That said, I did make it very slightly more bearable by spending a few hours rootling around in the various settings menus, figuring out what could be collapsed and hidden, etc.
I have always used "compact" density and it worked fine for me with the old gmail fonts and formatting. The "improved" version now sprinkles heavy boldface around the interface in a very distracting way, and something about the balance of space-to-text in the layout makes it much harder on the eyes.
I have always used a dark-format "theme" (you can find "themes" in the settings menu) but the one I had no longer worked well in terms of contrast and space for my aging eyes. I tested several and found one that has a better mix of tones and contrast, and is still dark enough to be viewable for long periods.
I collapsed the useless new right-hand sidebar almost right off. Eventually, although I do prefer to have my labels/file tree list available in the left column, I collapsed that as well, as there was just no good way to have it look available/balanced but not distracting in the new version. It's a pain in the butt to have to hover for it to pop out so I can look for something, but less of a pain than having the left column showing in full.
The remainining nuisances I can find NO way to mitigate are:
1.) They added that stupid "snooze" button across the top and it's in a place where I can't help but hit it by mistake sometimes when I'm reaching for the "move to" button. I have no use whatsoever for the "snooze" function, the way I use email, and I'd like to be able to just hide or delete that button.
2.) They've moved the 'notifications' function from a discreet, narrow bar over the top of the buttons above the email listing to a great honking gray box that pops up on the lower left quadrant of the interface, obscures whatever is under it, and hangs around forever.
3.) The proportion and design and usage of fonts in the new version is such that while I can use the font-size adjuster to change the size font I see when I'm composing or typing a message, the size for reading a message is way too small for comfort. If I switch to a larger version or lower density it horks the whole interface. I can't find any way to increase the size font I'm reading in a message except using the "control with up/down button" thing that changes the whole display, for the duration while I am reading, and then changing it back when I go out to move the email to where it belongs and/or scan the list for the next one.
I have sent them feedback every day on those three issues.
So far there's no sign they give a rats ass about what makes the interface actually usable.
wearily,
Bright
= new reply since forum marked as read
