i21.tinypic.com/4vl7bs.gif

I'm seeing this link too!

That Browse button is NOT redundant. Imagine this. You compose a huge email. Now you want to decide who needs to get it. You can not remember. You need to look through your contacts to figure it out. You can type names but you need to open a NEW window to look through your contacts and choose which ones to add. It is horrible. I hated that Gmail has not had that button. I love the look of the new contacts too. It is the little things that I have always wanted in Gmail. Now, for Reader integration natively, ability to send files through chat in gmail, ability to do audio/video chat in gtalk through gmail, unlimited storage (like everyone else), ability to customize the gmail page like igoogle, cleaner interface like gmail superclean, multiple star attachments (this email is a 5 star priority that one is a 2 star), search by partial email address *girlyahoo.com etc, save searches natively, offline client, etc. lol. Yeah, I think a lot of what I would like different if I had the option. Amazingly, Gmail has finished like half of my old list. Gmail is the best!

> That Browse button is NOT redundant

TK: It's not a browse for contacts button, but a file browse button to add an attachment. But as I tried to emphasize it only looks redundant on the surface, and I don't know why it has been included as I can't interact with the new version yet to find out why it might make sense. Perhaps it's also something unrelated, though Drew told me he disabled his Better Gmail extension for the screenshots...

I have this on my new Gmail account but oddly not on my older accounts...looks great so far though!

I should note, I don't have a link to "Newer Version" but a link to switch back to the "Older Version". There are a number of changes to my account including the new contacts interface

What other changes do you see Jason?

The UI of address book is changed to a conventional one like MS Outlook's. Is this really good move in long run? Though it might be more compatible with other address book programs, and client programs that need address book. What's the strategy behind such change?

I see it too in one of my accounts.

Some of the changes i've noticed are:

   – Turning chat off brings up a search box that allows you to put in a contacts name and it will bring up the options to mail them, view recent conversations and to view their profile. Clicking on View Profile does nothing however at this point. You can also just write an email address in and then select the link it creates to bring up the compose message screen.

- By default the rich formatting options are no longer there, you have to select the link for them to be shown.

- Hovering over a persons name/email address now gives you a pop up box with options such as Email / Chat (or invite to chat), contact details, recent conversations, etc.

- The contacts section is much cleaner and more efficient now as you can see from your screen shots. The only issue I have with it is that there is no large "Compose" button or something. The only way to compose to a person on the contacts list is to select their name and then click their email address on their profile. Same amount of clicks but a top compose button would be better in my opinion.

Haven't noticed anything else really yet, but overall I like the changes so far.

Notice the two slightly different urls for each version.

mail.google.com/mail/#inbox – old version

mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#i ... – new version

I don't know if it's related but today GMail displayed a warning message on the front page about Firebug and how it can reduce performance. Clicking the warning takes you to a page with instructions on how to disable or configure Firebug.

<Plus, Drew says he can’t hide the chat anymore.>

It gives me additional options for the size of the chat list, tiny, small, medium, or large.

The turn off chat option is at the bottom of the page as it always was. Once taken away it leaves a search box in chats place which allows you to search for contacts or compose to new contacts.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't understand. I am excited to see what it is for then. :-)

Oh, that really works :) I didn't have the link in my gmail, but I click on the link in the article and I've got a new gmail with new contact manager...

[Update: Thanks to Tony, I can now access an account to test the new version, too. More screenshots follow in the posts.]

/craps pants

(and now I always get a new version, whenever I log in into gmail)

<< By default the rich formatting options are no longer there, you have to select the link for them to be shown. >>

I'm still seeing rich text formatting by default, and in the same place, perhaps because I had it switched on already.

<< It gives me additional options for the size of the chat list, tiny, small, medium, or large. >>

Same here, including the option to sign out of chat but still keep in there. And I can still load the version without chat.

Also, there's a new "More Actions" menu which allows you to "Filter messages like these". If you select multiple messages with the same subject, it auto-completes a filter using the from email addresses and subject line. Pretty good start, although it doesn't seem to do fuzzy matching (for example, if the subjects all begin with the same thing like they often do for groups).

One update that i'd like to see that hasn't been implemented yet – the removal of that damn "BETA" tag!

I don't get it with any links :(

Gmail Chat contact bobbles are completely redesigned,
Google Calendar notifications now have a special icon...

Hadn't even noticed that "More Actions" menu Tony, thanks – looking better and better!

Now it also has account's name in the title

Someone submitted it to digg.

digg.com/tech_news/Gmail_2_0_S ...

digg on. ;)

>> It gives me additional options for the size of the chat list, tiny, small, medium, or large.

I've had more settings for the Gmail Chat on some accounts for a few days (none on Gmail v2).

"Attach a file option" is now much more visible and has has an icon now...

> The turn off chat option is at the bottom of the page as
> it always was.

Jason, when I try it with 2.0, like Drew, I also do not see the "standard with chat | standard without chat". Instead I see "standard | turn on chat" (or "turn off chat", depending), but that doesn't seem to completely hide the chat box in Gmail as with the 1.0 version...

Any chance of the UK seeing these changes before the New Year?

I think this is a great improvement. Very very quick. hopefully we'll see some more new features. I always liked the GUI so I'm glad they've kept most of it.

I got it in a new account but not in the old one, weird.

I noticed that there's no Add Event Info link when composing a message, they forget it or its a signal of more integration with Calendar in some other way?.

>> Any chance of the UK seeing these changes before the New Year?

Alex, I'm in the UK but I'm using the US English language setting.

>Jason, when I try it with 2.0, like Drew, I also do not see the "standard with >chat | standard without chat". Instead I see "standard | turn on chat" (or >"turn off chat", depending), but that doesn't seem to completely hide the >chat box in Gmail as with the 1.0 version...

On mine when chat is off it leaves a small box with my name at the top and below in the box is "Search, add, or invite". This can be used to just quickly look up contacts, etc as I mentioned above. It also can be made larger by click the arrow which allows you to sign into chat but doesn't show your contacts list. Not sure if thats what you guys are getting but I see it as a nice new feature to quickly find and compose mail to contacts without having to go to the contacts screen.

I made a new account and this was enabled. Schweet

That's good news! I hope it gets to Google apps soon too since the contacts format has been one gripe I've always had with Gmail. Two questions:

1) Can you turn off the automatic save of contacts to people you send to?
2) Any sign of Birthdays?

"More Actions" menu also not isn't HTML <option> element anymore, it's some DHTML thingy. I don't like this one.

New also:
If you click on any label, the browser URL field also changes like this:
mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#l ...
So you can enter directly into a Label, as a custom startpage of your Gmail.

Another one:
in the topright Reply menu on an open mail there is a new "Filter messages like this" menuitem.

And:
The "More actions" dropdown is not a common form select field anymore, it is a designed dhtml thing.

Alex the automatic contacts are still there but its not nearly as annoying now that it shows all your groups listed as well.

One problem I have been having a few times already is that when selecting contacts it stays on the Inbox and I get a big empty blue box at the bottom of the page. Once this happens no other links work except sign out. Signing out and back in resolves the problem but its annoying and has already happened 3 times. I'm using Firefox 2.0.0.8.

In Gmail Chat the bar with person's name turns orange in both poped-in and poped-out windows.

Also, there's a new format for exporting contacts:

* vCard format (for importing into Address Book or other applications).

Anyone with a Google Apps account have this already?

> "More Actions" menu also not isn't HTML <option> element
> anymore, it's some DHTML thingy.

I also just noticed this. Though I don't suppose it makes a big difference at that point as Gmail is kind of beyond accessibility anyway, at least in its advanced version. The "basic HTML" version still has a normal select box. The "basic HTML" version is actually quite usable (which is kinda telling... because it also suddenly supports opening links in new windows, back button anywhere etc., lots of neat features!)... except for lack of auto-completion in addresses.

Now that they have complete power over that dropdown box – I suppose that was the idea of turning it into a DHTML box – I wonder why they don't "ghost" menu entries that don't make sense in a specific context though. E.g. if you select no message, you can still expand the menu and click a label to apply it, only to get the warning message "No conversation selected". Menu ghosting was invented specifically for that situation, to show that there is an entry, but to indicate that it's inactive right now, and so that it won't allow you to focus it.

Nice! But when I sync with my phone (via outlook first) I guess I still need to first go through my contacts and delete all the unsubsribewhatever.coms.

Have you seen any of these things? blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=750

<< Now that they have complete power over that dropdown box... >>

I was expecting to be able to filter that list of labels in the drop down. Right now, if you've got lots of labels, finding one right at the bottom can be a pain. If you could just click the "More actions" box and start typing, that would be much better.

These updates definitely seem to have focused on contact management.

FYI – if anyone is using the "Better Gmail" Firefox extension there seems to be a conflict. I couldn't get the new contacts page to come up until I disabled this extension.

> Have you seen any of these things?
> blogs.zdnet.com/Google/?p=750

Hmm, no, can't seem to see Gears, or the other things mentioned by Garett... but maybe Gears is being developed somewhere, but just not part of this controlled test rollout...

> FYI – if anyone is using the "Better Gmail" Firefox extension there seems
> to be a conflict. I couldn't get the new contacts page to come up until I
> disabled this extension.

I was thinking about that... probably a lot of extensions or programs (mailplane for example) which use GMail will stop working... poor developers :)

In fact, and looking at the HTML code is a little more difficult to create Greasemonkey scripts for GMail since there are a lot of cryptic classnames and very few node identifiers.

Wow
I want it! But I can't see it yet :(

And I still don't have IMAP... :(

I still don't have IMAP yet either.... i am not sure what the hold up is!

I have IMAP ... but only in some limited purposes accounts I have, not in my "main" gmail account that all the mail gets forwarded to. :-[ Grrr.

How long will we have to wait for these to roll out?

New version? I'm still waiting for my IMAP! :(

I got the new version by default and I'm 70% happy now.

for those havent get the IMAP rolled/newer Gmail, change ur Language settings to English (US)... I am sure Gmail will be updated after u refresh ur page. Thats what i did.

Yep, I'm getting the new version too, I must say it's much sleeker looking that the older version and the contacts 'pane' is much better than the older one – is google rolling this out to everyone now?

The new contacts look great, and I can't wait to get my hands on the new UI too. I think this is another "beta life cycle" that the Gmail is going to undergo. Rolling out and testing features like it was 2004 again. But it would be a lot faster this time since they already have a baseline to start with, specially with the UI. While I have no serious gripes with the current, UI, it looks really "flat" to me, and with the advances of the other two competitors in the looks division, I'm hoping Gmail will also improve its overall appearance. I kinda like the gradient in the pop-up of the profile as seen on Luka's screenshot above.

I don't even have IMAP yet, let alone the 2.0 version of Gmail.. sigh

I have IMAP, but can't get 2.0. I've tried signing in and out, and wiping ALL my cookies from Firefox. NOTHING! It's not fair. :`(

i have two gmail accounts
ones a hosted account and ones a bog standard @gmail.com

i dont even have imap on the gmail account but i have imap on the hosted account

is there any way of getting the new ui on the hosted account?
how would i write the url?

"and I can't wait to get my hands on the new UI too"

Is it confirmed that a new UI is coming? Or is the the full extent of the upgrades/changes?

The new version looks great, can't wait to test it out. ... though I still don't have IMAP ... forget it.

gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10 ...

It will be possible to bookmark search result or important mails for a quicker access.

They also say that new features will be easier to add in the future...

I have the IMAP, no version 2.0 though :-(

Storage has increased. I had 2-point-something before and now have 4487 Mbytes with the new UI

Any sign of a preview panel, or do we still need to use that Greasmonkey script.

How about the search function, anyone tried it out? Any difference?

So going to mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2 while i was logged in didn't do anything but when i signed out and tried that same url again and logged in through that page, gmail loaded with the url mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1 which as Kirby pointed out, should be the new UI, but nopthing is changed

it loads slower, and i'm hating the fact that i can't hide the chat box on the right column as i could with the old version.

WHen I try to open the new version link it redirects me to the same old page at mail.google.com/mail/

:-?? Wondering

I'm still getting the old version too :(

me either. I starting to be bored by google. It's takes so much time for everthing. I don't have IMAP, so i think i have to wait next 2 weeks or more for IMAP and gmail 2.0

you made the front page of reddit.com Philip.
well done.

2.0 Probably is better, but why wasn't there anything implemented from the "Better Gmail"-plugin, like html-signatures or other handy things?

Google has officially re-defined the meaning of "beta"...
it now means "sorry if we delete your data"

This part is interesting:

"One side effect of this change is that if you're using third-party Gmail extensions, they're likely to stop working. We've contacted a number of the developers behind some popular extensions and provided them with an opportunity to create fixes, so check back with them for updates. We're sorry that it may be a bit of a inconvenience, but we're trying to make this change as smooth as possible."

Previously some people fired that using third-part Gmail extensions may be against Gmail Term of Service and may even make your account shout down. I guess not...

Cool!

<< Previously some people fired that using third-part Gmail extensions may be against Gmail Term of Service and may even make your account shout down. I guess not... >>

I think it depends what the extensions do. In the past, I think it's extensions which have made too many requests in a specific small time period that have got accounts suspended.

[Moved from "Gmail Updated Features for FireFox 2 & IE 7" – Tony]

gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10 ...

...the Gmail team has been working on a structural code change that we'll be rolling out to Firefox 2 and IE 7 users over the coming weeks (with other browsers to follow). You won't notice too many differences to start with, but we're using a new model that enables us to iterate faster and share components (we now use the same rich text editor as Groups and Page Creator, and the Contact Manager can be seen in several Google apps). A few other things you will notice are some new keyboard shortcuts and the ability to bookmark specific messages and email searches.

We have also been fanatical about speed. Even on a fast Internet connection, it can take a second to request and render a new web page, and when you read a lot of mail, these seconds can accumulate to hours waiting for email to load. We've spent a lot of time profiling all parts of the application, shaving milliseconds off wherever we can, and figuring out workarounds for some pretty deep-rooted issues with the current browser implementations. Some of the most common actions should be faster now

How about giving us the ability to insert pictures from PicasaWeb directly into the message? The insert image functionality is something that Gmail sorely needs.

Does the new contacts have a way to flag email addresses as old or obsolete? This is needed to keep someone's emails all together as they change addresses over time, yet not use the old addresses for auto-complete where composing.

I dont get this feature yet

I'd like to be able to merge two messages from gmail... often a RE: gets in a thread and I have two message threads when there should be one. How hard can it be to merge two threads; they all have time stamps!

On the same note, why not split a message! Often I come to a point in a thread where the topic meanders, or i get into a private discussion. Should I take the effort and compose a new message when a reply box is right there? no, that isn't as productive. Split isn't a difficult feature either.

I'd also like to be able to find messages that aren't in an label... doing a long search with -label:... etcetera actually doesn't work! I get messages that I thought I excluded! When i first started using gmail, i didn't like the labels, I don't know why. But since then I've OCD'ed in labelling everything and clicking 'see next 50', 40times to make sure everything is labelled.

These things just seem basic extensions to the features that exist. you want to put everything with labels instead of folders? Ok, What's not in a folder? You want to thread messages? Well, why can't I split and merge on that same token? These things are obvious relatively easy improvements that would make this application so much more usable.

<< On the same note, why not split a message! Often I come to a point in a thread where the topic meanders, or i get into a private discussion. Should I take the effort and compose a new message when a reply box is right there? >>

You've always been able to do this. Simply click the "Edit Subject" and you'll be able to enter a new subject which will also split the thread for both you and the recipient.

[OT] but not so OT

why does gmailv1.0 still have the "invite a friend" section with a count of invites still there ?

afterall gmail is open for everyone correct ??

/pd
Its open for everyone, but STILL if you want to invite a friend of yours who is not so tech savvy & don't know about gmail yet.
Google doesn't want to take a chance. See its still in beta :)

There are still many improvements that could be made, but overall this is a very good improvement to the contact management portion of Gmail!

Would like to see more standard input fields such as Birthday (and then link it to calendar) and website.

Working with groups is much easier, and the print & export features work well.

I just noticed I can access the New Version. Actually, I noticed the new version because my Better Gmail extension and other goodies weren't working. That's driving me crazy!

When I click on contacts......I get a blank page. Other than that, i don't see much change.

Still don't have the new version on my Apps Account... Grrr... At least, I got IMAP...

Oddly enough the old accounts seem to be the one's that are taking longest to change. I have a new account thats a couple weeks old which has had all changes immediately and signing up for a new account also gives you the new features. My primary account however which i've had since Gmail rolled out, has not yet been updated.

My guess is that Google is working on the bugs and making sure stuff works in a controlled roll-out to relatively new members to make sure things are running smoothly by the time it gets to the long time users.

I don't know. I been with Gmail since the begginig and I do not have any of the new features. Why is it Google so slow to implement them for everybody at the same time and why are the loyal users left behind :-(

It looks fine.

Funny, my OLDEST and primary Google account (EARLY 2005) is the only one that has switched over. Then again, that account has the least storage used and got IMAP pretty quickly too (only ~200 MB used so far).

Loading speed is iffy. The initial load is always 1-2 seconds longer for me (Firefox 2.0.0.8). Sometimes I trigger a weird bug and things stop working. So the prefetching improvement is a mixed bag.

Switching between messages in the same folder (using Newer/Older) is Outlook fast, though.

Love the bigger buttons for Email/Chat/More.

Love the consistent browser Back/Forward button behavior.

I see filtering hasn't improved (*grumble*), but the new Contact gadget is much better. I would like a "select All/None" quick check box for the contact list. I've been spoiled by it in my inbox. And yes, I called it a gadget because eventually it will BE a gadget across all Google services. They said as much.

Can't wait to see what they build on this new base. Classic Gmail (1.x) ultimately gave us quite a robust feature set in a friendly and usable interface. Good on you Google for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater in developing GMail 2.x.
  

Ryan – I've been using Gmail since the beginning as well. I guess I got......lucky.....if that's what you want to call it.

My contacts are still not working in the New version. Annoying.

For those of you getting blank screens when trying to access Contacts in Firefox, make sure you disable the Better Gmail extension because that is the cause. Once it's disabled and you restart your browser, Contacts should work.

I haven't gotten anything new, IMAP or new UI. A user on one of the Gmail user groups on Google Groups suggested that Google rolls out alphabetically, perhaps by username. Since I'm a V, it'll be a while... I can't wait, though. Here's to hoping Gmail Macros is updated by the time I get the new UI.

<< A user on one of the Gmail user groups on Google Groups suggested that Google rolls out alphabetically, perhaps by username. >>

Interesting theory but I don't think it's true. Not unless there's also something which excludes updates for usernames with dots in them.

I reckon its more likely down to which datacentre your main account details are stored in. That makes more sense really (if they do a dc at a time).

From InformationWeek:
<<A Google spokeswoman said the new look has been made available to about 1% of all Gmail users and is being rolled out to the rest on an ongoing basis.>>

And, on another issue:
<<She also said the upgrade isn't being called Gmail 2.0.>>
informationweek.com/news/showA ...

Isn't being called 2.0? Perhaps not officially to the press... but internally, two indicators seem to suggest it may indeed be called that:
1. "Gmail 2.0" was mentioned in Google's internal company goals last year (perhaps, or perhaps not related to this upcoming release)
2. the URL when you switch to it reads "mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2", hinting at a version number 2.

Maybe the full Gmail v2 will roll out with Google's Maka-Maka social layer. I would have thought that Gmail v2 would have a different design to be honest.

Gmail 2.0 breaks Gmail Manager FF Extension:
forums.mozillazine.org/viewtop ...

peekay: As Google stated in the Gmail Blog the new version breaks every almost extension/app based on Gmail that relay on the HTML/JS code.

I only hope they will allow us to have some form of "Saved replies" that would help business answer the same question on and on.

For those of you that want the new version, but don't want to wait for GMail to officially give it to you, just goto mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2 and you will get the new version in your account. It will add the "Older Version" link next to Settings, and you can easily switch between the two. One thing is that if you have the Conversation Preview greasemonkey script, the new Contacts module won't work...it will just give you a white screen.

Also, at the original post, you can turn off chat, they just changed how to
"Gmail view: standard | turn off chat | basic HTML"

That URL doesn't work if the new version is not enabled for your account.

 blogoscoped.com/forum/112687.h ...
Great, I'd be last!

Doesn't make sense. I'm a b and don't even have imap. I've been using gmail for years. Maybe accounts w/ >2gig aren't updated as fast... I have another that has been updated. :)

Here is some:

kemal.bioeng-network.org/2007/ ...

[URL fixed – Tony]

Hi, I've a gmail account but have not seen anything yet... Just a question for the lucky ones: is it now possible to store the contact's birthday or anniversary? Integration with google calendar would just be the thing... :-)

I didn't know I had it until I saw this page, but, I've been using it already since at the top of mine I had 'older version'. Looks the same to me, at least for the features I use.

Hey, i've got IMAP now! :D

I don't see anythign for birthday/contacts, but it looks like you can chat with AIM, Yahoo, and other IM clients via the gmail interface. I need to investigate further.

"That URL doesn't work if the new version is not enabled for your account."
My apologies, but I must ask, how do you know if it has been enabled? I would have assumed that they would enable it and give you the option to switch to the old version, but I did not have that link until I went to that URL...

A birthday field is a very basic, yet important, field and it's upsetting to see that Gmail still does not have it. Just about every other contact manager has that field. To make Gmail Contacts stand out, it would integrate birthdays with Google Calendar.

ive got it i think thats because i was one fo the first beta testers

"My apologies, but I must ask, how do you know if it has been enabled? I would have assumed that they would enable it and give you the option to switch to the old version, but I did not have that link until I went to that URL..."

I didn't know it was active on my account until I clicked that link, either, mainly because I still had a browser window open with the old version. That might have been the case with you as well.

From Matt B:
"I don't see anythign for birthday/contacts, but it looks like you can chat with AIM, Yahoo, and other IM clients via the gmail interface. I need to investigate further."

Where are you seeing that functionality? It'd be pretty cool to have all my chats in the browser window.

I noticed that I've been upgraded to "GMail 2.0" as well, although I thought it was just a way Leopard generated Firefox drop down menus. I guess it was a Google change and not an Apple Leopard upgrade thing.

One of the things I noticed is that the speed has been (greatly) improved. I say that in paranthesis because overall speed is still about the same. The difference is that in GMail 1.0, browsing GMail would cause my Firefox to lock up for several seconds (the Apple beachball rolling around). This would often be extremely annoying as I couldn't do anything in Firefox while it locked up. I have not seen GMail lock up a single time since I have been upgraded!

Still looks like total shit.

It may work very well but it looks like shit. Can they not hire a decent design team to provide something that looks good?

Look at Yahoo's new format. Looks great (minus the ads).

cbmeeks

I'm more interested in the IMAP connector than a new interface, and I haven't even gotten that. I don't have much mail stored, but I use the account daily and have had it for years. Not sure what their method for rollout is, but I'd personally like to see a complete rollout of something before starting the next item.

Nimdae: GMail is a HUGE e-mail service, it's distributed over many computers. Upgrading is not as easy as replacing a PHP script or something like that!
Also, think about the problems of a big migration: if something goes wrong, then every user is going to have problems! However, if you add features little by little you can easily spot and isolate problems before they are big problems.
Having two new features being rolled out is better than one, because we (the users) want to have the better experience available. So I see no reason to wait for the first feature to be fully implemented to start deploying the second one.

By the way, I have IMAP too now, but I can't see the switch to the new version yet.

Like I said earlier, anyone wishing to test out the new version only has to sign up for a new account to take a look at it – they get it automatically. I still have not had my primary account thats a few years old updated yet but did get IMAP and most of the other features/updates they've added on the initial rollout day so I guess its my turn to be last in line on this one...

I just signed up for a new account – but with the same old Gmail interface. Jason's suggestion doesn't work.

Worked for me! Make sure you choose US English

I've signed up for 5 different accounts to re-check it for you Alan and got the new one every single time. I also had two accounts that were about two weeks old, they were also updated immediately when the update was available. The only two accounts that haven't updated for me are my two accounts that I actually use and are both 3+ years old.

"Plus, Drew says he can’t hide the chat anymore."

Turning chat on/off option is at the bottom of the screen:
[Gmail view: standard | turn on chat | basic HTML]
The new version didn't transfer that particular preference from the old settings though, hence the apparent confusion.

Got upgraded to the new interface – at least, the "Older Version" link along my menu bar leads me to believe this is the case. Firefox now detects the Chat pop-ups as pop-ups, and tries to block them, where this wasn't the case in the previous version.