

 Gmail design change.. could somebody explain? - bhavin
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZaGO7GjCqAI/TFMC6Ee1bvI/AAAAAAAAW5k/Q4HSClIbd6s/s640/gmail-googler-ui-2010.png
I noticed that my gmail's design was changed a bit this morning... basically, tasks and contacts along with Mail have been brought at the top..a screenshot i found on net:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ZaGO7GjCqAI/TFMC6Ee1bvI/AAAAAAAAW5k/Q4HSClIbd6s/s640/gmail-googler-ui-2010.png
Now, I don't really understand the changes. I am by no means a usability expert, but considering "Contacts" and "Tasks" are rarely used by any gmail user I know, what's the rationale behind bringing them up? 
I found the design less intuitive than the basic one. So, I am really curious what would have been the designers motive?
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amberingrid
Part of it was they wanted to make the tasks and contacts more prominent. The
contacts section was changed, in part, to account for things they had added to
android. (Specifically the ability to add multiple arbritrary phone numbers.(

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bhavin
well, I am no expert in usability, but I can tell that the new design is not
intuitive to me as much as the original design, leave alone improvement.. I am
really wondering what was the motive of the designer to put on the top
something so sparingly used like Tasks, Contact! Any views?

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bhavin
how it adds to usability?

