Mathew's comments - Latest Comments in Gmail colours: Is this really news?

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

mathewi — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:22:01 -0000

Yeah, just wait till that actually happens -- then you'll see a real
blog storm on Techmeme :-)

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

Frederic — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:19:18 -0000

Guilty as charged - though I thought the excitement was more about the "we might do something with folders" announcement at the end of the post than the colors.

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

mathewi — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:12:01 -0000

Me too, Alex. There was a hint at the bottom of the Google post that
they're thinking about folders apparently -- or at least want us to
think that they are :-)

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

MG Siegler — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:10:34 -0000

Alex - if you read Google's official post, it sounds like they are working on something just like what you are suggesting.

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

MG Siegler — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:09:47 -0000

Ha ha, I don't doubt it.

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

Alex Beamish — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:59:34 -0000

I noticed it this morning. It smells to me like a solution looking for a problem.

I'd be much more interested in a way to group folders together (as Google Reader does) so that I don't have to scroll or page down to see all of my 80+ folders.

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

mathewi — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:43:02 -0000

MG, I think you may actually need professional help :-)

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

MG Siegler — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 13:02:06 -0000

Not only am I excited, I LOVE this update, much more so than the other recent Gmail updates. As my inbox gets more and more crowded I found myself wanting more than just the star to differentiate between things and the plain labels all seemed to blend together - this is a great solution because Google gives you the option of using both the loud background color labels and the more subtle text color labels.

I know a lot of these small Google updates get a ton of hype only to never be talked about 2 days later, but I really do love this one.

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

Fred Oliveira — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:00:10 -0000

No problem about the spelling, Mathew :-) Thanks!

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

mathewi — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:44:02 -0000

Damn -- sorry about the misspelling, Fred. I know I hate it when
people do that to me too. I will change it right away.

As for your post, I think your points about the benefits of colours
make total sense. I think it's a useful feature.

I guess I just found the Techmeme cluster about it a little comical, that's all.

Re: Gmail colours: Is this really news?

Fred Oliveira — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 09:27:49 -0000

Well, my post wasn't really a "me too", but I used the gmail labels metaphor to guide designers and developers as to how visual cues can help make sense of in a web application. The feature itself is quite small (heck, it's even the title of my post), but it's definitely not earth shattering - so in that sense, I agree with you.

PS: if you could change the spelling of my last name to Oliveira, I'd appreciate it (it confuses Google, because a lot of people do it) :-)