November 19, 2008

Have you looked at Gmail lately?

They just added "themes"... allowing you to select different templates to display your mail. I'm enjoying "shiny." Maybe you'd like "terminal."

ADDED: Apparently, this is being "rolled out" over the next few days, so you might not be able to do it yet. I noticed it was available when I was automatically switched to the new default. (It's possible to go back to the original look by choosing "classic.") I also had a message at the top of the page to click to the themes choices, so it was obvious what to do. You can try going into settings and seeing if you've got a "themes" tab. Good luck!

34 comments:

Ben (The Tiger in Exile) said...

Terminal is cool, but I'm for Mountain.

Freeman Hunt said...

I'm glad you posted this because I didn't notice that I had template choices and just thought that my Gmail had turned ugly.

Freeman Hunt said...

Oh, and I love Dusk.

dualdiagnosis said...

I don't see it, where?

Bissage said...

I have no idea what you all are talking about but still I’m headed ineluctably toward “Bingtingolicious.”

Meade said...

I've been trying "cold shower" all day but even that doesn't seem to help.

Maxine Weiss said...

Pretentious and grandiose

ricpic said...

Could someone email me instructions on how to change my email to Gmail? Baby step instructions in english not computerese as I am computer primitive. I have a Mac which tells me it doesn't have the capacity to send out actual sized (large) images of my photos via email. I have been told Gmail is the answer to that problem.
Thanks in advance.

Meade said...

What's your email address, ric?

blake said...

No, I don't see any theme options on it anywhere at all.

I have an "older version" option that looks identical to my "newer version", tho'. Heh. "Beta".

ricpic, what you say doesn't exactly make sense. But if it's gmail you want, you just have to sign up for it.

mail.google.com

blake said...

That link didn't work.

This should.

ricpic said...

Thanks Meade and blake. So I just sign up? Great.

My email address: rsutta@twcny.rr.com

Don't know if gmail is the answer. It may not make sense but at least I can try it now.

Sprezzatura said...

I read that the themes are being rolled out. They said just keep checking back.

I think I read that it should be a tab in Settings, but I'm too lazy to look for it again.

I assumed that I wasn't part of the earlier roll out because I almost never use gmail. But, after reading some of your comments, it seems that the roll out may not have anything to do with how often folks use gmail.

Brian Doyle said...

I read a post about this on Techcrunch or Inquisitr that said it was a limited rollout, and I don't have a choice of themes on my Gmail, so I think Ann's just among the Elect.

jimspice said...

The themes aren't available to all just yet; as Google often does, it rolls out new features bit by bit, but suggests it should be available to all over the next several days. Gmail blog has more.

mrs whatsit said...

No themes available on mine yet. I wish that instead of useless bells and whistles of this sort, they'd make some substantive changes, like giving users more control over how the mail organizes and displays. I really dislike the "conversation" organizational scheme that seems to be forced on everyone. Or does someone know something I don't know about how to get rid of it?

blake said...

ricpic,

The real question is what is your e-mail client is and what your service is. Since you have a Time Warner address, their service is the limitation.

The Mac itself shouldn't be a limitation.

Sprezzatura said...

When will the BHO theme be ready?

I'm sure many folks would like to have their gmail match their iphone.

Ann Althouse said...

Try going into settings and then themes.

I noticed it because they automatically changed the look of it and then at the top was a message about something called "themes" which I could click on. That took me to a new page with a whole lot of templates, similar to the template choices you get in Blogger.

John Kindley said...

What a coincidence. I just changed my theme to "shiny" a couple hours ago. Gmail is the best. Another recent discovery is Google Reader. I can't believe in retrospect how primitive my blog visiting has been, and how much time I've wasted just going to the various blogs I frequent the old-fashioned way.

ricpic said...

Thanks blake. I'll contact Time Warner.

Alan said...

Ricpic, once you get an invite to gmail you should delete that comment with your email address.

dualdiagnosis said...

Yeah, not on mine yet.

BJM said...

What Alan said, posting your addy in the clear is an invite to bots.

Maybe I'm dense but why would one want to add theme bloat to email?

I use The Bat email client, it's clean, quick and flexible; add crap or not.

Eva said...

I like Tree....

Ann Althouse said...

"Maybe I'm dense but why would one want to add theme bloat to email?"

I chose one that made it clearer and easier to read.

BJM said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...

I chose one that made it clearer and easier to read.


Fully editable templates accomplish the same end; but then I don't use html email.

To each his own, which is why humans are endlessly interesting, entertaining and frustrating; often simultaneously, no?

Amy Taylor said...

Cherry Blossom is my favorite.

Donna B. said...

I just want my email fast and neat, I don't want themes.

This is akin to wanting snail mail to come in pretty envelopes isn't it?

Speed and ability to attach large files, that's all I want.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

I love it! I'm going with Planets, but I plan to change it periodically.

Darcy said...

This is frustrating, because I actually like the gmail features better than hotmail, but I've had too many instances where gmail was really slow to arrive compared to hotmail. And I'm not crazy about the "conversation" setup, either.

Thanks for the reminder on Google Reader, John K. I need to set that up!

amba said...

Don't got it yet. Guess I'm not a beta mail.

tim maguire said...

Interesting to see this on the same day you post a peon to the spare timeless and effective beauty of the Drudge Report. With each passing year, it seems Google is determined to screw it up and become the next Microsoft.

So long as I can keep the old version, I'll simply ignore the new ones.

Meade said...

I just realized that the theme "Tree" continually changes according to the local weather. Kind of cool.