Gmail colours: Is this really news?

by Mathew on December 4, 2007 · Comments

I know that pretty much anything Google does is worthy of comment — and not just a little comment, but a ton of comment — but isn’t all the hubbub about coloured Gmail tags just a little over the top? I mean, I’m a big fan of Google and of Gmail, but still. Adding coloured tags? I know that Fred Oliveira thinks it’s a big deal, and MG Siegler at ParisLemon seems similarly excited, but still. Colour me unimpressed. What’s next — a storm of blog posts when Digg decides to change the shape of its buttons to a modified trapezoid instead of an oblate spheroid?

Share:
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • E-mail this story to a friend!
  • Ma.gnolia
  • NewsVine
  • SphereIt
  • StumbleUpon

Tagged as: , ,

  • Well, my post wasn't really a "me too", but I used the gmail labels metaphor to guide designers and developers as to how visual cues can help make sense of in a web application. The feature itself is quite small (heck, it's even the title of my post), but it's definitely not earth shattering - so in that sense, I agree with you.

    PS: if you could change the spelling of my last name to Oliveira, I'd appreciate it (it confuses Google, because a lot of people do it) :-)
  • Damn -- sorry about the misspelling, Fred. I know I hate it when
    people do that to me too. I will change it right away.

    As for your post, I think your points about the benefits of colours
    make total sense. I think it's a useful feature.

    I guess I just found the Techmeme cluster about it a little comical, that's all.
  • No problem about the spelling, Mathew :-) Thanks!
  • Not only am I excited, I LOVE this update, much more so than the other recent Gmail updates. As my inbox gets more and more crowded I found myself wanting more than just the star to differentiate between things and the plain labels all seemed to blend together - this is a great solution because Google gives you the option of using both the loud background color labels and the more subtle text color labels.

    I know a lot of these small Google updates get a ton of hype only to never be talked about 2 days later, but I really do love this one.
  • MG, I think you may actually need professional help :-)
  • Ha ha, I don't doubt it.
  • Alex Beamish
    I noticed it this morning. It smells to me like a solution looking for a problem.

    I'd be much more interested in a way to group folders together (as Google Reader does) so that I don't have to scroll or page down to see all of my 80+ folders.
  • Alex - if you read Google's official post, it sounds like they are working on something just like what you are suggesting.
  • Me too, Alex. There was a hint at the bottom of the Google post that
    they're thinking about folders apparently -- or at least want us to
    think that they are :-)
  • Guilty as charged - though I thought the excitement was more about the "we might do something with folders" announcement at the end of the post than the colors.
  • Yeah, just wait till that actually happens -- then you'll see a real
    blog storm on Techmeme :-)
blog comments powered by Disqus

Older post:

Newer post: