A preview of Gmail’s new look(gmailblog.blogspot.com)
gmailblog.blogspot.com
A preview of Gmail’s new look
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/preview-of-gmails-new-look.html?utm_source=twitter
178 comments
I'm a pretty huge fan of all the new Google designs. Plus, gmail, the top bar, fonts.... They've kept things minimalistic while making things just feel cleaner and crisper. Whoever is leading this redesign is doing a fantastic job.
Agreed. And according to Steven Levy[1]'s Wired article[2], it's Andy Hertzfeld, who was on the original Apple Macintosh team.
[1] Who wrote In the Plex.
[2] http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-so...
[1] Who wrote In the Plex.
[2] http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/06/inside-google-plus-so...
Andy Hertzfeld did the Circles editor in Google+. The site-wide redesign is done by Google Creative Labs, which I think is behind the Search On advertisement series and the Parisian Love Superbowl ad. It's also had significant input and direction from the individual teams, eg. most of the Search UX team was involved in the websearch portion of the redesign.
You're right, I apologize for the inaccuracy. Here's Hertzfeld himself on the subject: https://plus.google.com/117840649766034848455/posts/FddaP6je...
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That's not exactly correct. According to the article Hertzfeld was the key interface designer behind the Circles UI in Google+. The Google-wide visual redesign is the result of a lot of people's work.
beat me to the link by a few seconds :)
There was a really good talk on the new Android Honeycomb UI at this year's Google I/O. The designers talked about wanting to move away from explicit box structures and to use type and spacing more to indicate structure. I really think they're on the right track with this, and they seem to be taking this approach with their new web UIs too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGIU2JX1U5Y
That said, the left pane of the new gmail interface looks a little too spartan at first blush. Maybe I'll get used to it but it looks a little unfinished to me now.
That said, the left pane of the new gmail interface looks a little too spartan at first blush. Maybe I'll get used to it but it looks a little unfinished to me now.
It's not just the left pane that feels sparse.
I jumped into an email thread and it feels like I'm reading the soot filled footprints of ancient Siberians crossing the glacial land bridge: everything's surrounded by so much white!
In this new design it's hard for my eyes to stay focused on the actual content.
I jumped into an email thread and it feels like I'm reading the soot filled footprints of ancient Siberians crossing the glacial land bridge: everything's surrounded by so much white!
In this new design it's hard for my eyes to stay focused on the actual content.
Looks like Google fixed their 40 shades of blue issue.
I'm not liking the big red "Compose Mail" button and labels. Red is usually used as an indicator of warning and error messages, and the giant red button really jumps out at you when you first see the redesign.
If you're trying to move away from the "40 shades of blue" while keeping a fun and playful feel, why not use green?
If you're trying to move away from the "40 shades of blue" while keeping a fun and playful feel, why not use green?
Be sure to send them your feedback: http://www.google.com/support/bin/request.py?hl=en&conta...
Done. Also, on closer inspection, I think I see the rationale for their decision. They may have chosen red because it looks like red may be the "official" color of Gmail -- notice the red line on the top nav bar above "Gmail," along with the red "M" in the logo.
Red button: https://img.skitch.com/20110701-bpf7rn6giqq64ya9ihr88pmfr1.p...
Green button: https://img.skitch.com/20110701-pff56qthuqr89t77d2x3u2smhj.p...
Grey button: https://img.skitch.com/20110701-wwxrad2urrj1xjmanusme8w9w.pn...
I now think the red works best too (but felt the same way as you about it at first). Other colours stand out against the red "Mail" and "Inbox" links, which gives a somewhat technicoloured dreamcoat feel to the UI. They could change the red links to green, but then they lose the connection with the red 'M' envelope character, as you rightly point out. A light grey might work, but probably wouldn't stand out enough for new users.
Green button: https://img.skitch.com/20110701-pff56qthuqr89t77d2x3u2smhj.p...
Grey button: https://img.skitch.com/20110701-wwxrad2urrj1xjmanusme8w9w.pn...
I now think the red works best too (but felt the same way as you about it at first). Other colours stand out against the red "Mail" and "Inbox" links, which gives a somewhat technicoloured dreamcoat feel to the UI. They could change the red links to green, but then they lose the connection with the red 'M' envelope character, as you rightly point out. A light grey might work, but probably wouldn't stand out enough for new users.
I had problem finding the compose button before. I am glad that it won't happen again.
The main reason* I bought a Nexus S today is because I'm hoping this trend bleeds into Android Ice Cream Sandwich.
*that, and because Sprint isn't getting the Pre 3.
*that, and because Sprint isn't getting the Pre 3.
I think that look and feel would be pretty sweet on Android phones. I think I'd like it more than the "holographic" look.
I really hate the holographic look of the tablets. I hope the seachange of Larry Page, Andy Hertzfeld, and the designer of WebOS pays off.
I'm not sure how democratic things are at GCL, but I'm pretty sure other people have had a say in the creative process.
Ref: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/evolving-google-desig...
Ref: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/evolving-google-desig...
Would find it hard to disagree more: the new design looks butt-ugly and disfunctional.
The man behind that would be Andy Hertzfeld: http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/28/google-plus-design-andy-her...
The article says he worked on Circles. Someone seems to have generalized that to give him credit for every new design that Google is launching.
Very good point. I assumed because they looked very similar that it was the same person, but quite possible that someone else did the designs. Definitely very similar elements in UI though.
"Hertzfeld, who has been working at Google since 2005, is indeed the one we can thank for the better-looking interface on Google+, as he’s the design lead on the project."
He was the lead for the design, not just the circles features.
"Hertzfeld, who has been working at Google since 2005, is indeed the one we can thank for the better-looking interface on Google+, as he’s the design lead on the project."
He was the lead for the design, not just the circles features.
No, he was just the lead for the circles features.
Nostrademons is correct (obviously, as a Google employee). Apparently there was an entire design team that worked on the UX/UI redesign.
Yes agree on the cleaner look, this feels solid.
I really hope they preserve the Classic view. I can't stand how spaced out everything is. I went from being able to see 10 or so contacts in Gchat without scrolling down to just 4.
Edit: That's with the "Dense" view. Regular is even worse.
Edit: That's with the "Dense" view. Regular is even worse.
Way too spaced out for my liking.
I go from seeing 34 messages per page to 24. And about 20 letters of the message summary are dropped.
I go from seeing 34 messages per page to 24. And about 20 letters of the message summary are dropped.
Maybe they want you to search.
ironically, they need to improve the quality of the gmail search feature for that to be a viable direction in which to push users; the responsiveness and the lack of wildcards immediately comes to mind.
The lack of stemming is pretty bad, too. If I have a message with the word "dog" but I search for "dogs," I won't get any results. A search for "dog" will return the message, however.
In my case I just use the labels to filter, that way I never need to see long lists of emails to search for anything.
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Agreed. Everything has too much whitespace. Also there needs to be more borders and accents within reason. Everything kind of just blends together as white to my eyes right now. This goes for gcal too. Glad this is an optional theme for now though.
For me, great design really translates into "ADD friendly." Visual clutter is a nightmare for me in terms of immediate focus. This simple spacing does WONDERS for visual organization in my brain. It really is amazing. I've actually written scripts before to add some padding (CSS padding that is) to reddit to make things easier.
The month view in the new Calendar is even worse. You could see 5 appointments per day (4 if you had more than 5, since it showed '+x more'). Now you can see only one. It has gone for good to useless.
> I went from being able to see 10 or so contacts in Gchat without scrolling down to just 4.
I have found that the right-side chat Gmail labs feature is useful as a way to display additional contacts without scrolling in Gchat. It may be even more useful with the increased spacing.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-in-labs-right-side...
I have found that the right-side chat Gmail labs feature is useful as a way to display additional contacts without scrolling in Gchat. It may be even more useful with the increased spacing.
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-in-labs-right-side...
I'm thinking it might work well for me on a higher res screen. On the 1280x800 MBP screen I'm on now it's not very usable. I switched back to "Basic White" theme. I like that one a lot.
I hated it too, and then tried shift-refresh. To my surprise it actually worked, and now "Dense" is fairly good.
Be sure to leave feedback. I asked for denser "dense" view.
the ui looks weird with multiple-inboxes placed side by side.
I find that using the Dense view, then zooming out one tick in your web browser produces a very nice look. Although that's more of a workaround than a fix to a potential problem.
In the old Gmail interface, my eye goes straight to my inbox. In this new interface, it goes straight to the bold blue "Search Mail" in the header—which is proportionally much larger than necessary.
The new look for Google is a huge step up overall, but that's a huge usability violation to me.
The new look for Google is a huge step up overall, but that's a huge usability violation to me.
For me, the giant red "compose" button is all I can see.
Seems consistent with "search not sort".
I just wish they would get rid of the invite widget. It served a purpose when Gmail was invite only but now it just wastes space.
I still use it all the time to convert people to gmail. In the past month alone I have converted 10+ people, mostly non-tech (ie. parents, brothers, godparents etc.)
Google are very analytics driven in product design, if it wasn't being used and wasn't serving a purpose, I believe they would have removed it already or freed up that real estate for something else
Google are very analytics driven in product design, if it wasn't being used and wasn't serving a purpose, I believe they would have removed it already or freed up that real estate for something else
If Google was that analytics driven they would get rid of it for people that don't use it. I haven't used it since gmail was in beta, I definitely haven't used it for at least 5+ years. And yet it's still there.
I agree, but I wonder if they keep it because it still gets lot of action for some reason (less computer savvy users see it and think 'great, I'll invite Bob!'?).
If you "Invite" people they don't need to do the captcha or verification, Gmail "trusts" them to be human because they got referred by an existing user.
I didn't know that. Thanks for your response.
Holy ad batman. The new themes move the small text ad to the bottom of the page....but then it floats as you scroll.
That's one way to increase clicks.
I'd try the new theme if it wasn't for that...it's very distracting when scrolling down.
That's one way to increase clicks.
I'd try the new theme if it wasn't for that...it's very distracting when scrolling down.
I didn't notice due to adblock, but Gmail has provided such a fantastic service for free over the years and really improved the quality of the webmail experience. I don't think I could complain much even if they put more adclick spots in Gmail — it still beats all the alternatives in my book.
Which adblock are you using? AdBlock Plus (on Chrome) still shows the yellow bar and the non-link text.
I'm not the OP, but: AdBlock on Chrome and subscribed to Adblock Custom and EasyList lists.
That's just the Web Clip bar - which you can turn off in Settings->Web Clips.
Even with Adblock Plus, the faint yellow bar remains. It's definitely obnoxious, but I otherwise prefer the new theme too much to go back.
Have you considered using dotjs or something similar to remove it?
I'd go as far as to say that I've never seen a floating at the bottom, scrolling toolbar which did anything other than annoy me. They also tend to mess up the "find" functionality, as they cover the actual occurrence of what you're looking for.
That said, I'm sure this will be one of the most clicked ads, as it's noticeable while not overly large.
That said, I'm sure this will be one of the most clicked ads, as it's noticeable while not overly large.
Just tried it and I actually prefer it to the right side ad. It takes up less space and is slim enough not to catch my eye.
I'm not seeing the text ads being moved in either of the new themes; perhaps they're A/B testing it?
another dick bar :(
I just can't get past the black bar. After years of it being white, black just feels imposing.
Speaking of which... am I crazy or is there a new black bar at the top of HN too?
(edit: removed second sentence after finding out actual reason)
(edit: removed second sentence after finding out actual reason)
I think it is because Robert Morris passed away recently.
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2712469
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2712469
Thanks for mentioning this. I thought it was a Google joke.
Oh, I did too. Now I feel insensitive :(
I thought the same thing. Now I feel a bit bad. :(
Oh. :(
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Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/feoeglchiaabaccccn...
Firefox (with the Stylish extension): http://userstyles.org/styles/49963/google-toolbar-whitener
Firefox (with the Stylish extension): http://userstyles.org/styles/49963/google-toolbar-whitener
Also, if you use large text, the text "Gmail Calendar Documents," etc, overruns the bottom of the black bar. I know there is a way to make a bar that does not have that problem because the orange bar on HN does not have that problem.
Sometimes I like to browse without putting on my eyeglasses, by making the text large.
Sometimes I like to browse without putting on my eyeglasses, by making the text large.
This is my main concern. The vast majority of the time, I'm browsing with text enlarged (without scaling up the rest of the site/images/css). I just hope it doesn't end up being a horrible case of DIVs overlapping, making things unreadable.
That new "dense" GMail theme has the bar's opacity set to ~40% and is much less jarring. I think the black bar wouldn't be an issue if the rest of the pages weren't so low contrast now.
Does anyone with an Apps account have the ability to preview the theme(s)? I don't, in my apps account.
Yet another example of Google treating apps customers as 2nd class citizens. See also: account/login issues and lack of profiles (which means no Places, no Google+, and other products). Google is effectively ignoring what are often their best/most enthusiastic customers in by doing things like this. Very puzzling.
Yet another example of Google treating apps customers as 2nd class citizens. See also: account/login issues and lack of profiles (which means no Places, no Google+, and other products). Google is effectively ignoring what are often their best/most enthusiastic customers in by doing things like this. Very puzzling.
Yes, I also have an apps account and wanted to try out the new preview themes and Google+. I like to try new things and I'm sure a lot of Google Apps users are just like me. Google is missing out, but how do we inform them of it?
Theme is on for both mail and calendar in my apps account.
I don't have the new themes in my list of themes on my apps account.
Same here, actually. I did get themes turned on as per by srdjanjovcic's comment, but the new themes aren't available. Odd.
Thanks for the reply. Odd that themes are available for some accounts but not others. I did find this help thread that originated in 2008(!) where others describe having the problem also: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google%20Apps/thread?t...
In domain management, there is an option to turn on themes for e-mail users.
Indeed, there is. I'd looked for it yesterday, but couldn't find it. Thanks for the tip!
Yes. I did enable gmail themes in my Apps dashboard a few months ago and this isn't being treated different to other themes so far from what I can see.
I have the theme turned on in my google apps account.
I completely agree about apps customers being treated like 2nd class citizens. I was not impressed when I found out I couldn't create a Google+ account due to lack of profiles, this will probably result in many of those people creating new Google accounts just to test those products out.
Do you control the Apps domain?
Account admins have a lot of control over what is turned on or off under the accounts
Account admins have a lot of control over what is turned on or off under the accounts
I do control the domain. Profiles are not admin-controllable. They simply don't exist for apps accounts.
I have three Google Apps accounts. The new themes are available in two of my three Google Apps accounts. I'm an admin on all three accounts, so I'm not sure why the new themes aren't available for some Google Apps users.
There's a lot more white space in the new design - enough vertical space is lost for about seven conversation entries. Not sure I like this change for that reason...
Did you see that there's a separate "Dense" version of the new theme, which reduces the white space back to around its previous level?
Google's blog post actually mentions that they are both a preview for the actual new/yet unreleased theme, that will expand and contract dynamically according to screen real estate.
Well, reduces it to about 25% more than previous level...
Wow...Google is on FIRE! That shake-up at the top, seems to be bearing fruit.
This is exciting.
This is exciting.
Interesting that they're adding additional details of the person you're conversing with to the right above the ads. I wonder what that means for Rapportive.
That's called the people widget, and they added that a while ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589119
Rapportive responded quite well: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2613101
Rapportive responded quite well: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2613101
It looks like Google has somewhat abandoned the Google Colors for a black blue and maroon(?) color scheme.
They really want people to notice these changes, it creates more publicity for Google+.
They really want people to notice these changes, it creates more publicity for Google+.
Really disliking the red, it stands out way too much and implies urgency. Seems like a really bad UX choice to me?
I'm inclined to disagree. They're using the color sparingly to call attention to the most important parts of the interface. Coloring compose with the standard gray for the other buttons would mean it is lost in the interface and difficult to see. I like it quite a bit.
I totally agree. My thought was "does my ass look big in that compose button?"
I don't mind the modern hot-orange. It's a great colour for feature highlights etc. But as a button background it just screams "ERROR".
I don't mind the modern hot-orange. It's a great colour for feature highlights etc. But as a button background it just screams "ERROR".
My biggest complaint about the way Gmail currently looks is that it lacks structure - different features and components run right into each other. It's messy and feels cluttered even though it isn't over-designed. (That's a complaint that holds true for most Google products.) This new design looks like a real step in the right direction. It looks much cleaner and more structured. Big +1 from me.
I'm happy to see Google taking as much care and pride in the visual engineering that goes into their products as they do the back-end.
Something I'm surprised about is that after all the testing google was doing this spring, this seems completely out of the blue. I wonder if they did test this on a larger scale and I just missed it, or they are winging it? If so, kudos to them for taking a huge risk.
As an aside, I just realized that the new design reminds me heavily of Ubuntu with the dark gray and orange highlights.
As an aside, I just realized that the new design reminds me heavily of Ubuntu with the dark gray and orange highlights.
Things are a little too spread out perhaps, but I already love that the top action bar (archive, spam, delete, etc) follows you down the page. As someone who's never quite mastered gmail keyboard shortcuts, I was constantly checking items then scrolling to the top or bottom to manage them. Nice little timesaver.
I'm going to be honest here and say that I think it looks horrible. The ALL-CAPS on buttons looks amateurish, and I want my separators and selected-mail-box background highlighting back.
The non-dense theme also is too sparse.
I suppose this is just because I'm used to how it looks, but hopefully they'll keep the old themes around.
The non-dense theme also is too sparse.
I suppose this is just because I'm used to how it looks, but hopefully they'll keep the old themes around.
Google's UI upgrades have me really excited. What I really like about Google and all their products is how utilitarian they are. Their products are not about looking pretty, but about giving me the most useful features I need. What I like about the new UI look is that they are thinking about the aesthetics of design more. Gmail used to look like a bland data grid from excel, and it was very dense with information. Now there are more pixels in between rows and columns in the new Gmail, giving the layout visual space. The color changes also make the UI more interesting to look at and quicker to navigate. But the best part is the dark navigation bar at the top. Love that.
Really liking the work. I'm really looking forward to what they have in store for Reader.
I think Reader need a complete re-design, tweaks on line of Gmail won't help. I have some 1400+ items in my subscription list. And it is not comfortable to read all that stuff in google reader's current avatar. So for now feedly has rescued me. Google reader should offer a feedly type opt-in view. Or it can have a two layouts one for power users and another for people with two digit subscriptions.
If you use folders to keep things separate and take advantage of the compressed view (accessed by pressing "2"), I find that Reader is extremely usable for dealing with large numbers of feeds - I'm at 116 subscriptions right now. Admittedly, that isn't anywhere near the 1400+ subscriptions you claim (how do you have time to deal with all of them?), but I feel that Reader would scale well if I did increase to that number. I probably wouldn't be able to deal with it, though.
But why is the top bar charcoal gray instead of the black seen on all the other sites?
This interface would be much more suited to tablet-sized screens.
Apart from information-density (which should be more forgiving on the tablet form factor when compared to PCs), the spacing also makes this a touch-friendly alternative to the Ajax-laden tablet interface.
For a PC screen, however, I'd say 'power users' quite like the higher information density on the current UI. It's much more efficient if you think about how far the eyes need to move and how much one needs to scroll to get to an element on the page. Navigation is not much of a problem currently with a precise device like the mouse and with keyboard shortcuts.
Apart from information-density (which should be more forgiving on the tablet form factor when compared to PCs), the spacing also makes this a touch-friendly alternative to the Ajax-laden tablet interface.
For a PC screen, however, I'd say 'power users' quite like the higher information density on the current UI. It's much more efficient if you think about how far the eyes need to move and how much one needs to scroll to get to an element on the page. Navigation is not much of a problem currently with a precise device like the mouse and with keyboard shortcuts.
Although I appreciate the clean design, I find it blinding, I'm going to use it for a few days and see how I get on but for now, the plethora of white space seems to hurt my eyes!
I like it a lot. It reminds of Whistler and Windows Mobile (yes, that's a good thing). The only thing I would change would be to tighten up the outside margins by about 50%.
My instant reaction to the lower visual density was negative, but after using it for a little while, I think it's dense enough to be usable but sparse enough to be calming. It's amazing what the removable of a few borders and shaded areas does to the feeling of apprehension about email.
My instant reaction to the lower visual density was negative, but after using it for a little while, I think it's dense enough to be usable but sparse enough to be calming. It's amazing what the removable of a few borders and shaded areas does to the feeling of apprehension about email.
I actually don't kind much how it looks but speed is important. UI performance is an important UX. Hopefully the new GMail UI is faster than before.
I, for one, don't welcome the new look. The old overal Google look given an air of unrefined, raw 'geekness'. I liked the feeling that I was using something designed and made by scientists rather than enterpreneurs. This is, saldy, finally going and Google is becoming one of many.
Of course look is not all, the quality of service they provide is uncompared. I'm still a fan, but I really prefered the old days.
Of course look is not all, the quality of service they provide is uncompared. I'm still a fan, but I really prefered the old days.
so they added padding to everything?
It doesn't matter if they moved 1 pixel, if the result works then it works. The definition of remodeling doesn't need to be 'long and laborious'. Same happens on art like paintings, I've heard people say "Bah, that's just a line with dots, I can do that".
They have a "dense" theme, too that's more like regular Gmail.
It's closer, but it still increases the screen real-estate used by some elements significantly - for example, the line item for each email displayed in the inbox has grown from 23px tall to 29px tall in the redesign. Maybe I'm in the minority, but I prefer higher information density.
thanks for pointing that out - I prefer the old dense design because of how much more can fit on the screen when using my laptop. I even zoom it in twice.
I find myself setting the zoom level on a lot of these new 'modern' designs. I like to keep browser windows narrow so I re-claim some of that real estate by shrinking the page down. Some of these sites, like Twitter, look weird on normal zoom levels and feel too spaced out
It might be because I grew up using applications that only had 800 or so pixels to work with, so everything was dense. anything that is spaced out I associate with accesible versions of software made for old people, the vision impaired or babies - weird that it is what is considered 'modern' design now
I find myself setting the zoom level on a lot of these new 'modern' designs. I like to keep browser windows narrow so I re-claim some of that real estate by shrinking the page down. Some of these sites, like Twitter, look weird on normal zoom levels and feel too spaced out
It might be because I grew up using applications that only had 800 or so pixels to work with, so everything was dense. anything that is spaced out I associate with accesible versions of software made for old people, the vision impaired or babies - weird that it is what is considered 'modern' design now
Wow, definitely keeping as my new theme. I had to disable the "Right-sided chat" lab feature but works great other than that.
When I first saw Google+, I felt that it looked a lot like [Helvetireader](http://helvetireader.com/) to the point where I thought that they may have been (heavily) inspired.
With the new Gmail interface, this can't be a coincidence.
Credit where credit is due? Hell, are we talking about a blatant rip-off?
With the new Gmail interface, this can't be a coincidence.
Credit where credit is due? Hell, are we talking about a blatant rip-off?
Perhaps it's because I'm used to using the darker "Shiny" theme, which I've had on for many years, but the colors of the Preview theme are way too bright for my taste. I think they should come up with a more subdued version of it that doesn't feel quite so loud. Functionally, though, it's great.
Hm. I'm actually quite happy with the design Gmail has right now. A customer in a situation like this wonders, if any change to the interface doesn't just mean more costs for me as the user (like the change of "open in new tab/open in new window" between FF3 and FF4).
I really like the new apps and search interface, but the use of red is really bugging me. Surely this is basic UI that urgent things are made red like alerts etc. I fail to see why the 'compose mail' and 'create' calendar event buttons need to be a glaring red?
Hmm two issues that google needs to resolve with this. The new ad bar at the bottom is constantly obstructed by waiting for mail.google.com ajax request, so it is effectively useless. The color of the compose mail button needs to be changed asap.
It's just spaced out more, I don't see anything removed.
I hope I can change the vertical line density back.
I hope I can change the vertical line density back.
There is a 'Preview (Dense)' variant of the theme which does exactly this. It's still not as dense as before but I'm finding that to be a good thing.
I like this one a lot better than the classic which had way too much intrusive background colour.
I like this one a lot better than the classic which had way too much intrusive background colour.
Just a few tweaks and a general tidy up. We'll barely notice it after a week or so of use.
[deleted]
The new theme looks good but the boundaries between the elements doesn't seem well defined, giving a floating appearance to them. Also the background is kind of glary.
It almost looks like the "html only" view of gmail which is originally meant for slow connections. Nevertheless, lighter is better and it is definitely soothing.
Gmail now gives YOU the benefit of the doubt, dropping that pesky 'Report' and putting 'Spam' right up there with all the other important verbs of our time.
I'm going to complain about the amount of padding in the messages list per message, but praise the rest. The redesign of most of Google is a welcome change.
Looks like they took some of the design ideas from their mobile version and migrated them into the main one. Square(er) buttons being one example.
It does look good and yet the only think I can think off is "cover fire", from one of Spolsky's classic.
Google+ looks like a real improvement though.
Google+ looks like a real improvement though.
What happened to the Priority Inbox? I still see the add or remove priority buttons, but there doesn't seem to be a proirity inbox?
I like that Google's new UI designs are using more buttons instead on text links. This is easier to see at a quick glance.
Am I the only one who was instantly reminded on http://calvetica.com ?
After using it for a couple weeks, the bright red Compose Mail button is really annoying. I hope they change that.
The article describes the new look as "modern". I hear that all the time. What the hell does it actually mean?
Its use here may connect to the Modern movement in design and architecture, strongest in the mid-twentieth century, which emphasized simple shapes, lack of ornamentation, and clean lines:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture
(Aside: Why does the Gmail preview use almost the same header style as the new Google Calendar/Search/Maps/etc. theme, but with the colors and sizes slightly altered? It's a minor difference, but distracting when switching tabs between Gmail and any other Google site.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture
(Aside: Why does the Gmail preview use almost the same header style as the new Google Calendar/Search/Maps/etc. theme, but with the colors and sizes slightly altered? It's a minor difference, but distracting when switching tabs between Gmail and any other Google site.)
I find it hard to believe they are saying it is a more modernist design. Modernism was a very specific aesthetic, I believe they mean contemporary.
I agree -- the designer here is maybe not consciously referring to Modernists like Frank Lloyd Wright. He might just means that it "look more contemporary." But twentieth-century modernism had a huge influence on why our culture thinks some designs look more "modern" than others, and also helped make "modern" one of the values on which we judge aesthetics in the first place.
Fashion changed since the introduction of gmail, and the new look is more like something I'd expect to see in 2011.
Looks that Google is picking up a lot of design clues from Microsoft -- this is reminiscent of Metro UI of WP7 and Windows 8...
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This may actually have me switch to using a site-specific browser for gmail instead of mail.app!
Looks great! So glad Google finally has some design talent instead of just smart engineers.
That big red button is distracting, the rest is awesome. same with calendar
I love the new design theme. Clean, minimal, elegant. Well done Google.
Hate the new back button. Loved the simple hyperlink back to Inbox.
Basic White is still the best gmail theme.
anyone else has the top bar in white even with the new theme ?
After reloading the page it became dark-grey.
Yeah, strange that it isn't pure black.
On my Gmail, it's a dark grey which I like, but in Calendar it's pure black. I think the pure black is pretty jarring but the grey nicely transitions from the browser bar.
It is also pure black in greader.
yeah, I guess eventually it'll be the same pure black as in g+ everywhere. Also they should have it as a built-in in Chrome !
While the extra white space requires more scrolling, it makes it easier to read, for me at least. It also makes it easier to click a message.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_space_(visual_arts): White space should not be considered merely 'blank' space — it is an important element of design which enables the objects in it to exist at all, the balance between positive (or non-white) and the use of negative spaces is key to aesthetic composition.
Most people actually seem to be liking it which is suprising to me since it's such a dramatic change: http://www.wepolls.com/r/1012846/Gmails-new-look
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_space_(visual_arts): White space should not be considered merely 'blank' space — it is an important element of design which enables the objects in it to exist at all, the balance between positive (or non-white) and the use of negative spaces is key to aesthetic composition.
Most people actually seem to be liking it which is suprising to me since it's such a dramatic change: http://www.wepolls.com/r/1012846/Gmails-new-look
"Most people" as in 11?
I remember for all the big Facebook updates the backlash was intense, but now most embrace those changes as an improvement (700 million users testifies to that). Google's changes seem to be embraced by many, I don't sense the extreme backlash. I for one love the changes.
Me too, but I was referring to the link to his own website with the poll, based on which the parent comment claimed that "most people" love the changes, but it was a sample of only 11 people.
Yawn! I'm on TB, so don't care.