Gmail usability improves, but there is still room for improvemenet
I have talked about Gmail’s loading… message, and how it used to block the Logout link here.
With the new version of Gmail, that usability issue has been corrected. Now the loading… message appears in the middle as was suggested (see screenshot below). Unfortunately, delete_&_next feature is yet to be introduced.
The new version of Gmail is not that different from the older version. In fact, you won’t notice much about the changes. What is noticeable though is the improved loading time, now it seems to load a lot faster.
Gmail, how about “unread” marking for individual emails in the long thread?
In Gmail, when you email to each other back and forth, it will turn into a long conversation thread. There are times, when you open the email and then mark it “unread” back for later reading. The reasons can vary, maybe the email is too long, maybe you are rushing…etc
But there is a slight usability problem with this “unread” marking feature. When you mark the thread “unread”, it will mark the whole thread (not the last email). And when you later open that particular thread, it will display you the first email in the thread. Shouldn’t it display the last one logically? Anyway, that’s not what I am getting at…
What I want is, ability to mark any specific email, be it separate email or the one that is inside a long conversation thread. So you can mark any email “unread” for example. And when you click on that particular marked thread, it will display the “unread” message (not the first email in the thread). It would be very convenient. Because this way, you could get to the email that you want from the first click.
Because if you are like me, then you know that scrolling long threads is no fun… ;) I rarely use the “end” button on the keyboard to go to the end of the page.
So Gmail team, anybody there…? Can we expect these changes in the new version of Gmail? Ping ping ping: gmailblog.blogspot.com… I hope someone is listening.
Update: “loading” issue has been resolved
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By Nithin on Nov 11, 2007
I too have been hoping for some changes in the conversation thread features myself. If they could just allow us to remove individual messages from the threads, that would solve a lot of problems.
By Ades on Nov 11, 2007
Yes Nithin, that’s a needed feature too…
By kjusupov on Nov 14, 2007
Just about 2 days ago have checked the new version of GMail on Safari 3 (Mac OS X Leopard), and there were some layout issues in “Contacts” page. There were some white spaces around the buttons (Edit, Groups, Delete Contact, etc). While writing this post decided to check again, and to my surprise - all those issues are fixed. It looks OK already.
But still, if you have chance - take a look how the UI looks like on different browsers (I’ve checked on Safari 3 (beta), Firefox 2 (stable) and Firefox 3 (beta)…
By Todor on Nov 19, 2007
This is my first time I visit your blog but you are already in my Google Reader.
One question regarding Gmail - do you know a way to override the small problem which Outlook is experiencing when receiving e-mails from a Gmail account, like:
From: name1@gmail.com on behalf of name2@mydomain.com?
is there a way for the receiver (using Outlook) to see only the “mydomain” name in new Google Gmail service?
P.S. This is the only reason why I am not using Gmail at this time.
By Ades on Nov 19, 2007
Todor, you should use Google Apps if you want to remove that message.
By Todor on Nov 19, 2007
Thank you!
I didn’t know it works well under Google Apps. It’s interesting, because all the information I had until now was pointing at the fact that the problem is not in Gmail but in Outlook…
Regards from Bulgaria!
By Grant on Dec 4, 2007
I would love to use Google Apps to get around the “on behalf of” problem. The problem is that I am not going to be able to get my administrator to sign off on switching the company over to Google Apps. I wish there as a way to get around this without involving the whole company.
By Carla on Feb 21, 2008
Update: This has been resolved
When I open a conversation that was previously marked as unread, I still get the first email instead of the last one. How was is resolved?
Thanks
Carla
By Ades on Feb 23, 2008
Hi Carla, I meant the loading issue… unfortunately gmail has yet to solve the “unread” marking issue.