Google overhauls Gmail under the hood

Google is making major structural code changes to Gmail and rolling them out slowly. The user interface changes are pretty subtle and you might not even notice them. But the code modifications likely presage more significant design and function improvements to come.

To tell if your account has been affected, a hyperlink at the top of the screen will say "older version" or "newer version," allowing you to choose which version to use.

(Credit: Google)

One thing you might notice is that mail browsing is faster. Google pre-fetches messages in the current view, so when you open an e-mail your browser doesn't have to communicate with the server; it just displays the message instead.

Also, the contact manager interface has changed so that the contact data is in an easier-to-read format. There are also some new keyboard shortcuts and now you can bookmark specific messages and e-mail searches.

One side effect of the coding changes, however, is that third-party Gmail extensions are likely to stop working, Google says.

[vava73]

content filtering

Will my personal gmail emails then get caught and analyzed by my workplace company's email filters (likes of Vontu), even without me reading them? Just because I open my gmail page?
I'm not exactly happy about the prefetch.

[Que.Ball]

Work vs home

Ok, first lets state the obvious. Your workplace can and probably should filter your email. If you are concerned about this then maybe you should wait until you get home. Always assume someone is looking over your shoulder at work.

Second, use https://mail.google.com to login and it will stay in SSL encrypted mode even after you log in. If you use the standard http:// link then your login page is encrypted but then it switches back to an unencrypted connection which your office firewall will have no trouble reading. But they can still read the SSL traffic with software installed on the client PC if they want to go that far. Screenshot type monitoring programs, keystroke loggers etc can all be installed on a corporate PC. You have no rights to privacy when using a company resource.

[i_made_this]

You can use...

...this 3rd party developer tool which encrypts your gmail sessions by default and also gives you a number of other privacy tools when using gmail and the rest of Google's programs= http://www.customizegoogle.com Still, there's ultimately no such thing as privacy in a corporate setting. Your company can easily install hardware hacks like keystroke loggers that are essentially impossible for you to detect.

[Galaxy5]

Perpetual Beta?

Am I the only one who thinks that Google is diluting the meaning of "feature complete, but not yet fully tested"?

By this time, the world thinks Beta means that software is in a
perpetual state of unfinished flux. If Google's going to change
the meaning of Beta, we need a new definition for software that
is feature complete but not yet fully tested.

Perhaps "Gmailish" "Vistaed" or "Leopardy" would do.

[techfornovices]

Its a week old

This news is atleast a week old if not more...

[bcbeatty]

Too slow for starup

I'm consistently getting a Script takes too long message from Gmail. A new web page to "help" the user.
I load Gmail at startup of firefox.
I've disable add-ins for the old version but the error still happens.

[kumaresh]

Its good as the Google changes for good

Its good that at last google changes its prestegious gmail used by millions for a better look and convenience of the public....Welldone...- kumaresh
fron India.....