11 ms·

Show HN: Gmelius – No Ads and Better User Interface for Gmail

160 points by xpressyoo 13y ago

joeblau 13y ago
The YouTube video helps explain the product a little bit better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44zaBoaKu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44zaBoaKu0
ehm_may 13y ago
Cool greasemonkey script, bro
ekimekim 13y ago
I've been using Gmelius for quite a long time now (a year? more?). I couldn't be happier. Every time I happen to open my gmail in another browser, I'm shocked at just how weird it looks with all the extra clutter. Thanks for the awesome work!
kevind23 13y ago
Is it possible to have the extra half of labels auto-expand, when chat is hidden? There is a lot of extra space in the sidebar now.
sidcool 13y ago
I understand people's dislike for ads. But how is it possible for Google to provide a free and robust email service to millions without any revenue model? I am asking out of sincere curiosity.
ozh 13y ago
Old Compose. OWWWW YEAH
- xerophtye 13y ago
  i thought you could simply turn it off if you wanted to
- josteink 13y ago
  And now you are effectively fighting against the direction which the software you are using is heading, while the software should actually be supporting you. If you weren't already. For me Gmail became a slippery slope of "I don't like that either" incidents. When I decided to leave it had become an easy decision to make, and once I left it honestly made me feel glad.
  - paulgb 13y ago
    What do you use now?
    - josteink 13y ago
      Fastmail which is increedibly fast and lightweight compared to Gmail. It feels like going from Hotmail to Gmail all over again, if you're old enough to remember what that was like. At home I stick to Thunderbird, which leaves a decent local copy with ability to connect to CardDAV and CalDAV which I handle via Baikal. Hopefully Fastmail will live up to their promises about providing CardDAV and CalDAV themselves, as that would leave me one less thing to worry about.
hengheng 13y ago
I'm not too familiar with web development, so please forgive my question: Is this just a style sheet that the browser knows how to apply, or am I giving you read access to my e-mail?
- xpressyoo 13y ago
  Hi, basically the extension injects some CSS and JavaScript into your browser, targeting mail.google.com. It does not read or access your data.
  - mattstreet 13y ago
    Doesn't injecting JavaScript give you access?
    - babby 13y ago
      Not unless their JS has ajax calls in it. But technically yeah they could, but, it's a pretty stupid fucken idea considering it would be found out almost immediately and suddenly it has become a blacklisted addon, their reputation has been destroyed etc. Additionally you could just not update the addon ever if you're OK with it right now.
      - hengheng 13y ago
        Seems fair enough to me, so it's basically the shareware security model where any application that carries malware instantly loses its reputation, even though it is technically able to do so. Interesting to see this carried over to web apps.
- onion2k 13y ago
  It's a browser extension - a bit of code that runs some scripts, in this case modifying the style of the page when you go to a specific domain (gmail). Extensions are run inside of the security sandbox for that domain with a higher privilege level than normal webpages - consequently, the extension could send all your email and activity from other tabs to a 3rd party. The Gmelius website says they don't though. You could, if you were so inclined, check the code inside the extension package if you wanted. If it was doing anything dodgy they'd be found out pretty quickly. tl;dr Yes, it could read all your email. I doubt it does though.
pkhamre 13y ago
Is it compatible with Firefox 24?
- xpressyoo 13y ago
  Yes it is: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gmail-ad-remover/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gmail-ad-remo...
patrickaljord 13y ago
Kind of ironic that a page that offers to hide adsense on gmail uses adsense on its own site to support itself. It's almost as if they knew gmail couldn't exist without adsense and yet still offer their users to hide those ads while cashing on adsense themselves. Maybe the right word is shameless, not ironic.
- neals 13y ago
  I don't know. Words like business and freedom come to mind.
  - patrickaljord 13y ago
    Oh sure, they're free to do so (not sure the gmail TOS allows scrapping ads though). But I'm also free to call them up on that :)
- ozh 13y ago
  Ironic or shameless or whatever, this goes against Adsense TOS: you cannot promote a service of theirs (here: Gmail) and explain how to hack that service. I was recently "kindly" asked by Google(had 48 hours to comply) to remove Adsense from a innocuous post on my blog because said post was just a couple lines explaining how I used some online service to download a video from Youtube (which, apparently, hurts their TOS and feelings)
  - yelnatz 13y ago
    I don't know if you can compare this to what you did. This seems more like a client side hiding and moving things around with CSS/javascript.
    - gcb0 13y ago
      And his just like client side moving things from the cache directory to the download directory...
- rickhanlonii 13y ago
snowpalmer 13y ago
Interesting ideas. Attachment icons seem nice. Other than that though the rest of the features aren't helpful for me (or at least not enough that I'd want to install it.)
jpadkins 13y ago
I use it. Love it.
shalintj 13y ago
I've always loved the idea of making Email better vis-a-vis the hyped rants of replacing Email. Sorry! Email is going no where and neither do existing email services & mail clients completely suck at managing email. Yes, there are some gaps in them and that's what we should try to solve. The whole approach of solving the problems with existing email services & clients vis-a-vis the idea of completely replacing it. We built MetisMe around this philosophy of making it very easy to search and share attachments inside Email. www.metisme.com . The next thing that we're targeting upon is can we give more context to the content which is already there inside Email.
pvinis 13y ago
what does the premium offer?
munimkazia 13y ago
Just installed it! Really happy with the options page which allows me to enable and disable only the options I want. For example: I actually prefer the new email compose for my work inbox, because I usually have to go around searching and referring to other emails while writing. Anyway, it is already looking much cleaner and nicer, and I hope it saves some time and makes my emailing experience more efficient. I'll try it out for a week or two, and you will hopefully get a small donation from me :)
- xpressyoo 13y ago
  Glad you like it. Do not hesitate to send me any suggestions/ideas via the support form ! Best.
  - curiouscats 13y ago
    I like it too. It is so annoying that companies like Google fail to do this (give users the popular options you do here). The new compose it horrible, horrible, horrible. But Google-borg doesn't care - you must submit to their wishes (you don't want G+ to overtake and break all sorts of your G stuff - too bad). Your service proves it isn't difficult not to deny users decent Ux options. Getting rid of IM is also very nice, I am not really sure what the removing G+ stuff does but I know I don't want any G+ stuff interfering with my email client, so I clicked that too. I do agree with those that say the removing ad thing is not good. It seems fair to me to be stuck with the ads if you use a service that is offered as ad supported. I tried paying Google but the process of using their $50 a year option is horrible. It isn't just pay $50 and ads disappear, it is pay $50 for our separate app with lots of issues that makes things annoying, breaks, has all sorts of problems when you want to reverse out. Thankfully I just tested it on a brand new account for 2 years and could just let the whole mess die an ugly death. Don't consider it without reading all the horror stories people have had moving their primary email and then trying to get out of the mess created. I can see Google making the plugin not work or making it really difficult for people if they see too much use since ads are removed - though using gmail with desktop clients doesn't show ads as I understand it so maybe Google will let it go.
xerophtye 13y ago
Personally i am already very happy with the GMAIL interface. The ads are a very minor distraction. And none of the features they show have much appeal to me (except the attachment icon perhaps). But then again, that's just me.
- ScottWhigham 13y ago
  I don't understand why people take the time to write anti-OP messages in HN threads. Is HN really a better place if, on every post, someone (or 50 people) makes a post about how they like the exact opposite of what the OP is about? It's an opinion - you have one, I have one, but it doesn't always have to be publicly expressed, does it? The people reading the comments here are probably doing so because they agree with OP - so why even bother commenting that your opinion is completely opposite theirs? I genuinely do not understand posts like this, yet I see them time and time again on HN.
kyro 13y ago
I use a native app for my gmail so I'm not the target (although I'd certainly be interested if I were using the online interface), but here's some feedback on your homepage: -Make your headline a different color other than white, because it's very hard to see with that background image. -It took me scrolling "below the fold" to find out what it is this product does. I'd change your headline to something more concrete, like "Gmail, the way you want it" while also finding a way to move up some of the product-specific content higher up on the page. -You also have way too much text and the two paragraphs that start with "Gmelius, pronounced 'Gmail'-'jus'..." seem unnecessarily long and distract me from finding out more about your project. I actually read that and just skipped past that whole block of text and later realized I had also overlooked your donation box. -There's also too much text explaining the features, making those screenshots look tiny in comparison. I think you could just get rid of the descriptive text and keep the feature titles, like "Restore the old compose window" and "Experience Gmail without ads" without losing any of the message. -Minor point: That red download box should explicitly tell me it's not supported for Safari, if you're detecting my browser. Right now it says "Free Download for Safari" in bold text with "Browser not supported" in a lighter typeface underneath. Like I said, minor, but I found it a bit confusing. Hope that helps!
- chmars 13y ago
  @kyro: Out of curiosity, which native app do you use for Gmail? I am asking because I have not found a satisfying native app for Gmail so far. Standard IMAP clients like Apple Mail and Thunderbird are usually in a constant struggle to update all the folders (labels) and new mail outside the inbox might show up with major delays in comparison to Gmail on the web (or in a browser-like client).
  - kyro 13y ago
    I've been using Sparrow for over a year now. It seems like they've stopped releasing updates, and lots of users (from what I'm reading on the App Store) are complaining of stability issues, but everything's fine here.
    - 13y ago
bbx 13y ago
This is probably a good approach to the permanent "How to fix email" problem. "Add-on" is the keyword here. Instead of disrupting your workflow by offering a distinct native app developed from scratch, this simply enhances an already great experience. I consider Gmail's UI very efficient and actually quite close to perfection (speed, reliability, labels, filters, multiple inboxes, keyboard shortcuts...). Gmelius just corrects the small annoyances that remain or have appeared lately. This reminds me of a sentence in Dropbox's YC application: "With Dropbox, you hit "Save", as you normally would, and everything just works." The worflow isn't altered. It's just better. Of course, Gmelius is just and add-on, with no clear business model. But maybe that's all we need after all.
- eloisant 13y ago
  Yes, that's called "writing an email client". Then, we can find some kind of standard protocol between the client and the server so you can use your client with any email provider. We could call it... IMAP!
  - kirubakaran 13y ago
    Do you have to express your point so abrasively?
  - comex 13y ago
    How exactly does writing an email client satisfy "instead of disrupting your workflow by offering a distinct native app developed from scratch"?
    - CodeMage 13y ago
      Remind me again why an e-mail client has to be a native app? Is there anything special that makes an e-mail client different from a, say, IRC client, which could be, for example, a browser extension such as Chatzilla?
      - comex 13y ago
bjourne 13y ago
I love having the old compose both for writing new mails and replying back. Thanks! Any chance you could setup a donate option that doesn't involve paypal? :)
andyhmltn 13y ago
Looks like a great product! One annoyance I have with the page itself though: The top three links are pretty pointless. Download does nothing unless you scroll down but then that hides the header. About scrolls down a tiny bit and features just a bit more. The features is probably the most useful of them all but even then it's cutting it short. Why not make the header fixed and actually give some point to those links? :)
porker 13y ago
I've been using "Minimalist for Everything" [1] for over a year, which comes with a great set of rules to clean and customise GMail's interface. This seems to go further (and allow icons to be customised, which I'd like) - look forward to trying it! 1. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/minimalist-for-everything/bmihblnpomgpjkfddepdpdafhhepdbek https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/minimalist-for-eve...
- eitally 13y ago
  I have been, too. One of the things I really like about MInimalist for Everything ist that I can eliminate the branding from Gmail entirely. We use it for work on an Apps domain, and when traveling I prefer shoulder gazers not to see immediately who I work for.
degenerate 13y ago
"Move attachment icons from the right to the left of your inbox" -- sold!!! ... and a bunch of other ones I like too :)
aetimmes 13y ago
Gripe: One of the options that I selected reverted Hangouts to the old Google Chat system without explicitly saying so. EDIT: It was the Old Compose feature, which admittedly is in beta. Still, I'm not a fan of losing the group chats I have open.
mrleinad 13y ago
If header is removed, you lose the option to Undo after performing some operation. That should be fixed.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
prawn 13y ago
It's like PowerToys for Gmail.
Jacqued 13y ago
Genius ! I ticked nearly all of the options as I had grown to find the Gmail interface a complete PAIN. Thank you so much
k-mcgrady 13y ago
Really nice. For me the best part was allowing me to turn off all the crap related to chat. I don't use Google Talk/Hangouts and don't know anyone who does (might be a regional thing). Being able to hide everything related to chat and status instantly made Gmail much cleaner.
- eitally 13y ago
  Which region are you in?
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    Northern Ireland. I've yet to meet anyone using Talk (of course this is just my personal experience, maybe it's big and just the people I know don't use it). Most messaging occurs through SMS, Facebook and now 3rd party apps (Viber is pretty big).
revisionzero 13y ago
Does this not support the latest safari? Looks awesome and would love to try it but it says it is incompatible with my browser, Safari Version 7.0 (9537.71).
bausson 13y ago
TL;DR Selling a product which basically remove ads from another service does not sit well with me, should be two separates products. I REALLY hate ads on web-based gmail client, but I suppose they are a necessary evil. The an ads-removing feature send the wrong message. I may buy (or donate for) a gmail-client-enhancer. I may buy (or donate for) an ad-remover plugin (well, I already use ABP and ghostery, and donated for the former) But I wouldn't give money for a gmail-specific ad-remover, that doesn't feel right (even if I am using ABP, maybe the 'specific' part?) I may be wrong, but distributing it at two separate plug-ins may be better. Removing the "ad-removing" part would be the easiest way, because interested people almost all already have ad-blocker. Even if you chose to let it in, not making it a major marketing point would be smarter. just let it there as an option (activated by default or not, I don't know). PS: Attachment icons would be real nice, though, I love that feature. PS2: Yes, I know, using ABP and not wanting to pay for that app because of this feature sounds like hypocrisy, in fact it is, but that's how I thought about it (I have build-in hypocrisy), and I may not be the only one.
- jmount 13y ago
  I have no problem with people trying to defend themselves. And Google can obviously block such people if they want.
- chmars 13y ago
  You can use Gmail without ads if you pay USD 50/year/user for Google Apps for Business: https://support.google.com/a/answer/60758?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/60758?hl=en
  - bausson 13y ago
    without ads* I suppose. (and thanks for the link)
    - chmars 13y ago
      Yep, I've just corrected the typo …
  - 13y ago
dmd 13y ago
In the settings interface, "Gmelius gives you the possibility to regain some space and to clean your inbox by removing or disabling:" ... it's not entirely clear in the UI whether checking a box there ENABLES or DISABLES the feature, because normally [x] feature means "enable this feature", not "disable this feature"
wildermuthn 13y ago
> To be clear and to the point, Gmelius will never access, read, store, alter or transmit your personal data. I'm a trusting person, so I believe them. But privacy is a big issue these days. Not sure a one-liner is enough to assuage doubts.
__xtrimsky 13y ago
There are a lot of chrome extensions to improve Gmail UI. Most of them have the same features as these ones. I went through your list of features, but didn't find anything I'd really be interested in. Not for me.
vezzy-fnord 13y ago
Couldn't have this served its purpose as a simple Greasemonkey script?
Surio 13y ago
Heh, I suppose I was one of the early adopters of this one... IIRC, I have been using this since 2010 or so. This is one of the first FF addons (along with Adblock and Stylish) that gets installed on any new FF installation for me. Wonderful utility, thanks Florian! I think I emailed him at some point if it would be possible for him to offer this for Yahoo! Mail as well. Since then, Yahoo have modified their own UX for the better, but the request to extend this to Yahoo mail still stands from my end (pretty please, Florian) :-)
codyZ 13y ago
This is an excellent service/Chrome extension that I have been proudly been using for over two years (I think...) I donated then and I will donate now again. Keep up the great work. It is wonderful. edit: two years
lnanek2 13y ago
Wow, a lot of these are things I would do myself (remove the styled font garbage, the hidden email addresses, ads, bring back the good compose window, cleaner print). I have doubts about a browser extension modifying a page working long term, though. Especially when they remove ads and thus place themselves as a negative to Google. I'm more tempted to just switch to an email client.
erikb 13y ago
I don't know one person, who is not "happy enough" with Gmail as it is. I think therefore it would be better if title and starting screen of the website show what is the problem.
reustle 13y ago
I feel like I'd install this extension, only for google to break it in a few days (via code changes or take-down notice)
- wlj 13y ago
  I've been using this for a little over a year now and on the occasions that changes have caused issues, Florian has fixed them quick enough for there not to be any real hassle. Now that it supports the old compose interface too, for me, it's incredibly useful.

160 points by xpressyoo 13y ago

The YouTube video helps explain the product a little bit better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44zaBoaKu0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D44zaBoaKu0

ehm_may 13y ago

Cool greasemonkey script, bro

ekimekim 13y ago

I've been using Gmelius for quite a long time now (a year? more?). I couldn't be happier. Every time I happen to open my gmail in another browser, I'm shocked at just how weird it looks with all the extra clutter. Thanks for the awesome work!

kevind23 13y ago

Is it possible to have the extra half of labels auto-expand, when chat is hidden? There is a lot of extra space in the sidebar now.

sidcool 13y ago

I understand people's dislike for ads. But how is it possible for Google to provide a free and robust email service to millions without any revenue model? I am asking out of sincere curiosity.

ozh 13y ago

Old Compose. OWWWW YEAH

xerophtye 13y ago
i thought you could simply turn it off if you wanted to
josteink 13y ago
And now you are effectively fighting against the direction which the software you are using is heading, while the software should actually be supporting you. If you weren't already. For me Gmail became a slippery slope of "I don't like that either" incidents. When I decided to leave it had become an easy decision to make, and once I left it honestly made me feel glad.
- paulgb 13y ago
  What do you use now?
  - josteink 13y ago
    Fastmail which is increedibly fast and lightweight compared to Gmail. It feels like going from Hotmail to Gmail all over again, if you're old enough to remember what that was like. At home I stick to Thunderbird, which leaves a decent local copy with ability to connect to CardDAV and CalDAV which I handle via Baikal. Hopefully Fastmail will live up to their promises about providing CardDAV and CalDAV themselves, as that would leave me one less thing to worry about.

hengheng 13y ago

I'm not too familiar with web development, so please forgive my question: Is this just a style sheet that the browser knows how to apply, or am I giving you read access to my e-mail?

xpressyoo 13y ago
Hi, basically the extension injects some CSS and JavaScript into your browser, targeting mail.google.com. It does not read or access your data.
- mattstreet 13y ago
  Doesn't injecting JavaScript give you access?
  - babby 13y ago
    Not unless their JS has ajax calls in it. But technically yeah they could, but, it's a pretty stupid fucken idea considering it would be found out almost immediately and suddenly it has become a blacklisted addon, their reputation has been destroyed etc. Additionally you could just not update the addon ever if you're OK with it right now.
    - hengheng 13y ago
      Seems fair enough to me, so it's basically the shareware security model where any application that carries malware instantly loses its reputation, even though it is technically able to do so. Interesting to see this carried over to web apps.
onion2k 13y ago
It's a browser extension - a bit of code that runs some scripts, in this case modifying the style of the page when you go to a specific domain (gmail). Extensions are run inside of the security sandbox for that domain with a higher privilege level than normal webpages - consequently, the extension could send all your email and activity from other tabs to a 3rd party. The Gmelius website says they don't though. You could, if you were so inclined, check the code inside the extension package if you wanted. If it was doing anything dodgy they'd be found out pretty quickly. tl;dr Yes, it could read all your email. I doubt it does though.

pkhamre 13y ago

Is it compatible with Firefox 24?

xpressyoo 13y ago
Yes it is: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gmail-ad-remover/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/gmail-ad-remo...

patrickaljord 13y ago

Kind of ironic that a page that offers to hide adsense on gmail uses adsense on its own site to support itself. It's almost as if they knew gmail couldn't exist without adsense and yet still offer their users to hide those ads while cashing on adsense themselves. Maybe the right word is shameless, not ironic.

neals 13y ago
I don't know. Words like business and freedom come to mind.
- patrickaljord 13y ago
  Oh sure, they're free to do so (not sure the gmail TOS allows scrapping ads though). But I'm also free to call them up on that :)
ozh 13y ago
Ironic or shameless or whatever, this goes against Adsense TOS: you cannot promote a service of theirs (here: Gmail) and explain how to hack that service. I was recently "kindly" asked by Google(had 48 hours to comply) to remove Adsense from a innocuous post on my blog because said post was just a couple lines explaining how I used some online service to download a video from Youtube (which, apparently, hurts their TOS and feelings)
- yelnatz 13y ago
  I don't know if you can compare this to what you did. This seems more like a client side hiding and moving things around with CSS/javascript.
  - gcb0 13y ago
    And his just like client side moving things from the cache directory to the download directory...
rickhanlonii 13y ago

snowpalmer 13y ago

Interesting ideas. Attachment icons seem nice. Other than that though the rest of the features aren't helpful for me (or at least not enough that I'd want to install it.)

jpadkins 13y ago

I use it. Love it.

shalintj 13y ago

I've always loved the idea of making Email better vis-a-vis the hyped rants of replacing Email. Sorry! Email is going no where and neither do existing email services & mail clients completely suck at managing email. Yes, there are some gaps in them and that's what we should try to solve. The whole approach of solving the problems with existing email services & clients vis-a-vis the idea of completely replacing it. We built MetisMe around this philosophy of making it very easy to search and share attachments inside Email. www.metisme.com . The next thing that we're targeting upon is can we give more context to the content which is already there inside Email.

pvinis 13y ago

what does the premium offer?

munimkazia 13y ago

Just installed it! Really happy with the options page which allows me to enable and disable only the options I want. For example: I actually prefer the new email compose for my work inbox, because I usually have to go around searching and referring to other emails while writing. Anyway, it is already looking much cleaner and nicer, and I hope it saves some time and makes my emailing experience more efficient. I'll try it out for a week or two, and you will hopefully get a small donation from me :)

xpressyoo 13y ago
Glad you like it. Do not hesitate to send me any suggestions/ideas via the support form ! Best.
- curiouscats 13y ago
  I like it too. It is so annoying that companies like Google fail to do this (give users the popular options you do here). The new compose it horrible, horrible, horrible. But Google-borg doesn't care - you must submit to their wishes (you don't want G+ to overtake and break all sorts of your G stuff - too bad). Your service proves it isn't difficult not to deny users decent Ux options. Getting rid of IM is also very nice, I am not really sure what the removing G+ stuff does but I know I don't want any G+ stuff interfering with my email client, so I clicked that too. I do agree with those that say the removing ad thing is not good. It seems fair to me to be stuck with the ads if you use a service that is offered as ad supported. I tried paying Google but the process of using their $50 a year option is horrible. It isn't just pay $50 and ads disappear, it is pay $50 for our separate app with lots of issues that makes things annoying, breaks, has all sorts of problems when you want to reverse out. Thankfully I just tested it on a brand new account for 2 years and could just let the whole mess die an ugly death. Don't consider it without reading all the horror stories people have had moving their primary email and then trying to get out of the mess created. I can see Google making the plugin not work or making it really difficult for people if they see too much use since ads are removed - though using gmail with desktop clients doesn't show ads as I understand it so maybe Google will let it go.

xerophtye 13y ago

Personally i am already very happy with the GMAIL interface. The ads are a very minor distraction. And none of the features they show have much appeal to me (except the attachment icon perhaps). But then again, that's just me.

ScottWhigham 13y ago
I don't understand why people take the time to write anti-OP messages in HN threads. Is HN really a better place if, on every post, someone (or 50 people) makes a post about how they like the exact opposite of what the OP is about? It's an opinion - you have one, I have one, but it doesn't always have to be publicly expressed, does it? The people reading the comments here are probably doing so because they agree with OP - so why even bother commenting that your opinion is completely opposite theirs? I genuinely do not understand posts like this, yet I see them time and time again on HN.

kyro 13y ago

I use a native app for my gmail so I'm not the target (although I'd certainly be interested if I were using the online interface), but here's some feedback on your homepage: -Make your headline a different color other than white, because it's very hard to see with that background image. -It took me scrolling "below the fold" to find out what it is this product does. I'd change your headline to something more concrete, like "Gmail, the way you want it" while also finding a way to move up some of the product-specific content higher up on the page. -You also have way too much text and the two paragraphs that start with "Gmelius, pronounced 'Gmail'-'jus'..." seem unnecessarily long and distract me from finding out more about your project. I actually read that and just skipped past that whole block of text and later realized I had also overlooked your donation box. -There's also too much text explaining the features, making those screenshots look tiny in comparison. I think you could just get rid of the descriptive text and keep the feature titles, like "Restore the old compose window" and "Experience Gmail without ads" without losing any of the message. -Minor point: That red download box should explicitly tell me it's not supported for Safari, if you're detecting my browser. Right now it says "Free Download for Safari" in bold text with "Browser not supported" in a lighter typeface underneath. Like I said, minor, but I found it a bit confusing. Hope that helps!

chmars 13y ago
@kyro: Out of curiosity, which native app do you use for Gmail? I am asking because I have not found a satisfying native app for Gmail so far. Standard IMAP clients like Apple Mail and Thunderbird are usually in a constant struggle to update all the folders (labels) and new mail outside the inbox might show up with major delays in comparison to Gmail on the web (or in a browser-like client).
- kyro 13y ago
  I've been using Sparrow for over a year now. It seems like they've stopped releasing updates, and lots of users (from what I'm reading on the App Store) are complaining of stability issues, but everything's fine here.
  - 13y ago

bbx 13y ago

This is probably a good approach to the permanent "How to fix email" problem. "Add-on" is the keyword here. Instead of disrupting your workflow by offering a distinct native app developed from scratch, this simply enhances an already great experience. I consider Gmail's UI very efficient and actually quite close to perfection (speed, reliability, labels, filters, multiple inboxes, keyboard shortcuts...). Gmelius just corrects the small annoyances that remain or have appeared lately. This reminds me of a sentence in Dropbox's YC application: "With Dropbox, you hit "Save", as you normally would, and everything just works." The worflow isn't altered. It's just better. Of course, Gmelius is just and add-on, with no clear business model. But maybe that's all we need after all.

eloisant 13y ago
Yes, that's called "writing an email client". Then, we can find some kind of standard protocol between the client and the server so you can use your client with any email provider. We could call it... IMAP!
- kirubakaran 13y ago
  Do you have to express your point so abrasively?
- comex 13y ago
  How exactly does writing an email client satisfy "instead of disrupting your workflow by offering a distinct native app developed from scratch"?
  - CodeMage 13y ago
    Remind me again why an e-mail client has to be a native app? Is there anything special that makes an e-mail client different from a, say, IRC client, which could be, for example, a browser extension such as Chatzilla?
    - comex 13y ago

bjourne 13y ago

I love having the old compose both for writing new mails and replying back. Thanks! Any chance you could setup a donate option that doesn't involve paypal? :)

andyhmltn 13y ago

Looks like a great product! One annoyance I have with the page itself though: The top three links are pretty pointless. Download does nothing unless you scroll down but then that hides the header. About scrolls down a tiny bit and features just a bit more. The features is probably the most useful of them all but even then it's cutting it short. Why not make the header fixed and actually give some point to those links? :)

porker 13y ago

I've been using "Minimalist for Everything" [1] for over a year, which comes with a great set of rules to clean and customise GMail's interface. This seems to go further (and allow icons to be customised, which I'd like) - look forward to trying it! 1. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/minimalist-for-everything/bmihblnpomgpjkfddepdpdafhhepdbek https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/minimalist-for-eve...

eitally 13y ago
I have been, too. One of the things I really like about MInimalist for Everything ist that I can eliminate the branding from Gmail entirely. We use it for work on an Apps domain, and when traveling I prefer shoulder gazers not to see immediately who I work for.

degenerate 13y ago

"Move attachment icons from the right to the left of your inbox" -- sold!!! ... and a bunch of other ones I like too :)

aetimmes 13y ago

Gripe: One of the options that I selected reverted Hangouts to the old Google Chat system without explicitly saying so. EDIT: It was the Old Compose feature, which admittedly is in beta. Still, I'm not a fan of losing the group chats I have open.

mrleinad 13y ago

If header is removed, you lose the option to Undo after performing some operation. That should be fixed.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

prawn 13y ago

It's like PowerToys for Gmail.

Jacqued 13y ago

Genius ! I ticked nearly all of the options as I had grown to find the Gmail interface a complete PAIN. Thank you so much

k-mcgrady 13y ago

Really nice. For me the best part was allowing me to turn off all the crap related to chat. I don't use Google Talk/Hangouts and don't know anyone who does (might be a regional thing). Being able to hide everything related to chat and status instantly made Gmail much cleaner.

eitally 13y ago
Which region are you in?
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  Northern Ireland. I've yet to meet anyone using Talk (of course this is just my personal experience, maybe it's big and just the people I know don't use it). Most messaging occurs through SMS, Facebook and now 3rd party apps (Viber is pretty big).

revisionzero 13y ago

Does this not support the latest safari? Looks awesome and would love to try it but it says it is incompatible with my browser, Safari Version 7.0 (9537.71).

bausson 13y ago

TL;DR Selling a product which basically remove ads from another service does not sit well with me, should be two separates products. I REALLY hate ads on web-based gmail client, but I suppose they are a necessary evil. The an ads-removing feature send the wrong message. I may buy (or donate for) a gmail-client-enhancer. I may buy (or donate for) an ad-remover plugin (well, I already use ABP and ghostery, and donated for the former) But I wouldn't give money for a gmail-specific ad-remover, that doesn't feel right (even if I am using ABP, maybe the 'specific' part?) I may be wrong, but distributing it at two separate plug-ins may be better. Removing the "ad-removing" part would be the easiest way, because interested people almost all already have ad-blocker. Even if you chose to let it in, not making it a major marketing point would be smarter. just let it there as an option (activated by default or not, I don't know). PS: Attachment icons would be real nice, though, I love that feature. PS2: Yes, I know, using ABP and not wanting to pay for that app because of this feature sounds like hypocrisy, in fact it is, but that's how I thought about it (I have build-in hypocrisy), and I may not be the only one.

jmount 13y ago
I have no problem with people trying to defend themselves. And Google can obviously block such people if they want.
chmars 13y ago
You can use Gmail without ads if you pay USD 50/year/user for Google Apps for Business: https://support.google.com/a/answer/60758?hl=en https://support.google.com/a/answer/60758?hl=en
- bausson 13y ago
  without ads* I suppose. (and thanks for the link)
  - chmars 13y ago
    Yep, I've just corrected the typo …
- 13y ago

dmd 13y ago

In the settings interface, "Gmelius gives you the possibility to regain some space and to clean your inbox by removing or disabling:" ... it's not entirely clear in the UI whether checking a box there ENABLES or DISABLES the feature, because normally [x] feature means "enable this feature", not "disable this feature"

wildermuthn 13y ago

> To be clear and to the point, Gmelius will never access, read, store, alter or transmit your personal data. I'm a trusting person, so I believe them. But privacy is a big issue these days. Not sure a one-liner is enough to assuage doubts.

__xtrimsky 13y ago

There are a lot of chrome extensions to improve Gmail UI. Most of them have the same features as these ones. I went through your list of features, but didn't find anything I'd really be interested in. Not for me.

vezzy-fnord 13y ago

Couldn't have this served its purpose as a simple Greasemonkey script?

Surio 13y ago

Heh, I suppose I was one of the early adopters of this one... IIRC, I have been using this since 2010 or so. This is one of the first FF addons (along with Adblock and Stylish) that gets installed on any new FF installation for me. Wonderful utility, thanks Florian! I think I emailed him at some point if it would be possible for him to offer this for Yahoo! Mail as well. Since then, Yahoo have modified their own UX for the better, but the request to extend this to Yahoo mail still stands from my end (pretty please, Florian) :-)

codyZ 13y ago

This is an excellent service/Chrome extension that I have been proudly been using for over two years (I think...) I donated then and I will donate now again. Keep up the great work. It is wonderful. edit: two years

lnanek2 13y ago

Wow, a lot of these are things I would do myself (remove the styled font garbage, the hidden email addresses, ads, bring back the good compose window, cleaner print). I have doubts about a browser extension modifying a page working long term, though. Especially when they remove ads and thus place themselves as a negative to Google. I'm more tempted to just switch to an email client.

erikb 13y ago

I don't know one person, who is not "happy enough" with Gmail as it is. I think therefore it would be better if title and starting screen of the website show what is the problem.

reustle 13y ago

I feel like I'd install this extension, only for google to break it in a few days (via code changes or take-down notice)

wlj 13y ago
I've been using this for a little over a year now and on the occasions that changes have caused issues, Florian has fixed them quick enough for there not to be any real hassle. Now that it supports the old compose interface too, for me, it's incredibly useful.