
I miss Inbox, so I hacked Gmail with a little CSS magic (2019) - awiesenhofer
https://modus.medium.com/gmail-ux-sucks-so-i-fixed-it-for-my-own-sanity-b6f33898ebe3
======
neilsimp1
I've never understood why people don't prefer desktop email clients.
Thunderbird is really great.

I remember growing up, we used Outlook with our ISP-provided email addresses.
The first time I ever saw webmail (it was probably Yahoo or Hotmail at the
time) I was just confused. To me, web browsers are for browsing the web, and
email clients are for accessing email. Eh, but what do I know. The article was
interesting though.

~~~
matsz
Web apps are simply easier to use, go to a given URL, log in and you're there.

~~~
m4r35n357
Which is why we can't have nice things.

~~~
m4r35n357
See what I mean?

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cinnamonheart
Basic HTML Gmail hasn't changed in years and works perfectly fine for all of
my needs for gmail: reading and sending emails. I find the current UI to be
quite unusable, but at least there's still the basic html option.

~~~
ubercow13
Yep it's great. It loads way faster than IMAP would, I can see more than 40
emails on my screen at one time, and it has a very nice practical 2000s
aesthetic with no unnecessary whitespace.

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Aaargh20318
People use the web interface for GMail ?

I just have it set up via IMAP on my laptop, tablet and phone. No need to ever
use it via the web interface. What would be the advantage of using the web
interface vs. just using a native mail client ?

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
The first circumstance that comes to mind is when you don’t have app
installation privileges.

~~~
raxxorrax
Thunderbird portable can help you here. But my first step would be to escalate
while not having those privileges. Let yourself be put in another network if
there are security cocerns.

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Snetry
GMail has ads? Never noticed so UBlock origin did its job well

I find the GMail UX to be a simple for basic tasks e.g. opening an email But
anything more is rather annoying

~~~
savingGrace
My first thought was, here is someone technically skilled enough to modify the
css of a page they do not own, yet they aren't blocking ads with an adblocker?
I hope they did not waste the time on hiding the ads manually..

~~~
bilekas
I know many SW engineers that will keep ads on as a matter of principle. They
like to support the sites they use the most and believe that giving back in
views/clicks is okay.

I'm with you but different folks different strokes!

~~~
jbarberu
That's what you have exceptions for. (whitelisting)

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Macha
I never thought the intention was people actually look in the promotions or
social tab, so it's odd here it's being viewed as a way to keep people in
Gmail.

To me it felt like a way to quarantine the Facebooks and linkedins of the
world which email you every time a contact sneezed, or the stores that opt you
into promotional emails in a way that doesn't shame those companies enough
into trying to bypass it or complaining about anti-competitive behaviour if
they got rightfully classed as spammers.

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niceworkbuddy
There is another way. GMail allows to use compact interface. There is option
to turn it on: click on 'gears' icon in top right on the top of table/list
with e-mails and switch onto compact view. You can also turn off those
"Primary", "Promotions", etc. labels.

~~~
beowulfey
Those are options but definitely don’t come anywhere near what the author has
achieved! I’m actually very impressed with the new interface.

I can’t believe it, but I’m actually at the point where I no longer enjoy
using Gmail. I have an easier time using the Windows Mail application at this
point... which is really telling I think.

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grandpoobah
The pain of maintaining this long term (look at those CSS identifiers with
jibberish names, you know those aren't set in stone) is going to be worse than
the pain of adapting to crappy Gmail.

You know what else sucks about Gmail, other than just the design?

* There's no option to consolidate multiple emails into a single thread (so you're at the whim of the sender to maintain the same thread)

* There's no "Send after X duration" or "Send at X time", so you can't write something at 3am and schedule it to be sent during work hours. [Edit: I stand corrected, there is a Scheduled Send option now]

* There's no way to add private notes to email threads. So if I'm told something over the phone which is relevant to the email conversation (but private), I have to dump it into some other notes app where I'll lose it. [Edit: No, confidential mode is not what I'm looking for]

I've said the same thing about FastMail before, these email guys SUCK at
innovation.

The only thing good about Gmail is the spam detection and the superior
deliverability of using a Gmail address.

~~~
tssva
"* There's no way to add private notes to email threads. So if I'm told
something over the phone which is relevant to the email conversation (but
private), I have to dump it into some other notes app where I'll lose it."

There are several extensions available which add this ability. Two are "Simple
Gmail Notes" and "Gmail Notes". There are several others. Some free and some
paid.

~~~
throw_14JAS
Alternatively, I will reply to myself at that point in the thread. Just have
to make sure you don't include this when conversing later, which isn't a
problem as I generally reply to the other person's inbound.

Sending myself emails as notes is the stickiest note taking app I've had in
20+ years of internetting.

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bovermyer
I solved the Gmail UX problem by switching to a completely different email
provider, Migadu.

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z58
I use [https://simpl.fyi/](https://simpl.fyi/), much more radical.

~~~
tyingq
_" Simplify was made by me, Michael Leggett. I was Gmail's lead designer from
2008 to 2012 and co-founded Google Inbox."_

I suppose there's not going to be a better _" make Gmail look like Inbox"_
solution than this.

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codazoda
Some of these suggestions are just settings. For example, you can turn off the
Hangouts integration and turn off the tabs.

I like some of the others, such as turning off ads and widening lines.

One odd thing... I don't think I've ever seen ads. Maybe my ad blocker is
clearing those for me already.

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bilekas
> Gmail is not designed for the user. It is designed to maximize your time
> spent in Gmail.

When I read this, all those weird unrequested changes Google made to Gmail
made so much more sense.

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bArray
To be honest, I think the way to go about implementing this would be to either
use the basic HTML version of the web page (which seems to change rarely) or
to build a native app and communicate with something like POP. This solution,
as nice as it is, is really quite flakey.

In the same breath, I can really recommend switching to Thunderbird. I run all
my emails, RSS feeds and instant messaging through it all whilst being able to
keep local backups of this valuable data.

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cpcallen
I really don't understand why everyone has spent the last decade trying to get
rid of colour in the GUI. Google themselves are one of the worst offenders
(e.g. Docs and Sheets toolbar buttons), but Apple isn't far behind (e.g.
finder sidebar icons).

Even for someone with mild colourblindness, removing all traces of colour from
a set of icons / buttons / labels just makes it harder to find the right one
quickly.

------
DarwinMailApp
I’m Joey, the maker of DarwinMail.

—

DarwinMail aims to help you be your most productive when dealing with emails &
todos.

Problem Inbox by Google was one of the best products they ever made. And then
they shut it down.

Solution Introducing DarwinMail, which aims to replace and become better than
Google Inbox ever was.

—

How & Why

\- How can DarwinMail become better than Inbox by Google?

\- Why would we use you over competitors?

1\. We will not sell your data, abuse our power or ignore your requests...

2\. Because we respect your privacy.

3\. We understand that the product can only become great if each & every
suggestion is listened to.

4\. We have a public roadmap, public changelog, and open lines of
communication.

5\. The primary focus of Darwin Mail is to help you be productive. Each and
every change is made for that sole reason.

—

Features

\- Snoozing Running late? Or need to forget about an email for now? Snooze
your emails and take care of them later.

\- Reminders Clear your mind with our reminders feature. Jot down your
reminder so you don't forget about it.

\- Dark Mode A sleek and less distracting option for managing your email &
todos while ensuring you're at your most productive.

\- Undo Send Do you ever wish you could take back what you just said in that
email?

\- Custom Backgrounds Choose a custom Unsplash HD background to be displayed
behind all your emails, ensuring you feel at home in your Inbox.

\- Templates Create multiple email templates (product launch, feedback,
promotion, testing, recruiting etc) and use them in your emails to save you
loads of time.

\- & much more according to your requests! Just let everyone know exactly what
you would like!

—

Darwin Mail will evolve to become great over time, thanks to its users, and
thanks to you.

[1] [https://www.darwinmail.app](https://www.darwinmail.app)

[2] [https://twitter.com/joeytawadrous](https://twitter.com/joeytawadrous)

~~~
bilekas
There's a small irony in you advertising your platform in the wake of all the
comments and OP complaining about ads in Gmail.

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zojirushibottle
oh my god i do miss inbox! funny how time flies because i even almost forgot
about it. what i miss most is the auto grouping (tagging? or whatever it was
called) and the one column layout. i found it less distracting. never had the
sidebar opened!

inbox was email that simply worked. never got in your way. not for the "pros",
that's what gmail is for. it had its place. and yet...

~~~
veritas3241
Google dropping inbox was what finally got me abandon their products as much
as I could. Switch to Firefox and use DDG as my primary search provider.

FYI, Darwin Mail[0] was made soon after Inbox shuttered as a paid alternative.
I gave it a spin but didn't stick with it mainly out of apathy.

[0] [https://darwinmail.app/](https://darwinmail.app/)

------
roland35
Yes, Inbox was great! Now that I can quickly archive or delete emails (on
Android at least) with swipes I at least get by with Gmail.

I agree with everyone else who recommends an email client like Thunderbird if
you want to avoid the web client!

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torgard
I had no idea that there are ads in Gmail. This is infuriating.

I would be absolutely fuming, but I don't use the web client, so I didn't
realize this was a thing. But holy shit! How is that okay?

~~~
LeonM
It's a free service. Free as in free beer. There are real costs in hosting an
email service, they need to pay for it somehow.

If you don't want ads, just pay for a G-suite account.

~~~
torgard
Well that would certainly explain why I haven't seen these ads - I pay for
G-suite.

Nonetheless, I find this to be heinous. Practically the same as Google
vouching for spam emails, pushing them directly into your inbox.

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rb666
To fix this once and for all, just use Fastmail. It has a beautiful and fast
interface. And you can use your own domain, so you're not stuck with Google 4
life...

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cfontes
I miss Inbox too, it was a pleasure to use it.

My inbox was always empty, no spam e-mails no useless stuff.

Only actionable e-mails and scheduled tasks

The people behind it should start a new business based on it.

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bla3
For the tabs, Settings -> Inbox -> Inbox Type can disable them.

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chadlavi
Those CSS classes they're overriding look _awfully_ fragile.

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Lucasoato
Is there anyone else who has problems with medium.com? :/

~~~
rtp
Yes, it requires me to create an account to be able to read the article. And
this, kids, is why you shouldn't use Medium if you want people to read your
stuff!

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nathias
yay -S neomutt

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jressey
Why the hell is email so hard for people? You just answer an email or ignore +
archive it when it comes in, it takes 15-20 minutes a day. Everything is
searchable from there in a simple search bar. I have been in management so
don't use 'too many emails' excuse. I was honestly surprised when people
started talking about 'inbox zero' a couple years ago. I legit could not
believe professional software people can't manage their email.

