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0 pointsjjav5y ago0 comments

gmail, by so many orders of magnitude.. Email interface designed by people who seemingly have never tried to read email.

Threading is completely broken, filtering is broken, compose screen is unusable.

At previous companies I've had to use gmail but was able to use a sane email client via IMAP so it was almost ok (although still somewhat broken as gmail doesn't handle IMAP correctly). At current work they disable all access except via the unusable gmail web interface. So definitely gmail is the worst I have to put up with everyday.

jira would be a distant second, but no comparison.

0 comments

creativeembassy5y ago

Gmail was so groundbreaking when it first came out in 2004. AJAX was barely a thing, and Gmail used it in spades everywhere. I remember it being mindblowing when you didn't have to wait for full page refreshes for simple actions.

My problem is that it's remained frozen in time for years. Yeah, they tweak the visual design every few years. But so many other email clients have far surpassed it, and they've done nothing. Other than create Google Inbox. Which was amazing. And then Google shut it down. ️

jjavOP5y ago

> Gmail was so groundbreaking when it first came out in 2004.

Can't agree with that; I was there, got the tshirt.

Literally! I still have a tshirt from the gmail launch in 2004: "Google gave me a gig" (meaning 1 GB of storage).

It was mediocre then, terrible now. Hasn't really changed much other than UI tweaks.

sli5y ago

My main gripe with Gmail is how often it will take upwards of 20 seconds to delete/move/spam an email, evidenced by the tab complaining if I go to close it. It's an incredibly common issue and doesn't seem to be directly tied to the quality of my internet connection.

boring_twenties5y ago

What do you mean, done nothing? They break stuff all the time.

_1tan5y ago

Can you recommend a client that surpassed it?

azemetre5y ago

hey.com

I've only been using it for a few weeks but I like the aspect of the feed and the hand holding it does when categorizing emails.

It is paid, but it's by the same team that did Basecamp. It's very polished IMO.

ypcx5y ago

There was this Google Inbox thing which was loved by many including myself. A true successor to Gmail, in my opinion. But Google scrapped the project.

Edit: clarify

millimeterman5y ago

Inbox may have been a good concept but the actual software was horrible. The site took ages to load and was painfully slow.

PaulDavisThe1st5y ago

I've been using email since 1985. For me, gmail remains one of the best email experiences I've ever had. My only gripe would be the psuedo-enforcement of top-posting.

nikisweeting5y ago

I actually love Gmail's UI, I find the tagging, filterting, important/not-important, different colored starts, etc. all to be extremely powerful.

Anytime I try to switch to another client I find myself missing those features and end up going back.

hacker_newz5y ago

I agree about threading, but how is filtering and compose broken?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse