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The defense of gmail in the other comments is bizarre. Gmail suffers from a number of similar, very serious usability issues. From the perspective of the user,

by abtinf 8y ago

The defense of gmail in the other comments is bizarre. Gmail suffers from a number of similar, very serious usability issues. From the perspective of the user, failing to show the correct password reset email is a bug in gmail that affects many sites. A less advanced non-threaded show-most-recent email view would not suffer from this issue. When you add a more advanced feature, make it the default, and inadvertently reduce usability, you are at fault.

tyingq 8y ago
I won't defend Gmail, but not testing critical email with the most popular client seems unwise. And, tracking failed resets for popular domains seems like a good idea.
brianpgordon 8y ago
Gmail's user experience is terrible in many ways, but I don't think it's fair to excoriate them for adding a feature that's not so idiot proof that not even one in a hundred users will misapprehend how to use it. That school of ultra-spacious user friendly designs for the lowest common denominator is how we ended up with the nightmare that is the current Gmail interface.
asark 8y ago
A few years ago, on Nu Gmail (Ajaxy Gmail) but pre-Inbox, I tried to walk my grandma through adding a contact. Their add contact screen, with the form to fill in contact info, had two same-colored buttons, not that far apart, same copy. One added the contact whose info you'd just been putting in. The other helpfully erased it (add a new contact, was what that one meant). That's probably been fixed, but the whole settings area was kinda that way back then—like someone slapped it together without once thinking about how it'd be used. IDK what it's like now now, I use basic HTML gmail. [EDIT] who's to whose. I cannot believe I wrote that.
SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago
> The defense of gmail in the other comments is bizarre. This statement is bizarre, I don't really see anyone defending Gmail here - just commenters offering further explanation on what's happening and other people mentioning specific examples of being caught out by this behaviour.
magduf 8y ago
Maybe, but you shouldn't be getting any password reset emails anyway, because you shouldn't be forgetting your passwords. What, you can't remember literally dozens of different passwords from different sites, that all have differing and incompatible password requirements?
- kmlx 8y ago
  password manager?
  - magduf 8y ago
    1) Doesn't work across devices, especially work computers. 2) Not really reliable. I'm constantly having to manually go into Firefox's saved passwords manager to look up a password because it just won't automatically put it in the form for some reason.
  - tzs 8y ago
    Even that doesn't eliminate the need to receive password reset mails. I've seen sites that suspect that their password DB has been compromised invalidate all existing passwords, requiring you to go through the password reset mechanism to pick a new password.

by abtinf 8y ago

tyingq 8y ago

I won't defend Gmail, but not testing critical email with the most popular client seems unwise. And, tracking failed resets for popular domains seems like a good idea.

brianpgordon 8y ago

Gmail's user experience is terrible in many ways, but I don't think it's fair to excoriate them for adding a feature that's not so idiot proof that not even one in a hundred users will misapprehend how to use it. That school of ultra-spacious user friendly designs for the lowest common denominator is how we ended up with the nightmare that is the current Gmail interface.

asark 8y ago

A few years ago, on Nu Gmail (Ajaxy Gmail) but pre-Inbox, I tried to walk my grandma through adding a contact. Their add contact screen, with the form to fill in contact info, had two same-colored buttons, not that far apart, same copy. One added the contact whose info you'd just been putting in. The other helpfully erased it (add a new contact, was what that one meant). That's probably been fixed, but the whole settings area was kinda that way back then—like someone slapped it together without once thinking about how it'd be used. IDK what it's like now now, I use basic HTML gmail. [EDIT] who's to whose. I cannot believe I wrote that.

SmellyGeekBoy 8y ago

> The defense of gmail in the other comments is bizarre. This statement is bizarre, I don't really see anyone defending Gmail here - just commenters offering further explanation on what's happening and other people mentioning specific examples of being caught out by this behaviour.

magduf 8y ago

Maybe, but you shouldn't be getting any password reset emails anyway, because you shouldn't be forgetting your passwords. What, you can't remember literally dozens of different passwords from different sites, that all have differing and incompatible password requirements?

kmlx 8y ago
password manager?
- magduf 8y ago
  1) Doesn't work across devices, especially work computers. 2) Not really reliable. I'm constantly having to manually go into Firefox's saved passwords manager to look up a password because it just won't automatically put it in the form for some reason.
- tzs 8y ago
  Even that doesn't eliminate the need to receive password reset mails. I've seen sites that suspect that their password DB has been compromised invalidate all existing passwords, requiring you to go through the password reset mechanism to pick a new password.