
New in Gmail Labs: Unread message icon - julian37
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-in-labs-unread-message-icon.html
======
jbri
I had no idea Chrome had that "pin tabs" feature until I read this blog post.
My tab bar is suddenly a _lot_ neater without the ever-present Gmail/HN/SO
occupying as much space as the stuff I'm actively working on.

~~~
joshu
Me neither. But I have multiple gmail apps open. How do I tell the difference?
grah.

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marknutter
Have them all forward to one gmail account and manage them from there.

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nollidge
There's a "multiple inboxes" labs feature that would probably come in handy
for this.

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clemesha
I find the 'unread messages count' to be extremely distracting when I'm trying
to actually get real work done.

Through the corner of my eye, I'm constantly glancing and thinking: did it
just increment?

Just keep your email closed until you get stuck on that hard problem, ha.

~~~
Joakal
I use HTML based version (faster and less prone to JS glitches) and there's no
gmail number in title.

~~~
xuki
You should give keyboard shortcut a try (require JS). This alone forces me to
use JS in gmail.

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millerc
This just in: cloud services discover biff(1). Within a few years we should
have an OS.

Sorry to be cynical, it pains me to see the whole state of computing thrown
out the window everytime we reinvent new paradigms (none of which add
substantial value).

Hint: we'll progress when we start building over old assets, not reinventing
them at every "guerre de clocher".

~~~
dcdan
It also pains me to see how the web has forced us back a decade in terms of
what's an impressive UI feat.

When your hands are tied, undoing a knot becomes notable.

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julian37
Appears to be based on this code: <http://snipplr.com/view/29188/>

EDIT: actually, it might or might not be based on it, but that code shows how
to implement dynamic favicons, at least for Google Chrome.

Another edit: MikeCapone observed in another comment that it only goes up to
"30+" so they might just be using 30 static images. But if so, why that
wouldn't work in browsers other than Chrome 6+ and Firefox 2+ is beyond me.

~~~
ggrot
Just guessing, but it's probably because most browsers heavily cache the
favicon image.

~~~
julian37
Surely it would be cached based on the image URL though, not based on the page
URL, and different images could use different URLs. I still don't see how this
would pose a problem.

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Groxx
Interesting... I like it, but it's entirely eclipsed by extensions like Google
Mail Checker Plus[1], for me.

[1]:
[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gffjhibehnempbke...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gffjhibehnempbkeheiccaincokdjbfe)

~~~
s3graham
I prefer the favicon over the extra clutter of another icon.

~~~
Flenser
depends how many accounts you've got. I'm checking 3 accounts so it saves
having to have 3 pinned tabs open.

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marklabedz
I've been using Better Gmail for Chrome to get this functionality:
[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gmfocnipihcoejdi...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/gmfocnipihcoejdieiimhiecclokidea)

~~~
cyrus_
There is also a Better Gmail extension for Firefox.

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brownleej
What I really want is something that can cause the icon to change when I get
new chat messages. I frequently find myself unable to hear the soft incoming
message sound, because I'm listening to something louder, and it would be nice
to have a visual indicator.

~~~
joeshaw
I use this Greasemonkey script to do this. It works in Chrome and Firefox:

<http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/24430>

It does the unread count thing, but it also toggles between it and the chat
icon if you have unread chat messages. It's a must if you pin gmail tabs.

~~~
brownleej
I've been using this script all day, and it's been great. Thank you so much.

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mcmc
What's the point? How many people actually keep fewer than 10k unread messages
in their inbox?

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daeken
I have none. I have a complex series of filters which direct mailing lists,
automated emails, etc into separate labels which bypass the inbox. If it makes
it to my inbox, it's important enough to be read quickly -- this generally
means only about 50-100 emails a day.

~~~
spooneybarger
Wow. 50-100? I filter down to less than 10 a day. Either I'm much more
aggressive with my filtering or you are far more of an important person than I
am.

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fierarul
It's great, I actually wanted this thing since I use pin tab all of the time
for Gmail, but I dislike that it displays a number even if you have an empty
inbox too.

I don't like seing a 0, it should have defaulted to the normal icon. I try to
keep my inbox as short as possible and I label a lot so having an empty inbox
is expected.

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MikeCapone
That's nice. A couple years ago I suggested that they should do that for the
GMail link on the Google homepage:

[http://michaelgr.com/2008/11/17/google-homepage-feature-
requ...](http://michaelgr.com/2008/11/17/google-homepage-feature-request-
gmail-unread-emails-notifier/)

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MikeCapone
I installed it and it just says 30+

I wish it went up to 99 at least. I get about 150 emails a day...

~~~
stanleydrew
I have 100+. Not sure what the discrepancy is.

~~~
MikeCapone
I tried reloading and I still have 30+. Strange.

Update: After a bit of usage of GMail it's been updated to 70+. Seems to be
working now.

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citricsquid
Huzzah, now I don't need this extension to do this for me. Rather off topic,
but I really wish one day that gmail (@gmail.com and custom domains) supported
multiple logins from the same window, I have Opera installed _just_ for
company email.

~~~
natrius
I hate Google's multiple login behavior, so I just open an incognito window
for my less frequently used accounts.

~~~
joeshaw
What do you hate about it? I like the idea, but I find it to be buggy and
incomplete. Not all of the Google services work with it yet, mobile versions
of their sites don't seem to support it at all, etc. If/when that's solved, I
think it'll be an improvement over having multiple browsers open.

~~~
natrius
For instance, I'm normally logged into my personal account, which uses Mail,
Voice, Calendar and more. To use Mail with my work account, my current account
in _every_ service is changed, so my Voice Chrome extension no longer shows
correct data, as well as other weirdnesses that I've blocked from my memory
since I started using incognito windows instead.

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frazerb
Number of starred items might be more useful.

Also, seems to be an issue - this number does not increase (from 0 to 1 in the
test I did) when you 'mark as unread'. Tried to give feedback about this to
gmail labs but couldn't.

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tdfx
I wish they would come out with a HTML5 Desktop Notifications lab feature.

~~~
heed
They don't have a lab feature for HTML5 Desktop Notifications, but you can
build extensions utilizing it. Here is one I built to show notifications for
gmail chat messages:

[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/phokmbaffndjgejh...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/phokmbaffndjgejhemchophkkpdmpeln)

:)

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dgudkov
Nice feature, but they'd better not show 0 when no unread messages.

~~~
omh
That's exactly what they do. I'm not quite sure why you think it's such a bad
idea though?

~~~
ydant
I don't know the grandparent's reasoning, but for me, having a small 0 there
means I loose the peripheral vision effect of the icon. That little glowing
"0" is hard to distinguish from another number in quick glance. If there were
no icon then I could quickly determine the most important piece of information
to me - do I have mail or not?

Screenshot of the "0" and "2" from two Gmail tabs I have open side by side:

[http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6883/20110126084559select...](http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6883/20110126084559selection.png)

I tend to keep my inbox fully read. It's my staging area - Unread = totally
unprocessed, Read = TODO, Starred = Deferred TODO or important later. For me,
a quick glance for unread (any amount) is more useful than exactly how many.

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makethetick
Very handy feature to have, I had been keeping an eye on the pinned tabs -
they flash/pulse when the page updates (new email comes in), now it's a lot
easier.

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jordanlyall
It would be cool if we could interact with the app via the tab. Example: I'm
in another tab and can right click the pinned Pandora tab to pause the music.

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jalada
Good, the extension I was using in Chrome had a tendency to be a bit buggy.

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mike_heffner
Now only if Campfire would add this feature I could pin both these tabs.

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staunch
I was excited but it seems slower than <title> to update. Ugh.

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nazgulnarsil
i want the shortcut icon to do this in my bookmark bar.

