I was going to write a short entry here in which I mention an update that I made to a Greasemonkey script that I wrote that works with Gmail. The update to this script that redirects the user from the newer version of Gmail to the older one was released two days ago. I am writing about this update this long after its release, as I considered it much more important to write the updated version of this script than the blog post associated with this update. I have found that the script works more reliably now, although that may not matter as much to those who have used it. It was as I was writing this post that the new version of Gmail, often referred to as Gmail 2.0, had updates made to it that should make more Gmail users prefer using the newer version to the older one. Much is being said about the new feature that enables a user to add colour codes to labels, which is a feature that can be considered a more user-friendly version of a feature that was previously only available via this Greasemonkey script. However, perhaps more importantly, Gmail 2.0 no longer seems to run as slowly as it did.
Many of the blogs that would be expected to have entries informing its readers of these changes have reported these updates that have been made to Gmail. In addition to this news being posted on the Official Gmail Blog, information on these updates has been posted on Lifehacker, and on Google Operating System. It was the post on Google Operating System in which it was said that Gmail “doesn’t cache messages so aggressively” anymore. And it certainly was quite important that this change was made to message caching, as this caching was apparently what caused Gmail to run slowly. If the feature that enabled users to add colours to labels were the only one added to Gmail, then this upgrade may have been considered equivalent to giving a car with engine problems a new paint job. There are those who may like having improved versions of features available via Greasemonkey scripts added to Gmail, but it was more important for the Gmail team to focus on the main issue that many users had with it.
Gmail may be considered by many to be the best web-based e-mail service currently available. However, there will continue to be changes made to it in attempts to improve it. In fact, it seems that another feature that may be inspired by a Greasemonkey script may be on its way. According to what was written in the post by Dave Cohen on the Official Gmail Blog, “work to add some folder-y-ish functionality” is being done by those working on Gmail. And so it seems that the next Greasemonkey script for Gmail to be made redundant by new Gmail features is the one known as Folders4Gmail.
Perhaps features we will see in Gmail in the future will be based on scripts that I mentioned in my last entry here. As you can see, one of these scripts has been rendered redundant, and another mentioned there may be considered unnecessary soon. And maybe a few new features will be based on those that can be used when one has the Better Gmail or Better Gmail 2 extensions installed on Firefox. According to some comments that I have read, not everyone seems to be pleased with the new features available in this new version of Gmail. However, there will be improvements made to it that could make more of its users prefer using the newer version. And so hopefully in the future, it is this script for redirection to the older version that I have updated that will be considered redundant.
Submit this entry to any of these sites: del.icio.us Digg Furl Reddit blogmarks Google Spurl StumbleUpon Technorati Yahoo!
7 Comments
I just installed your gmail redirect script. I am also using Gmail Notifier. Despite the fact that it uses https://mail.google.com/mail/ to open the Gmail inbox, it opens in the new version. I’m puzzled because looking at your script, it looks like it should “catch” that and redirect to the old version. Is there any troubleshooting I should do on my end that may help you figure this out? Thanks.
Hello Ray, and thank you for your feedback.
As you may know, I have recently updated this script, and have found that it successfully redirects the user to the older version. However, I have not used it with Gmail Notifier. I will try to use it with Gmail Notifier and run tests on it whenever I get the chance to do so.
Also, I would like to know every URL that appears in the browser’s address bar when accessing Gmail this way. I would also like to know if the script works when accessing Gmail by simply entering the URL to access Gmail into the address bar of a web browser. Any information such as this that you can give would be appreciated. As I mentioned in this post, I will continue to do what I can to ensure that this script works as intended.
Thanks again,
J.K.
I have tried using this script when accessing Gmail through the Gmail Notifier extension and it does open Gmail using https://mail.google.com/mail/ as the URL. However, this was a case that the script did not handle. It has been updated to handle that case, and it seems to work correctly with the extension now. In addition, it seems to redirect more quickly and efficiently. The updated version of the script can be downloaded from here.
Thanks again,
J.K.
Hi Jake,
Just began using this script, as the old workaround of changing the gmail language setting to UK English no longer works.
The script works fine, except in the following situation:
Clicking through to gmail via the iGoogle (aka personalized Google homepage) gmail widget seems to bypass the script and bring up the new gmail version. The URL scheme the widget uses is as follows:
http://mail.google.com/mail/?account_id=myemail%40gmail.com
http://mail.google.com/mail/?account_id=myemail%40gmail.com#inbox
http://mail.google.com/mail/?account_id=myemail%40gmail.com#otherfolder
I tried manually adding these URLs and wildcards thereof in the Included Pages for the script within greasemonkey, but somehow the script is still bypased and I continue to get the new gmail version when using the gmail widget.
I’m guessing this is a similar issue to the notifier extension problem above. Is it possibly something you can fix?
Thanks so much. Love the script.
Hello Adam, and thank you for your feedback.
I do not usually use iGoogle, and so I did not know about the redirection being unsuccessful when accessing Gmail from it. However, I am quite sure that this can be corrected fairly easily. In fact, I expect to have this corrected sometime within the next week.
Thanks again,
J.K.
Excellent, I’ll be on the lookout for the new version. I poked around inside the script and tried to fix the iGoogle issue myself, but didn’t have much luck. Probably best left to the experts, as they say.
It would be nice if Google offered a persistent gmail version setting, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. In the meantime, your script does a wonderful job at fixing something Google should have gotten right in the first place.
Thanks.
I have updated the script so that it should redirect you to the older version of Gmail when accessing Gmail via iGoogle. It performed the redirection successfully in the tests that I performed with it. However, if you are still having any difficulty with the script, please inform me and I will do what I can to ensure it will work as well as it should. Once again, the script can be downloaded from here.
Thanks,
J.K.
Post a Comment