Leaked Gmail redesign looks a lot like Facebook’s Message inbox
october 2011 by patrix
Google accidentally published a YouTube video today that introduced some big changes to its popular email product Gmail.
In the video, which is now marked as private, Gmail user experience Designer Jason Cornwell says, “We’ve completely redesigned the look and feel of Gmail to make it as clean, simple and intuitive as possible.” For the most part, this is true based on the images in the demo.
The overall design is largely taken from a Gmail preview theme, which is currently available to all users. However, there are plenty of new additions and drastic changes worth noting. First of all, there’s a ton of white space — making elements like the “important” arrows and message labels stand out like a sore thumb. Unread messages in the Inbox stay white while old messages are slightly shaded.
The Gmail navigation has also been refreshed. The top nav bar now consists of buttons with action icons instead of text descriptors ( e.g. – archive, spam, delete, etc.). The left-sidebar navigation is much cleaner than the current version. Links to Contacts and Tasks are gone, or at least hidden from view. The most prominent element in the sidebar is a brightly colored “Compose” button. Opening a message brings you to the default conversation-view mode that features profile pictures next to each message snippet.
Honestly, the new Gmail design looks dangerously similar to Facebook’s message center. (See side-by-side comparison below.) The navigation (left sidebar), advertising placement (right sidebar) and list of people in the conversation/suggested users (top of right sidebar) are in identical locations on both Facebook and the new Gmail. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gmail eventually started treating all messages between two people as one continuous conversation (with no distinction between Instant Messages and emails) like Facebook does.
Unlike Facebook, the inbox doesn’t have a fixed width and users can choose one of four display density types. This is a nice addition that’s also available in the preview mode theme.
And speaking of Gmail themes, the video also revealed a variety of new “high-definition themes”, which were little more than high-resolution background photos that cancel out everything else on the page. Seriously, if you use one of those photo backgrounds Gmail instantly becomes Flickr. Hopefully, Google will allow users to upload their own custom themes when the refresh rolls out to everyone.
We’ve embedded screenshots from the Gmail video below. Let us know what you think of the design changes in the comments.
Filed under: social, VentureBeat
social
VentureBeat
email
gmail
redesign
user_interface
from google
In the video, which is now marked as private, Gmail user experience Designer Jason Cornwell says, “We’ve completely redesigned the look and feel of Gmail to make it as clean, simple and intuitive as possible.” For the most part, this is true based on the images in the demo.
The overall design is largely taken from a Gmail preview theme, which is currently available to all users. However, there are plenty of new additions and drastic changes worth noting. First of all, there’s a ton of white space — making elements like the “important” arrows and message labels stand out like a sore thumb. Unread messages in the Inbox stay white while old messages are slightly shaded.
The Gmail navigation has also been refreshed. The top nav bar now consists of buttons with action icons instead of text descriptors ( e.g. – archive, spam, delete, etc.). The left-sidebar navigation is much cleaner than the current version. Links to Contacts and Tasks are gone, or at least hidden from view. The most prominent element in the sidebar is a brightly colored “Compose” button. Opening a message brings you to the default conversation-view mode that features profile pictures next to each message snippet.
Honestly, the new Gmail design looks dangerously similar to Facebook’s message center. (See side-by-side comparison below.) The navigation (left sidebar), advertising placement (right sidebar) and list of people in the conversation/suggested users (top of right sidebar) are in identical locations on both Facebook and the new Gmail. I wouldn’t be surprised if Gmail eventually started treating all messages between two people as one continuous conversation (with no distinction between Instant Messages and emails) like Facebook does.
Unlike Facebook, the inbox doesn’t have a fixed width and users can choose one of four display density types. This is a nice addition that’s also available in the preview mode theme.
And speaking of Gmail themes, the video also revealed a variety of new “high-definition themes”, which were little more than high-resolution background photos that cancel out everything else on the page. Seriously, if you use one of those photo backgrounds Gmail instantly becomes Flickr. Hopefully, Google will allow users to upload their own custom themes when the refresh rolls out to everyone.
We’ve embedded screenshots from the Gmail video below. Let us know what you think of the design changes in the comments.
Filed under: social, VentureBeat
october 2011 by patrix
How to Deal With Email Overload
october 2011 by patrix
Ari Meisel is co-founder at Less Doing, where he works on making every task in life and business more efficient. You can follow him on Twitter @liontex and read his blog at arimeisel.com.
People spend a lot of time on email — way too much for their own good and productivity. Email is a disruptive technology that can take you on a tangent you never intended, and eat up time faster than most other voluntary activities.
Email has addictive qualities. Most of us receive email that is unimportant, and yet we continue to check our inboxes incessantly.
To free you from email burden, try these simple techniques.
1. Optimize
To optimize email, you need less of it. Try using a service called Unsubscribe.com to get yourself removed from mailing lists, promotional emails, etc. It uses a Gmail plugin, or you can just forward emails to mail@unsubscribe.com.
Try aggregating. Sometimes you receive non-essential emails that are actually beneficial. Aggregating and unsubscribing will cut down on a lot of the incoming mail you receive to begin with. Services such as FriendFeed send a daily summary of social media activity. Dealery will send all the best daily deals, so you don’t need to individually subscribe to Groupon, LivingSocial, etc. For good measure, sign up for a Google Alert on yourself, as well as a news aggregator like The Daily Beast.
Next comes organization. I’m a huge fan of OtherInbox, which integrates with Gmail and automatically organizes your messages into folders like “Shopping” and “Business.” Imagine an inbox with 1,000 messages; after initiating OtherInbox, you can watch that inbox shrink to 14 emails — in one click. Furthermore, OtherInbox will learn from you, and therefore, get better over time. As an added benefit, OtherInbox has its own unsubscribe service. It will also automatically recognize tracking numbers in an email, then put the delivery date in your calendar alongside relevant shipment information.
Become a filtering ninja. Whether Gmail, Outlook or another service, most email systems allow for filtering. Any type of email you get with some regularity (and some you don’t) should have a filter assigned to it. Sometimes accounts forward emails with certain keywords to an assistant, or provide a specific automated response. Regardless, use filters often.
Answer questions ahead of time. Take away the need for people to email you in the first place. Try including an FAQ section on your website, for example. Answer those mundane, repetitive questions ahead of time. Or, try putting relevant information in your signature. I use UnityFax to get faxes by email. I like Virtual Post Mail to get postal mail in my email inbox.
Finally, use WiseStamp to generate nice little icons that link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blog. I also like to include a link to Tungle in my signature, which gives people access to an appointment book synced with my calendar in real time. That way, I never have to waste time or emails setting up meetings.
Include a sentence in your email signature stating that you only check your email once a day, but if the matter is urgent, the sender can use AwayFind. This service creates an emergency contact page that routes messages to you by voice or text.
Now that you’ve optimized your emails, you’ll need to get better at “processing” them. Check out The Email Game, which adds game dynamics to email processing. When you get an email you have a few seconds to decide what to do: whether to defer it to a later time, delete it or reply to it. If you decide to reply, you have only a short time to craft your response. Depending on how well you do, the game rewards points, all the while training you to process email faster.
If you really want to geek out, go to Read Fast, which trains you, little by little, to speed read. I gained 30 words per minute after one article.
2. Automate
I use FollowUp.cc to keep track of deadlines within the email realm. It’s a simple concept: Whenever you send an email, you can set an email reminder for any time period. For instance, if you write an email to a potential client, you can choose to CC “3days@followup.cc.” Three days later, if that client hasn’t responded, he’ll get a reminder email, as will you. If you BCC “3days@followup.cc,” only you get the reminder. You’ll find that after a couple weeks of using FollowUp.cc, you’ll stop worrying about follow-ups. It’s out of sight, and out of mind — the way it should be.
Gmail plugin Canned Responses is indispensable. The plugin lets you create template emails. For example, if you frequently get requests for product information, you can create a template email with all the info. That way, it only takes two clicks to send, rather than five minutes spent writing the email. In combination with filters, you can set automatic template responses to certain keywords, completely removing the task from your plate.
Another great plugin is Boomerang. Among other things, the tool allows you to delay sending certain emails until a later date. Deferring emails makes you more productive by corralling people into your schedule. If you respond to an email immediately, you’ll likely just get more email. But, if you send at a more strategic time, you may be in a better position to deal with that message more efficiently.
The last tool in the automation process is an autoresponder. Your autoresponder should take the same route as your email signature by anticipating people’s needs and provide solutions beforehand. Tell them whom to contact for certain requests, and let them know where to get the information they want.
3. Outsource
Once you’ve worked up the email ladder of optimization and automation, you will undoubtedly still be left with messages that require human interaction — but maybe not your own. That’s where virtual assistance comes into play. I use FancyHands to deal with nagging tasks I don’t have time for. Simply forward an email with one line of instructions. Then the service calls people to request information and organizes files into something more useful.
The most important thing to remember is that every problem has a solution. When you examine tasks within the framework above, you can get technology working for you, instead of the other way around
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock
More About: contributor, email, features, How-To, productivity
Uncategorized
contributor
email
features
How-To
productivity
from google
People spend a lot of time on email — way too much for their own good and productivity. Email is a disruptive technology that can take you on a tangent you never intended, and eat up time faster than most other voluntary activities.
Email has addictive qualities. Most of us receive email that is unimportant, and yet we continue to check our inboxes incessantly.
To free you from email burden, try these simple techniques.
1. Optimize
To optimize email, you need less of it. Try using a service called Unsubscribe.com to get yourself removed from mailing lists, promotional emails, etc. It uses a Gmail plugin, or you can just forward emails to mail@unsubscribe.com.
Try aggregating. Sometimes you receive non-essential emails that are actually beneficial. Aggregating and unsubscribing will cut down on a lot of the incoming mail you receive to begin with. Services such as FriendFeed send a daily summary of social media activity. Dealery will send all the best daily deals, so you don’t need to individually subscribe to Groupon, LivingSocial, etc. For good measure, sign up for a Google Alert on yourself, as well as a news aggregator like The Daily Beast.
Next comes organization. I’m a huge fan of OtherInbox, which integrates with Gmail and automatically organizes your messages into folders like “Shopping” and “Business.” Imagine an inbox with 1,000 messages; after initiating OtherInbox, you can watch that inbox shrink to 14 emails — in one click. Furthermore, OtherInbox will learn from you, and therefore, get better over time. As an added benefit, OtherInbox has its own unsubscribe service. It will also automatically recognize tracking numbers in an email, then put the delivery date in your calendar alongside relevant shipment information.
Become a filtering ninja. Whether Gmail, Outlook or another service, most email systems allow for filtering. Any type of email you get with some regularity (and some you don’t) should have a filter assigned to it. Sometimes accounts forward emails with certain keywords to an assistant, or provide a specific automated response. Regardless, use filters often.
Answer questions ahead of time. Take away the need for people to email you in the first place. Try including an FAQ section on your website, for example. Answer those mundane, repetitive questions ahead of time. Or, try putting relevant information in your signature. I use UnityFax to get faxes by email. I like Virtual Post Mail to get postal mail in my email inbox.
Finally, use WiseStamp to generate nice little icons that link to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blog. I also like to include a link to Tungle in my signature, which gives people access to an appointment book synced with my calendar in real time. That way, I never have to waste time or emails setting up meetings.
Include a sentence in your email signature stating that you only check your email once a day, but if the matter is urgent, the sender can use AwayFind. This service creates an emergency contact page that routes messages to you by voice or text.
Now that you’ve optimized your emails, you’ll need to get better at “processing” them. Check out The Email Game, which adds game dynamics to email processing. When you get an email you have a few seconds to decide what to do: whether to defer it to a later time, delete it or reply to it. If you decide to reply, you have only a short time to craft your response. Depending on how well you do, the game rewards points, all the while training you to process email faster.
If you really want to geek out, go to Read Fast, which trains you, little by little, to speed read. I gained 30 words per minute after one article.
2. Automate
I use FollowUp.cc to keep track of deadlines within the email realm. It’s a simple concept: Whenever you send an email, you can set an email reminder for any time period. For instance, if you write an email to a potential client, you can choose to CC “3days@followup.cc.” Three days later, if that client hasn’t responded, he’ll get a reminder email, as will you. If you BCC “3days@followup.cc,” only you get the reminder. You’ll find that after a couple weeks of using FollowUp.cc, you’ll stop worrying about follow-ups. It’s out of sight, and out of mind — the way it should be.
Gmail plugin Canned Responses is indispensable. The plugin lets you create template emails. For example, if you frequently get requests for product information, you can create a template email with all the info. That way, it only takes two clicks to send, rather than five minutes spent writing the email. In combination with filters, you can set automatic template responses to certain keywords, completely removing the task from your plate.
Another great plugin is Boomerang. Among other things, the tool allows you to delay sending certain emails until a later date. Deferring emails makes you more productive by corralling people into your schedule. If you respond to an email immediately, you’ll likely just get more email. But, if you send at a more strategic time, you may be in a better position to deal with that message more efficiently.
The last tool in the automation process is an autoresponder. Your autoresponder should take the same route as your email signature by anticipating people’s needs and provide solutions beforehand. Tell them whom to contact for certain requests, and let them know where to get the information they want.
3. Outsource
Once you’ve worked up the email ladder of optimization and automation, you will undoubtedly still be left with messages that require human interaction — but maybe not your own. That’s where virtual assistance comes into play. I use FancyHands to deal with nagging tasks I don’t have time for. Simply forward an email with one line of instructions. Then the service calls people to request information and organizes files into something more useful.
The most important thing to remember is that every problem has a solution. When you examine tasks within the framework above, you can get technology working for you, instead of the other way around
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock
More About: contributor, email, features, How-To, productivity
october 2011 by patrix
The Integrity Of The System Is Up You
october 2011 by patrix
Write it only if you mean it.
On Twitter, Sally Hogshead (one of my most favorite people!) asked, "How well do you need to know someone before endorsing them on LinkedIn?" My tweet back was: "I'd say well enough to give an authentic endorsement. I was asked to give one by someone I never worked with. Huh?!?" What's the big deal? Why not just write a testimonial or endorsement for anyone who asks? It's simple, fast and easy to do it and nobody gets hurt.
Maybe...
If you don't have to look someone in the eyes or disrupt their day and you can simply whip off an email to your entire address asking for a testimonial or a recommendation, it removes a lot of courage. An email request simply isn't the same as doing it in person or calling to ask for something. Email has de-personalized a lot of our communication, and - in many instances - this is a very good thing, but not when it comes to recommendations and testimonials.
Why saying "no" is often the right thing to do.
I have think skin and I have a hard time saying "no" to anything, but I often ignore, delete or refuse to write a testimonial or recommendation unless I can be both sincere and authentic about it. Pushing this beyond recommendations and testimonials, I feel the same way about writing a review for a product and/or service. The thing is that the Internet has completely democratized publishing. It's free. Anybody can do it. Anybody can do it very fast. If we don't put any integrity into the words we write and simply toss recommendations and testimonials around like they're meaningless, guess what?
They become meaningless.
Much in the same way that I don't like Blog posts for the sake of Blog posts, any publishing of content that the person who is creating it wouldn't stand behind with full - one hundred percent - integrity diminishes the value of the entire Internet. There's also something about holding yourself up to that kind of higher standard that elevates both the quality of things you can find online while at the same giving you a personal "out" when someone you haven't spoken to in over a decade asks for a LinkedIn recommendation, even if you have never worked with them and the last time you saw them was your final year in High School.
It turns out that the integrity and quality of everything that you see online won't be the responsibility of traditional editors and the local intelligentsia.
It's going to be up to you, me and everybody we know. Yes, we have a fairly good infrastructure that - to date - has been fairly good at self-policing itself. But, it's a fragile relationship that can crack at any moment. You may think that a recommendation for someone on LinkedIn that you don't really know won't make all that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, but if everybody thinks like that, how valuable/credible will those recommendations be? If you're writing them without thought or care, how much do you value the other ones that you come across? If you're constantly publishing content that you don't believe in or wouldn't stand behind, what does that say about the credibility of everything that everyone else is publishing online?
The integrity of the system is up to you. Are you ready (really ready) for that responsibility?
Tags:
authenticity
blog
content
editor
email
endorsement
integrity
intelligentsia
internet
linkedin
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sally hogshead
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authenticity
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content
editor
email
endorsement
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intelligentsia
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sallyhogshead
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from google
On Twitter, Sally Hogshead (one of my most favorite people!) asked, "How well do you need to know someone before endorsing them on LinkedIn?" My tweet back was: "I'd say well enough to give an authentic endorsement. I was asked to give one by someone I never worked with. Huh?!?" What's the big deal? Why not just write a testimonial or endorsement for anyone who asks? It's simple, fast and easy to do it and nobody gets hurt.
Maybe...
If you don't have to look someone in the eyes or disrupt their day and you can simply whip off an email to your entire address asking for a testimonial or a recommendation, it removes a lot of courage. An email request simply isn't the same as doing it in person or calling to ask for something. Email has de-personalized a lot of our communication, and - in many instances - this is a very good thing, but not when it comes to recommendations and testimonials.
Why saying "no" is often the right thing to do.
I have think skin and I have a hard time saying "no" to anything, but I often ignore, delete or refuse to write a testimonial or recommendation unless I can be both sincere and authentic about it. Pushing this beyond recommendations and testimonials, I feel the same way about writing a review for a product and/or service. The thing is that the Internet has completely democratized publishing. It's free. Anybody can do it. Anybody can do it very fast. If we don't put any integrity into the words we write and simply toss recommendations and testimonials around like they're meaningless, guess what?
They become meaningless.
Much in the same way that I don't like Blog posts for the sake of Blog posts, any publishing of content that the person who is creating it wouldn't stand behind with full - one hundred percent - integrity diminishes the value of the entire Internet. There's also something about holding yourself up to that kind of higher standard that elevates both the quality of things you can find online while at the same giving you a personal "out" when someone you haven't spoken to in over a decade asks for a LinkedIn recommendation, even if you have never worked with them and the last time you saw them was your final year in High School.
It turns out that the integrity and quality of everything that you see online won't be the responsibility of traditional editors and the local intelligentsia.
It's going to be up to you, me and everybody we know. Yes, we have a fairly good infrastructure that - to date - has been fairly good at self-policing itself. But, it's a fragile relationship that can crack at any moment. You may think that a recommendation for someone on LinkedIn that you don't really know won't make all that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, but if everybody thinks like that, how valuable/credible will those recommendations be? If you're writing them without thought or care, how much do you value the other ones that you come across? If you're constantly publishing content that you don't believe in or wouldn't stand behind, what does that say about the credibility of everything that everyone else is publishing online?
The integrity of the system is up to you. Are you ready (really ready) for that responsibility?
Tags:
authenticity
blog
content
editor
endorsement
integrity
intelligentsia
internet
product review
publishing
sally hogshead
testimonial
tweet
october 2011 by patrix
Email Mistakes That Irritate Smart People
email
etiquette
communication
fave
march 2011 by patrix
There are a lot of ways to send an email and given that it is a tool that many of us spend a large chunk of our day using I thought I would share some of the annoying things I come across when reading email.
march 2011 by patrix
I laughed at Posterous, but they proved me wrong
june 2010 by patrix
"There’s a big difference between adding a feature to an existing product and building a product around a philosophy. Posterous is built around the philosophy that blogging should be a passive experience and that email is the simplest interface for posting."
posterous
blogging
email
technology
web2.0
pb
june 2010 by patrix
Gone Google
june 2010 by patrix
With 2 questions and 2 minutes, you can see how Google Apps can help your company
google
email
productivity
cloud
technology
pb
june 2010 by patrix
The CRU hack
november 2009 by patrix
Gravity isn’t a useful theory because Newton was a nice person. QED isn’t powerful because Feynman was respectful of other people around him. Science works because different groups go about trying to find the best approximations of the truth, and are generally very competitive about that.
climate
globalwarming
science
environment
hack
climatechange
email
nefa
november 2009 by patrix
Google Now Offering a New Way to Give Up Your Privacy
february 2009 by patrix
The Gmail team has unveiled a new Labs feature called “Location in Signature.” Just head into the Gmail “Labs” tab, click on “Settings,” and head into the signature preferences. There, you can now opt to have your present location appended onto the end of every e-mail you send.
nefa
privacy
email
google
fordesipundit
february 2009 by patrix
Twitter Alerts - TweetBeep.com
july 2008 by patrix
Be the first to know who's twittering about you, your products, your company, or your website! TweetBeep.com gives you twitter alerts by email when a tweet matches your search!
twitter
tools
mashup
monitoring
search
microblogging
email
alerts
nefa
july 2008 by patrix
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