Right now I have eight tabs open on Google Chrome. Four of these pages are for the content I’m writing now. One page is my Google Calendar, where I track and color-code the various tasks I have to do. There are two spreadsheets from Google Docs open, where I’m tracking project status and making sure I don’t cross any wires on a collaborative project. And, perhaps most vital to me, I have my Gmail inbox, where all my messages and records are filtered, labeled, color-coded, and otherwise organized into easy-to-manage sub-categories.
I’m not alone in this obsessive use of Google productivity tools. After all, Gmail is simply the only free email service that allows this degree of customization and complexity. That being said, anyone – including people over at Google – can tell you Gmail isn’t perfect. To help bring it a few steps closer, however, the Gmail team is rolling on a number of “small tweaks” to improve user experience. This includes:
- When you have a typo in an email address, Google will now let you know which email address has the issue rather than just telling you there was an error.
- You can now turn off the auto-save feature for contacts. Those who want to keep a more limited list of contacts (rather than collecting the addresses of everyone you ever send a message to) can do so through the Settings menu.
- When you’re editing settings or creating filters, you will be directed back to the page you started from (e.g., the message you were reading) when you’ve completed your non-message task.
- One keyboard shortcut is now enabled for all users: Shift + / (or “?”). This command will pull up a guide to keyboard shortcuts and give users the option to easily enable shortcuts.
- The “refresh” option is now displayed as a button alongside other default buttons at the top and bottom of the Gmail interface (next to Archive, Mark as Read, etc.).
- Several common Gmail errors, including errors that could result from unintended filter conditions or other user commands, have been changed from a “pop-up” structure to a less invasive notification.
Gmail is fine-tuning itself effectively on the front-end, but the most concerning issues tend to be more about consistent performance. Still, little changes like these show the sort of attention to detail that users have come to expect.
[via the Gmail Blog]
