Gmail, Google’s mailing service is all set to gain a new look. This was revealed, hidden and then revealed again on Google’s YouTube account, on Wednesday.
Similar to how instant messaging and chat applications work, conversations have been redesigned with user profile pictures added next to their comments. Google representative Andrea Freund opined that this makes it feel like a real conversation.
Gmail has also overhauled its Search to make it more customizable. Advanced search features will surface as soon as a user clicks the search box. Before now these haven’t been as easily accessible —user would have to either click a ‘show search options’ link, or use search operators (“sent:”, “has:attachment”, etc.). These options will now pop up immediately and users can also create a new filter from their search query on the fly.
The new user interface is based on the Gmail preview them that Google began offering in June, with more whitespace and options for changing how densely users want their conversations listed, like Google Docs. The choices are cozy, comfortable or compact.
The new look is designed to be cleaner, simpler and more intuitive. The size of the label and chat areas on the left side of the layout will be made more flexible. Users can now manually adjust the size of the Labels and Chat windows. As the browser window is resized, Gmail will dynamically adjust its layout so that everything fits. As Freund put it, “Even if you do nothing, Gmail adapts to you.”
There are some more minor tweaks as well. Some buttons are now represented with visual icons reminiscent of those seen in Android Honeycomb/Ice Cream Sandwich.
Google has also updated Gmail themes for user’s windows with high-resolution images such as sunsets, grass, and stones.
Jason Cornwell, a user experience designer for Gmail who walks viewers through the major changes ahead, in a YouTube video said, “the changes will be rolled out incrementally over the next few months to allow plenty of time to understand and incorporate users’ feedback into the evolving design.”
The Gmail revamp is part of a Google’s decision, made shortly after the launch of Google+, to update all its online products. Google.com has already undergone subtle changes, like a smaller logo and that black bar across the top of the screen housing different tabs.
You can have a sneak peek at the upcoming changes in the video below:
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