by-step instructions to try out the new UI:
1. Click on Gear top right
2. Click on the first menu choice Try the new Gmail
If you don't see "Try the new Gmail" menu choice -- it hasn't been rolled out to your account (yet).
3. Select the layout Default, Comfortable, Compact
Don't worry if you picked the wrong choice. You can click on gear icon in the top right and the non-descript Display density to choose between the three.
Thankfully we can Go back to classic Gmail for now -- until Google rams it down our throats, whether we want it or not.
Actually no, the "confidentiality" feature works regardless of recipient's email address. The recipient simply gets a link that opens in a browser to a site that Google has control over. This does force the recipient to create a Google account, of course, but it need not be a gmail account. And how they expect to prevent the end user from printing out the screen I don't know! If the recipient does use gmail and the gmail web interface then this "feature" is integrated into Gmail.
Actual writers know that, in Standard English, the gender-neutral third-person singular possessive is his.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
The rest of us uses mail programs to read their mail and couldn't care less.