The Gmail interface makes Gmail unique among webmail systems for several reasons. The most obvious to users is search-oriented features and how to manage e-mail in "conversation view" similar to Internet forums.
The official redesign of the Gmail interface was launched on November 1, 2011, which simplifies the look and feel of Gmail into a more minimalist design to provide a more consistent look across Google's products and services as part of overall design changes.
Video Gmail interface
Programming
Gmail takes advantage of Ajax, using browser features like JavaScript, keyboard access keys and Web feed integration.
Maps Gmail interface
Organization
Advanced search
Gmail lets users perform advanced searches using the Advanced Search interface or through search operators in the search box. Emails can be searched by their text; by their 'From', 'To' and 'Subject' fields, based on their location, date and size; by related labels, categories, and circles, whether the message is read or not, and whether the message has an attachment or not. There are also a large number of advanced search operators. By default, Gmail merges search terms with "AND" that are not visible. Gmail allows the use of Boolean operators like "OR" to find messages that match at least one of the other search terms.
Filters
Gmail allows users to create rules ('filters') for automated organizations from incoming mail. Filters are created using the Advanced Search interface using the same criteria used for search. Gmail may perform any combination of the following actions on email that meet all of the criteria specified in the filter:
- archiving (i.e. deleting messages from the Inbox)
- added a star
- mark as read
- mark as important
- apply the label
- moved to tray
- forward to another e-mail address
Labels
Labels provide flexible email organization methods because emails can have a number of labels (in contrast to folder-based systems where an email can only be owned by a single folder). Labels are similar to tags in blog posts. Labels can also do folder work if and email are moved to a label - this is the same as applying a label to it as well as archiving it. By default, labels appear in message lists and can be customized with color. Users can also create sub-labels under the label to create hierarchies or layered labels. Labels can be used as search criteria and all emails that have certain labels can be viewed together through the side menu. Gmail often receives praise for replacing the hierarchical folder limitations with label flexibility.
Archiving
Gmail allows users to 'archive' email. Archiving removes conversations from your inbox and is accessible via the 'All Mail' section. In Gmail, the 'All Mail' section shows all users' mail, except those in Spam and Bin. Technically, when the message is archived, the 'Inbox' label is removed from it. Archiving presents a better alternative to delete as it helps smoothing your inbox without permanently deleting messages. However, archiving is limited to individual message and messenger threads can not be archived. In addition, archiving is only available for inboxes, and messages elsewhere such as Sent Mail can not be archived. However, according to About.com, these restrictions can be overcome by accessing Gmail via IMAP. Archiving is unique to Gmail and is not offered by webmail services or other major email clients.
Urgent markers
Marking email is just as important as more or less automatic. Users can 'train' Gmail in recognizing important messages by manually marking messages as important. Gmail considers a number of signals to determine whether a message is important or not. Messages from emailed or replied people, and messages of a type always open or recently tagged as important or starred, are likely to be marked as important automatically. Also, messages sent to users directly and not via mailing lists, and messages containing certain keywords (password changes, transaction details, shipping submissions, ticket confirmations, etc.) are marked as important. Messages of types that have recently been archived or deleted, or rarely opened, tend not to be marked as important. Important emails can be searched for using "is: important" operators. Unsolicited users have the option to turn off all features.
In September 2010, Google introduced a 'priority inbox' that used important markers. Priority Inbox divides your inbox into sections like "Important and unread", "Unread", "Starred", and "More" allowing users to always see important items at the top. This is an opt-in feature.
In a review for Lifehacker, Adam Pash wrote that Gmail is only good at recognizing important emails because any computer that does not know the context can. However, in another review for Lifehacker, Whitson Gordon mentions Inbox Priority "one of Gmail's least-ranging features". He writes that Priority Inbox can be very helpful as long as users give it a chance to learn from their habits.
Inbox tab and category label
Starting June 2013, Gmail allows the use of tabs in the inbox to automatically categorize emails in five general categories:
- Primary (person-to-person email conversation)
- Social (from social networks, online dating services, and media-sharing sites)
- Promotions (one-way apps, marketing, and mailing lists)
- Updates (confirmations, receipts, bills and updates)
- Forums (discussion threads from forum boards)
Users have the option to hide one or more tabs or disable all features. This tab also appears in Gmail's Android and iOS apps.
Even if the use of tabs is turned off, all emails are sorted into one of five categories, which can be used as an auto-label. Like labels, categories can be used as search criteria and are created to appear as labels on the message list. All emails with certain categories can be viewed together through the side menu.
Sorting
Unlike other email web clients, Gmail does not allow users to view email message sizes or sort emails (for example, alphabetically by subject).
Conversation view
Gmail recognizes messages related to the subject and breaks them into "conversations" where messages in alternating strings are collected together and appear stacked one by one, with recent messages at the top. Any duplicate text is automatically hidden. The number of messages in a conversation always appears in brackets next to the names of people in the conversation. The conversation will break up into new threads if the subject line of the message is changed, or if the conversation reaches more than 100 messages. Messages that are answered or forwarded from multiple local accounts (such as local Yahoo Mail) also share the conversation because the subject contains parameters in the local language instead of "Re" or "Fwd:".
User responses to various viewing conversations. Due to the reduced control over individual messages, many users are vocal in expressing their dissatisfaction. On September 29th, 2010, Google added the option to disable viewing conversations in the Gmail web app. Google software engineer Doug Che explains: "We really hope everyone will learn to love the look of the conversation, but we realize it's not right for some people." Conversation views are still automatically enabled in the mobile app, which remains a source of user frustration.
Contacts
Gmail automatically saves contact details when forwarding e-mail to previously unknown recipients. If a user changes, adds, or deletes information near an email like a name while sending any email, it also updates that is in the contact list, unless the user uses a plain HTML view, designed for people with slower Internet connections or browsers that do not supports AJAX. When a user starts typing in the To, CC, or BCC field, it displays the list with the relevant contact, with the name and e-mail address. More information, including alternate email addresses, can be added on the Contacts page. This contact can also be added to a group, which makes sending more than one e-mail to the related contacts easier. Images can be added to a contact, which will appear every time the mouse passes the contact's name.
Users can import contacts (in several different ways) from Microsoft Office Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, Eudora, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, orkut, and other contact lists in a CSV format file. Gmail also allows users to export their contacts to CSV.
Composition
A year after Gmail was announced, Google introduced Rich Text Formatting, which allowed the font size, color and text alignment to be adjusted, as well as embedding of numbered points and lists.
Gmail also has an Automatic Storage feature - the system to avoid data loss in the event of a browser crash or other errors. During e-mail composition, Gmail automatically saves a copy of the draft message and all attachments. Even though the message starts one minute saved, the savings time varies depending on the size of the message. Draft removed messages can not be recovered.
Gmail places the cursor over quoted text when replying, which drives the top post. Regardless of the formatting of received messages, the default Gmail conversation view to display only unique content, in chronological order.
Attachments
Individual Gmail messages including attachments can be up to 25 MB in size. However, users can send files up to 15 GB in size via Google Drive. Effectively, files are stored in Google Drive and only links to those sent. This means that the recipient can access the file only if it is shared with them in Google Drive. Gmail notifies users if the sent file is not shared with the recipient and allows the user to modify the sharing settings before sending the file. Files can be made accessible to anyone with the link, or shared privately with the email recipient. The latter does not work if the recipient does not have a Google account or if the email address receiving the message is not associated with Google.
Beginning in December 2014, files in Google Drive can also be sent from Gmail as attachments and not links, thereby granting recipients access to them even after they are deleted from the sender's Drive.
In Gmail, attachments in a supported format are previewed as thumbnails in the message itself and clicking on thumbnails opens a full-screen view of an image or document where users can browse through multiple attachments. Attachments can be downloaded to a hard disk or to a folder in Google Drive, or to Google Photos if there is an image file.
The Gmail interface supports dragging and dropping attachments to and from the inbox. Users can add attachments by dragging them to an email window. Similarly attachments can be downloaded by dragging attachments from messages to the desktop.
Address
Gmail supports e-mail addressing. Users can send messages to addresses in username extratext@gmail.com format, where extratext can be any string, and will arrive in the username @ gmail inbox. com . This allows users to sign up for different services with different aliases and then easily filter all emails from the service. In addition, if a user receives spam messages directed to an email address with additional text, they will know what services have been leaked out from their e-mail address. However, some websites do not accept email addresses that contain "", although the email address specification allows them to be used.
In addition, Gmail does not recognize dots (dots) as characters in the username. Adding or removing dots from a Gmail address does not change the actual destination address. For example, the username@gmail.com account receives mail sent to user.name@gmail.com or username@gmail.com , etc. Likewise, the user.name@gmail.com account received emails sent to username@gmail.com . This can also be helpful in setting up filters for incoming mail. It also does not need to include any point used during account creation when signing in. However, this does not work in Google Apps for Your Domain. In Apps, each variation of the username must be entered as a nickname by the domain administrator.
Gmail lets users add another email account to use as an optional sender address on outbound mail. The system performs a verification process to confirm ownership of the user from each email address before it is added. "Plus-address" can also be added as the sender address in the same way. Each additional address can be set as the default address. Optionally, the user can assign a different "reply-to" address for each "send as" address.
When using this feature, the selected address will appear in the "From:" field of the message header. However, the sender address of the SMTP envelope will contain the name of the Gmail account used to send the message. So, the underlying Gmail account address is still available: it will usually appear in the "Sender:" header field, or sometimes in the subject field. Some email clients will write "From: Sender @ gmail.com [mailto: Submitter @ gmail.com] On behalf of..." after replying, make the situation very clear.
Gmail now allows users to specify third-party SMTP servers. Gmail can use this to send outbound mail for certain accounts that avoid masked account issues.
Mail taker
In addition to adding extra email addresses, Gmail has a feature called "Mail Fetcher" that lets users add up to five additional accounts to retrieve mail from POP3. After the account is added, the program will ask the user whether they want to automatically create custom sender addresses if they have not done so manually. This feature does not support retrieving email from an IMAP server.
Product integration
Google Talk, Google's service for instant messaging, can be accessed via a web-based interface on the Gmail site. A web-based interface capable of supporting voice and video calls and voicemails if the Google Talk client runs in the background. All messages are archived into a Chatbox mailbox in Gmail unless 'Disabled Record' is enabled in Google Talk. If a chat friend suddenly has to be offline, all messages sent will be sent to that person via email, including all previous conversations. Other Google Talk integration features are voicemails, where messages are delivered to the recipient's Gmail inbox; and sync contact pictures. On December 4, 2007, Google announced integration with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), allowing Gmail users to log into their AIM account and send instant messages to and view the AIM user's online status.
On November 11, 2008, Google announced a video chat, integrated with Gmail to a web-based client. Windows XP, Vista or Intel-based Macs are required with supported browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari 3).
Google Calendar offers Gmail integration immediately after its announcement on April 13, 2006. Events can be added when writing messages stored in the main Calendar interface. Recipients using Gmail will then receive an invitation to the event, which they can either accept or reject. In addition, Gmail tries to recognize the date and location of events in emails, and gives users the option to add events to the calendar, similar to Microsoft Exchange Server.
Gmail offers further integration with some other Google products. Integration with Google Drive allows users to share up to 15GB of large files stored on Drive via Gmail, and to store email attachments directly to Google Drive. Attachments in supported formats are previewed in messages. In addition, images can be sent directly from Picasa using a Gmail account.
Gmail also offers seamless integration with Google Buzz's social networks and messaging tools. With this feature, Gmail users can share links, photos, videos, status messages, and comments arranged in "conversations" and are visible in the user's inbox.
Themes
Google began offering theme options to users on November 19, 2008 with 31 different themes, ranging from the original light blue to the design with the background and transparency of the image. Many of these themes are dynamic. Gmail uses the location provided by the user to change the theme changes in a timely manner with local sunsets, sunsets, or weather.
In June 2012, Gmail introduced a custom theme, allowing users to set their own background. Users can choose from a large number of 'featured' images, upload images from a computer or phone, choose from a Google album, or add an image with a URL. On April 2, 2014, Gmail added the ability to share custom themes via email or Google, or via public links.
Criticism
The conversation view groups related messages in a linear stack that can be expanded and collapsed by the user. Labeling is limited to message threads.
Some users may experience difficulty when sending e-mail addresses from a Gmail address book to a receiving line in the email compose window. The "Auto Complete" feature may cause problems and may not work in all browsers or operating systems. However, it is possible to open a compiled message in a new window so that the address book can be opened, or another instance of Gmail can be opened in another window to access the address book. The help documented by Gmail currently on this issue states: "Although Gmail does not currently support functionality to open your Contacts list when composing messages, we are testing many new features to improve our service."
Although Gmail ads have received praise for not being outstanding, they can take up more space than Flash-based banners when up to six "sponsored links" appear next to email. Additionally, when enabled, opening emails makes the Web Clips RSS-feed bar display other sponsored links. Often the number of ads shown in the Web Clip bar exceeds the number of RSS feeds requested by the user. However, when Gmail messages are sent to different email addresses from different providers, there will be no ads in messages like most other webmail providers.
When Gmail mailbox reaches capacity, users can search email by size to delete the largest first. The web interface can help in this situation by searching for an email with an attachment, but not indicating the size of the attachment.
See also
- Gmail
- Gmail History
- Webmail provider comparison
- List of Google products
- Gmail Mailplane client for Mac OS X
References
External links
- Gmail
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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