Google Promotes Six, Retires Five Features – Gmail Labs

Google has always tried to improve gmail experience for its users, recent example to this is the inclusion of Google Buzz, making gmail a place for social networking or, the Gmail labs feature that was introduced more than a year ago, allowing developers to add functionality to gmail and making it easy to use.

Google labs has 60 features, that can be used to enhance gmail experience. Based on user feedback, some features were made a regular part of gmail and some have been removed. Following similar steps, google made an announcement at gmail blog graduating six Gmail Labs features and Retiring five. Here’s a list for the same-

Graduating:

1. Search Autocomplete – Suggests keywords, labels, names while typing in gmail search box.
2. Go To Label – Easy access to labels.
3. Forgotten Attachment Detector – Scans your mail, and prevents sending the mail without the important attachments.
4. YouTube Previews – Watch youtube videos within your email.
5. Custom Label Colors – Create custom color pallette for the labels you use.
6. Vacation Dates – Configures your vacation responder in advance.

Retiring:

1. Muzzle – Hides chat status messages from friends.
2. Fixed Width Font – View message in fixed width font.
3. Email Addict – Closes gmail for 15 minutes providing much needed break to gmail addicts.
4. Location in Signature – Includes status location in your signature.
5. Random Signature – Displays random quotes for your signature.

Categorizing the features must have been a tough decision. From the blog post-

These decisions were made based based mainly on usage, taking feature polish and your feedback into account. We’ve also tweaked some of the graduating features to improve them before making them default Gmail features. For example, we’ve combined Go To Label with Search Autocomplete, making it easier than ever for you to find what you’re looking for.

Now, it will be interesting if google introduces Gmail Labs feature with the Google Buzz application, which will correctly connect gmail contacts.

[Link- Gmail Blog ]

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