A few days ago (25.04.2018), Google announced that Gmail is redesigned.
Hurray! Hurray!
Yaaaaaaaaaay.
I guess the “major ultra uber redesign” is cool and looks beautiful, but what about the website functionality? You know the Actual. User. Interaction. with the site?
With this functionality I have a few gripes:
Please note that these remarks are done from a 12 inch windows tablet with limited display size!
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Why is there a bar on the right (for tasks, calendar and keep)?
- Most definitely they could use the space on top of the email (to the left of the settings “cog”) for those 3 icons.
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Why in the name of god is there a need for another “tasks” app?
- There already is Google Keep which is 1000000% better.
- Plus: the “new” tasks app does not work (read: does not interchange information) with Inbox. (I think you may know Inbox, it’s another service from the same damn company!) WTH Google?
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The left side of the screen, where you have your labels and inbox and sent and archive and trash and what not
- Why isn’t that resizeable?
- All my labels have very short names therefore that bar just stays there “blank”. (which leads again to less screen estate for reading my mails).
- Of course I know i can almost completely you can hide it (collapse it in the hamburger menu), but for touch interface that sucks big time: i have to first tap the hamburger menu, (so that i see what folder i want to use) then i have to tap my desired folder. I don’t want to do 2 taps. 1 tap works right now quite well!
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The 3 new buttons which appear on each mail in the list (archive, delete, mark as unread) are horrible for a tablet user (either touch or pen), and even for a mouse user on a small screen:
- I keep pressing them by mistake: when using touch, they don’t even appear, they just “do the action”. WTF usability?
- I keep pressing them by mistake: when using touch, they don’t even appear, they just “do the action”. WTF usability?
I’m not even joking now: not even youtube emails can be fully seen on my tablet (@100% zoom – the default): they are actually wider than the space New Gmail gives them. And again: Youtube is a Google product, just like Inbox!
Frankly now, for the “long in the making”, “ultra uber new gmail redesing” im just gonna call that bullshit.
It’s not that redesigned – it looks mostly the same.
And it also doesn’t help “modern users” (yes, i do argue that a windows tablet user can be called like that).
The only things it really has are some new animations and offline possibility.
At least the animations are good looking i suppose…