Google better watch it with all of their changes
It pains me to say this because I am a gigantic Google fan, but Google better watch it with the increasing number of changes they keep making to their applications. Starting with Gmail.
It seems that just about every few months now, I log into my Gmail account and something looks different. It started with hyperlinks that became buttons. Then it was color-coded labels. Next was drag and drop labeling and a new left-hand column display that only shows the most active labels.
Now before any of you jump down my throat about what I just said, hear me out. I like all of these changes. With each change Google has introduced I have adapted.
But I am the exception to a much larger rule.
Noobies don't like change. When they finally figure out how to use something, they want it to stay that way. And each time I go to click on my All Mail link in Gmail, I think about this. Mainly because my All Mail link, as well as my Starred and Trash links, no longer show up in the left-hand column in my Gmail interface.
Instead, I have to click a more label that expands out all of the hidden links and labels. A small change, yes. But it can have a big impact on a lot of people.
And if you think I'm the minority on this opinion, pick up the phone and ask the folks in Redmond, Washington how well the changes they made to the Windows operating system
2 comments for this blog post so far...
July 19, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Neil
Pdub, you can actually change what “labels” appear in the left handle column of gmail. I know the point you are making is in regards to the overall change, and how the average person views said change...but it is worth mentioning that the labels can be made visible through the settings link in gmail.
July 19, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Patric Welch
@Neil: Thanks for the tip. I thought about doing that for the All Mail link and probably should. But that still leaves a ton of my labels that don’t appear unless I click the more link. And I’m not really up for changing the settings for each label to appear.
Like you commented on and I said in my original post. I can adapt to the change. I’ll probably even start to like the change. But that’s me. I know a lot of people that are going to struggle with some of the recent changes.
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