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I like the new interface. I find it easy to use and streamlined. Since we are all talking about our old parents, FWIW my mother (60) found it easier to use the

by dkhenry 13y ago

I like the new interface. I find it easy to use and streamlined. Since we are all talking about our old parents, FWIW my mother (60) found it easier to use the new interface then the old interface. There is really nothing objective that is pointed to as to why it "sucks". I get it you don't like it. I imagine most people do, here is an XKCD comic about the situation your in http://xkcd.com/1172/ http://xkcd.com/1172/

sailfast 13y ago
Agreed - I enjoy it. It's been streamlined to be good at conversing easily with people via e-mail. If you use other more "Outlook-type" features a lot in e-mail you might be annoyed. If you're writing a marketing e-mail with HTML or something longer, it's probably not great. If you like to use a lot of rich text formatting then it's probably not great, but for actual, pithy e-mail, in plain text, quickly, I think it works really well. Keeping your messages in the background to cross-reference things without opening 12 windows is awesome. That said - I did have to search for a second to figure out how to edit the subject. A couple of quick tweaks or the addition of a "message settings" button for more admin-type tasks would make it just a bit better. Everyone's a UI critic.
- VLM 13y ago
  "Everyone's a UI critic." As it should be... everyone uses the UI for mass market products. Very few people admin the app or have the ability to access and analyze the source.
dmlorenzetti 13y ago
There is really nothing objective that is pointed to as to why it "sucks". The post repeatedly mentions functionality that used to be one click away, but is now multiple clicks away. That is about as objective as measures come. You may not mind it, but you can't say it's just subjective. The post also points out how UI controls shift relative positions based on the view being presented. One could define a metric that assesses the effect, and anybody calculating the metric would get the same result. Again, you may not mind controls jumping about as you work, but you can't say it's not objective.
- dkhenry 13y ago
  because some functionality was moved and now requires more interaction doesn't mean its objectively worse. If by moving a feature that is very seldom used ( like renaming the subject ) allows you to make common features easier to use then its better.
- patrickaljord 13y ago
  It's not about control jumping. Google makes decisions based on data so they know these changes require more clicking. Why did they hide them? Probably because their data shows that most people do not use them (which I've noticed in most non-tech people), so not showing those buttons is actually less confusing for most people and thus offers a better UI to them. Objectively.
scott_s 13y ago
I like it, too, and the amount of hate it receives baffles me. I like the fact that the message-compose window does not stretch across my whole screen - my laptop screen is quite wide. I don't want anything to stretch all the way across. I have no problem replying inline, I very rarely ever change the font of an email, and I very rarely change the subject. I don't do these things very often, so I would prefer that they're hidden. I also use GMail mostly for personal emails, not professionally. I wonder if that's part of it. But, even then, I use Notes for professional emails, because I have to. The GMail changes work well for how I use it, but there's also the fact that I constantly compare it to Notes.

by dkhenry 13y ago

sailfast 13y ago

Agreed - I enjoy it. It's been streamlined to be good at conversing easily with people via e-mail. If you use other more "Outlook-type" features a lot in e-mail you might be annoyed. If you're writing a marketing e-mail with HTML or something longer, it's probably not great. If you like to use a lot of rich text formatting then it's probably not great, but for actual, pithy e-mail, in plain text, quickly, I think it works really well. Keeping your messages in the background to cross-reference things without opening 12 windows is awesome. That said - I did have to search for a second to figure out how to edit the subject. A couple of quick tweaks or the addition of a "message settings" button for more admin-type tasks would make it just a bit better. Everyone's a UI critic.

VLM 13y ago
"Everyone's a UI critic." As it should be... everyone uses the UI for mass market products. Very few people admin the app or have the ability to access and analyze the source.

dmlorenzetti 13y ago

There is really nothing objective that is pointed to as to why it "sucks". The post repeatedly mentions functionality that used to be one click away, but is now multiple clicks away. That is about as objective as measures come. You may not mind it, but you can't say it's just subjective. The post also points out how UI controls shift relative positions based on the view being presented. One could define a metric that assesses the effect, and anybody calculating the metric would get the same result. Again, you may not mind controls jumping about as you work, but you can't say it's not objective.

dkhenry 13y ago
because some functionality was moved and now requires more interaction doesn't mean its objectively worse. If by moving a feature that is very seldom used ( like renaming the subject ) allows you to make common features easier to use then its better.
patrickaljord 13y ago
It's not about control jumping. Google makes decisions based on data so they know these changes require more clicking. Why did they hide them? Probably because their data shows that most people do not use them (which I've noticed in most non-tech people), so not showing those buttons is actually less confusing for most people and thus offers a better UI to them. Objectively.

scott_s 13y ago

I like it, too, and the amount of hate it receives baffles me. I like the fact that the message-compose window does not stretch across my whole screen - my laptop screen is quite wide. I don't want anything to stretch all the way across. I have no problem replying inline, I very rarely ever change the font of an email, and I very rarely change the subject. I don't do these things very often, so I would prefer that they're hidden. I also use GMail mostly for personal emails, not professionally. I wonder if that's part of it. But, even then, I use Notes for professional emails, because I have to. The GMail changes work well for how I use it, but there's also the fact that I constantly compare it to Notes.