Comments on: I Need Some Spacing

By: Personalized Kids Wall Art

Personalized Kids Wall Art — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:14:15 +0000

A great example of how subtle changes in design and paying attention to small details like elements lining up on the page can make a huge difference in the cleanliness, user-friendliness and ease of navigation throughout the site. Especially a site like gmail where you frequently visit the page, the small changes make a huge difference in readability and overall aesthetics.

By: Web Design - ZachBrowne.com

Web Design - ZachBrowne.com — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:00:39 +0000

[…] along…). But after throwing together a quick little (you guessed it) hover/tab/thingy for my previous article, I thought I was fun enough to share, in case you find a need for […]

By: Dan Rubin

Dan Rubin — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:15:38 +0000

@Jason: I’ve been meaning to look into that, I just didn’t want to go down a rabbit hole of constant updates and tweaks to accommodate the little changes Google seems fond of pushing on a regular basis (see Jon Hicks’ Google Reader stylesheet, lots of work for very little return…)

That said, I’d also be ok if someone wanted to take my adjustments and turn them into a Stylish “theme” or even just a plain old user stylesheet. The changes are primarily spacing-related, with the exception of a few type size changes and an extra button that might require Greasemonkey or similar.

By: Jason Robb

Jason Robb — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:56:08 +0000

Hey Dan, seriously convert that design into a Stylish CSS Doc and share the love! I created my own Stylish version of Gmail, and I'd love to get that baseline grid in there, too. What did the trick, mostly line-height tweaks?

By: Kris Black

Kris Black — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:01:13 +0000

I like your redesign a lot. Nothing major, just a simple adjustment to what is already a great email system.

By: Jambe

Jambe — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 08:56:42 +0000

You'd think they'd act on it given how obvious the improvement is and how little work they'd have to do. You should convert your design into a Stylish CSS document... people would eat it right up (I would, anyway).

By: Dan Rubin

Dan Rubin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 07:10:25 +0000

@Colin: Yeah yeah, I know better than to believe it ;)

@Noel: thanks — they have, actually, just over a year ago when I presented these comps as part of my interview process. I can only speculate of course on the problems that exist within Google’s structure with regards to design (with Doug and staff on hand they certainly aren’t lacking in the talent area), but they clearly have issues making progress in the design area.

It’s an engineering-focused company, so although disappointing from the outside, ultimately it’s not a surprise.

By: Noel Hurtley

Noel Hurtley — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:24:03 +0000

Awesome work Dan. Hopefully someone at Google has seen this!

By: Colin Devroe

Colin Devroe — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:18:21 +0000

I’m a Mail.app guy myself. But, if Gmail was designed by either you or Khoi, I may have switched a long time ago. ;)

By: A grid redesign & “refactoring” of GMail | The Blog Herald

A grid redesign & “refactoring” of GMail | The Blog Herald — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:07:44 +0000

[…] without making major changes to G-Mail, Dan Rubin has refactored and relaid the GMail design onto a grid layout, added some spacing, and made a much […]