

Google+ is Killing My Beloved Gmail - puranjay
http://avocadopress.com/google-is-killing-my-beloved-gmail/

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untog
The fundamental misunderstanding in the article is that these redesigns are
all for Google+. They aren't. Google is establishing a brand identity across
all it's products- Google+ falls within that, but it isn't the cause of
anything.

To be honest, I don't see anything in the article other than "I don't like
change". They replaced the blues with reds? Yes, they did. It shouldn't have a
dramatic effect on your productivity, should it? And the whitespace issue will
go on forever, I suspect. Personally, I love the whitespace. Others do not.

~~~
puranjay
They replaced a working product with a broken design.

Remember how tactile the old layout felt? Clicking on a new email link felt
like clicking on an new email link

Now, it feels far too much like Amazon.

It's like working on a crappy Nokia phone with a bad touchscreen.

And here's my point: in trying to race Facebook, Google is breaking products
that work (worked) perfectly well for 99% of users. That's simply put, Google
getting confused.

~~~
untog
But you've ignored my point- their redesign has nothing to do with competing
against Facebook. They are standardising their design across all their sites,
that's all.

I don't understand in what way it feels like Amazon, or how it is less tactile
than the old design. Seems exactly the same to me.

~~~
puranjay
Again, the standardization was required to keep up with the Google+ design - a
direct Facebook competitor. Larry Page even went out to declare that all of
Google will now revolve around 'social' - and we are beginning to see that
already. The social features in Google reader are broken and crappy. While the
same social features are absent from Gmail for now, the design persists, only
because Google+ demands it.

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pavel_lishin
> And you know what hurts? > You won’t let me keep that old design
> permanently.

I'd wager that's because they don't want to have two Gmail teams for all
perpetuity, making sure that changes work in both designs.

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arron61
Um remove whitespaces by choosing compact setting. Problem solved.

