Gmail by Google beta logo. Courtesy Google. New features
I logged into my Gmail account yesterday -- yes, it's still in beta -- and noticed a couple of changes that were trumpeted by a link which exclaimed "New Features!" in bright red letters, like so.

I now regret that I didn't take some screenshots the first time I logged in. That would have made it easier to track the evolution of the interface and make it easier to illustrate what I will now attempt to describe with words.

Contacts

The first change I noticed was that the Contacts link ("address book" for users of other e-mail services) had been moved from the upper right to the left column, drawing attention to itself with a "New!" red text flag. Click the link and the yellow-bordered Contacts view replaces the Inbox view.

The ability to search those contacts and search your Inbox for all messages from a person with one click on your Contacts list is a useful feature that will surely be replicated by Microsoft Hotmail and Yahoo in short order.

Atom XML feed, Gmail as platform & authentication
The other notable change was the addition of an Atom button/link at the bottom of the left column, beneath the Labels menu item. (The button is gone now, which makes me regret not taking the screenshots all over again.)

Presumably the link is to let end-users view their Gmail inboxes with a standard newsreader or integrate their e-mail into a blog, intranet or custom Web page using an Atom XML feed.

It may not be for everyone but a subset of the technologically-inclined -- who presumably are the majority of Gmail users -- will love this feature.

I have a hunch that the Gmail Notifier application that sits in the Windows system tray and alerts users to new mail pulls its information from an Atom feed. Independent programmers have already come up with all sorts of unauthorized hacks that use Gmail, so the unveiling of the Atom feed looks like an opportunity for those programmers to develop new hacks with the tacit permission of Google. This is a smart move that in a small way sets the stage for Gmail to become a platform upon which third-party software and services are based. We have already seen it on the search side with the Google API.

I have some questions and concerns about how access to the Atom XML feed will be restricted, how authentication of its users will work and how integrity of that information will be maintained.

Invitations link, interface consistency & design methodology
A pseudo-cosmetic change includes the removal of the blue bar across the top of the interface that exhorted me to "Invite x friends to Gmail" (where x represents the number of Gmail invitations I had left to distribute). It's been changed back to some red text in the left column as it was before. The thing that I find interesting about this is -- to the casual observer -- it almost seems as if the human-computer interface designers are engaged in a tug-of-war about where to put particular elements.

The more likely case is that the designers are testing different iterations of the interface to determine which design and placement appeals to the widest possible audience.

While testing multiple designs of an interface is a standard method to determine which design is best, switching back and forth is a bad idea. Changes of this sort are usually an unwelcome surprise to end-users. In this case it means a relatively minor adjustment to the way specific functionality is accessed and a particular feature is used. In the general sense it can be a confusing and frustrating experience when parts of the interface keep moving around and the user has to repeatedly relearn how to use a product or service. Imagine if the interface on your favourite piece of software changed every two months and menu items shifted around, or if the layout of the dashboard in your car changed every few months.

There is an expectation of consistency by end-users.

Forwarding & Drafts
Some not-so apparent changes include the ability to forward Gmail to another account and the ability to save drafts, which Google admits should have been in there from the start.

An excerpt from the Gmail Help Center (hyperlinked bullets/headings are my edits):

Updated: 5-October 2004

Some features we know you've wanted (and one we should have had all along):

  • Gmail Notifier
    Want to know if you've got new mail? Let us do the checking so you don't have to. Find out when new messages arrive, and even see their subjects, senders and snippets, all without having to open a web browser. Learn more
  • Search your contacts
    With the new and improved Contacts list, search for a contact as easily as you would a message in Gmail. Add notes and phone numbers. View messages directly from the Contacts list. Stay in touch with the people in your life more easily than ever before. Learn more
  • Automatic forwarding to another email account
    We're testing a new feature that lets you forward new incoming messages to any email account you want. It's free during the test and you can set it up in seconds. Even set up filters to forward only some of your messages. It's your mail. Get it the way you want it. Learn more
  • And finally... Save Drafts!
    For when you can't find the right words, save drafts and find them later. Learn more
An aside: I am a bit surprised about the "Learn more" links. Eyetrack studies have shown that when Web users scan pages, they stop on headings and links. "Learn more" is a terrible phrase to link. It doesn't give you any information about the content beyond the link, it assumes that you have read through a typically drawn-out description, and it doesn't help search engines classify the content behind the link very well.

Business strategy
The ability to forward e-mail is "free during the test" which implies that Google will begin charging for some of the functionality in Gmail. While not a complete surprise, this is the first indication I can recall that Google will start charging for the Gmail service.

Now that Google is a public company it has to think about new opportunities for consumer revenues beyond its AdWords/AdSense business that serves content-matched targeted text ads to sites around the Web and to Gmail users.

This opens a door to a basic, free Gmail service (as Google promised) and a Gmail Premium service with enhanced functionality that one assumes would aim to obviate the need for a local, dedicated e-mail client (e-mail software on your PC, in plain English). 

Google is one of the few companies with the design, technical and financial resources -- and more importantly the user base -- to popularize this type of Web services application. The idea of a network-centric software services model is one that stands in direct contrast to the philosophy of Intel and Microsoft, whose collective position amounts to the idea that the desktop PC is the core of communications, entertainment and lifestyle applications.

Whether people will be willing to give up their PC-based e-mail application for a Web-mail type hosted service that they access through a Web browser remains to be seen.

I'm not one of those people but I can see the attraction for those that are.