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I got a Gmail account
Jun. 17th, 2004 11:30 pmThanks to an invite code given to me by a co-worker, I now have a Gmail account. My e-mail address there is doug.muth(AT)gmail(DOT)com. I'll be checking the e-mail account rather frequently, since it's web-based and easy to use.
And, for those of you who don't know, Gmail is Google's version of e-mail. They did an outstanding job on it, and here is a brief list of things that I think make it very cool:
- 1 Gigabyte of storage for e-mails.
- A very nice Javascript interface. For example, when viewing an e-mail, you can click on a link to view additional details about it. This does not result in loading of a new page, but rather just un-hiding a field of HTML at the top of the e-mail. This makes it behave more like a desktop app.
- The design of the pages is laid out very well. Clicking a link to load another section causes the general navigation elements to remain exactly the same, which also gives the appearance of a desktop app.
- The pages have the same minimalist design as the rest of Google. I get fairly good response times even over my dialup connection at home.
- Advertising is shown on the right of every e-mail that is displayed. It is unobtrusive, and based on the content of the e-mail. I hardly notice it at all, but when I do look at it, I usually find stuff that interests me.
- You can use Google's search capabilities to search through your e-mails. ALL of them.
- Mailing list traffic is tracked as "conversations". There's more Javascript goodness for minimizing the messages that you already read, and their software will filter out quoted text in the replies (but also available via Javascript)
- Hot keys. Typing "c" composes a new message, "o" opens a message, and "j" and "k" can be used to navigate through your messages. Just like an app running on your machine!
In short, I think Gmail is a real winner. Google is good at changing the playing field with their technology, and this is going to make it happen again. So find a friend with an invite code (No, I don't have any) and get onto Gmail!
And, for those of you who don't know, Gmail is Google's version of e-mail. They did an outstanding job on it, and here is a brief list of things that I think make it very cool:
- 1 Gigabyte of storage for e-mails.
- A very nice Javascript interface. For example, when viewing an e-mail, you can click on a link to view additional details about it. This does not result in loading of a new page, but rather just un-hiding a field of HTML at the top of the e-mail. This makes it behave more like a desktop app.
- The design of the pages is laid out very well. Clicking a link to load another section causes the general navigation elements to remain exactly the same, which also gives the appearance of a desktop app.
- The pages have the same minimalist design as the rest of Google. I get fairly good response times even over my dialup connection at home.
- Advertising is shown on the right of every e-mail that is displayed. It is unobtrusive, and based on the content of the e-mail. I hardly notice it at all, but when I do look at it, I usually find stuff that interests me.
- You can use Google's search capabilities to search through your e-mails. ALL of them.
- Mailing list traffic is tracked as "conversations". There's more Javascript goodness for minimizing the messages that you already read, and their software will filter out quoted text in the replies (but also available via Javascript)
- Hot keys. Typing "c" composes a new message, "o" opens a message, and "j" and "k" can be used to navigate through your messages. Just like an app running on your machine!
In short, I think Gmail is a real winner. Google is good at changing the playing field with their technology, and this is going to make it happen again. So find a friend with an invite code (No, I don't have any) and get onto Gmail!