
Modify new Gmail interface to be more like classic Gmail - severine
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gmail-new-looks-change.html
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coupdejarnac
Is there really much more innovation to be had with email ux? Perhaps I'm
getting old, but I'm getting frustrated with having to learn new interfaces
that don't improve my experience.

Each new version of Android or iOS changes the UI in small but useless ways. I
mean, why change the way the clock app works in Android so frequently.

It's not worth the cognitive overhead of relearning how to do simple. What is
driving this? Is it that a bunch of engineers have what are essentially
bullshit jobs, or do companies feel they need to keep fresh or die?

My parents are about to hit 70, and these types of changes for the elderly are
even more stressful. Why should they need to relearn how to use an email
interface?

We need software with super long term support release that just get bug fixed
for ~20 years. Redesigning the UI for essential every day things is wasting
time. Plus, unless you are 18 years old the even worse Snapchat style UI
antipatterns create a huge impediment to doing things that should be dead
simple.

~~~
herpderperator
> Each new version of Android or iOS changes the UI in small but useless ways.
> I mean, why change the way the clock app works in Android so frequently.

I thought the same, till I thought about it from a notch perspective. They
moved it so that you could fit the system icons with a large notch like the
Pixel 3 XL has. The clock was moved on the other side simply to make room for
this.

~~~
herpderperator
Oh, I thought you were talking about the clock in the system tray. Sorry, I
completely agree with the clock app. I would wake up every morning and the UI
would be different. It definitely drove me insane because I would forget how
to snooze while I am groggy in the morning and end up sleeping in longer than
expected because I swiped the wrong way or whatever.

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georgebarnett
I’m not particularly looking forward to the day I’m forced into the new
interface. It’s slow as hell on Firefox and is continually dropping keyboard
shortcut events unless I type each. one. slowly. and. deliberately.

~~~
everyone
Yeah it takes like 20 seconds to load on Firefox.. Whats they deal with that;
Is that on purpose to force people to use chrome?? I'd rather drop gmail, but
I'll need to change my email for like 100 accounts which will be a massive
pain...

Actually is there any way around that?

~~~
thatsaguy
Enable forwarding to the new address. Update email contacts and accounts as
needed.

Be sure to check that forwarding exists on your new provider, just in case
you'll have to do the same when switching again.

Better yet: buy your own domain and use a service that allows you to use it.

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codeulike
I'm just using Gmail in basic HTML mode now. It's blisteringly fast and
there's no extra nonsense.

~~~
catacombs
The problem is Gmail forces you to switch to the new interface. It doesn't
stick with the HTML version, which, no surprise, is superior to the new
dumpster fire.

~~~
twmb
Try the Basic HTML view linked at the bottom of
[https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049](https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049).

It's is web 1.0, but it sticks, and it is fast.

~~~
catacombs
I have tried that, but Gmail forces me back to use the new interface.

~~~
codeulike
You can bookmark the html version. Also whenever main gmail is loading, there
is a link to load the html version in the corner.

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p1necone
The font was probably the most jarring thing to me - it really is _much_ less
readable than the old one.

~~~
abrowne
Google's started to use Product Sans in Google Maps on Android too, and it's
just as bad there.

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severine
I use the basic HTML interface, so I almost stopped reading at _" The new
interface loads more slowly than before (especially in Firefox)"_.

My takeaway: nice info for helping friends & family, but I'm staying on basic
HTML.

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nailer
Just move to fastmail. I mean yes, the gmail load screen sucks, but the Gmail
compose window is awfully slow too.

Fastmail does imap push in an ios compatible way, and their web client is fast
and works.

Fastmail's import process for Gmail is stupid - it asks you questions it
should already know the answers to - but it worked and ported my 5GB mailbox a
week ago.

~~~
phnk
The speed issue is even more pervasive -- compose, but also labels (if you use
L to label emails a lot, you have noticed it).

Two questions, if you do not mind --

(1) Does FastMail offer threaded email conversations? I cannot stand the
left/right pane display of email UIs like Outlook (or Apple Mail).

(2) Does FastMail offer labels and filters that come close to those in Google
Mail?

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51Cards
I am another disappointed by the new Gmail UI. A quick list off the top of my
head: Compose and pause buttons are huge (and I never use Pause), side bar got
much larger, new font is less readable, "Compact" density option is still less
dense than previous design, notifications are at the bottom now, and it's
slow.

I've disabled: Smart replies, nudges, hover actions, Smart compose, icon
buttons, multiple inboxes, etc.

I just want a simple clean interface. I'm going to revert the font through the
details in this article and then just hope Google UI teams start to come to
their senses. So many broken UI's in their products in the last year.

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cantagi
After the new interface was brought out, I found that the most jarring thing
was how the left-hand-side menu collapsed down left to a set of meaningless
icons, then when you hovered over it, it expanded right to cover important
details of the actual emails.

Either I disabled it using some obscure setting or Google fixed it within a
few days. I wonder if they knew people weren't going to like the update, and
intentionally added temporary extra annoyances with the goal of acclimatizing
users to the smaller and more profitable annoyance of the "AI" autocomplete
and autorespond. The cynicism comes from having been a Facebook user.

EDIT: typos

~~~
sephware
I immediately disabled the “smart completion”. It was wrong 100% of the time
so far, and it’s just going to ruin my train of thought, or worse, train me to
say what it thinks I should say.

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Apreche
Can someone make the opposite and make it more like Google Inbox?

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crazygringo
99% of the complaints I've heard about the new Gmail haven't been about the
interface, they've been about the speed.

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RachelF
I know it is old-fashioned, but you could always set up a mail client like
Thunderbird to talk to Gmail and keep a consistent UI.

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catacombs
This new interface finally pushed me to use FastMail. The interface is way
better, and I can use my domain name. No more Gmail.

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pmateti
All I want is one line per email interface. I refuse to use an entire screen
width for the gmail window. The classic had a "comfy" (or whatever it was
called) interface that did that. If the new ux can be forced to do resizing of
the columns I would be happy again with gmail.

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ovrkil
I dislike everything Google. Not only for this reason but for privacy reasons.
So I confront this by using firefox klar and duckduckgo.com and gmx.com for my
user combo.

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sys_64738
Basic HTML mode is the way to go.

