I use a native app for my gmail so I'm not the target (although I'd certainly be interested if I were using the online interface), but here's some feedback on your homepage:
-Make your headline a different color other than white, because it's very hard to see with that background image.
-It took me scrolling "below the fold" to find out what it is this product does. I'd change your headline to something more concrete, like "Gmail, the way you want it" while also finding a way to move up some of the product-specific content higher up on the page.
-You also have way too much text and the two paragraphs that start with "Gmelius, pronounced 'Gmail'-'jus'..." seem unnecessarily long and distract me from finding out more about your project. I actually read that and just skipped past that whole block of text and later realized I had also overlooked your donation box.
-There's also too much text explaining the features, making those screenshots look tiny in comparison. I think you could just get rid of the descriptive text and keep the feature titles, like "Restore the old compose window" and "Experience Gmail without ads" without losing any of the message.
-Minor point: That red download box should explicitly tell me it's not supported for Safari, if you're detecting my browser. Right now it says "Free Download for Safari" in bold text with "Browser not supported" in a lighter typeface underneath. Like I said, minor, but I found it a bit confusing.
Thanks a lot for the feedback kyro! Your idea of headline sounds better indeed :) Regarding the amount of text, you have a point... Will try to prioritize pictures and key features. Thanks again. Best.
Also, a lot of the wording in the feature paragraphs is strange. I'm not sure if English is your second language or if you're just trying too hard to explain things. If it's the latter, just keep it simple. For example - "In Gmail, labels are placed at the very left of emails subjects. This has for main consequence to decrease the visibility of the content of your emails." The second sentence there reads like an output from Google Translate.
Out of curiosity, which native app do you use for Gmail?
I am asking because I have not found a satisfying native app for Gmail so far. Standard IMAP clients like Apple Mail and Thunderbird are usually in a constant struggle to update all the folders (labels) and new mail outside the inbox might show up with major delays in comparison to Gmail on the web (or in a browser-like client).
I've been using Sparrow for over a year now. It seems like they've stopped releasing updates, and lots of users (from what I'm reading on the App Store) are complaining of stability issues, but everything's fine here.
They were acquihired by Google. AirMail is a decent alternative though I find it a lot less stable than Sparrow, but use it because of the number of glaring problems Sparrow has that will never be fixed at this point. In the end I find AirMail a tad more usable.
Apple Mail and Thunderbird at least fail at keeping all folders (labels) up-to-date all the time. It usually works for the inbox but folders only get updated when you access them.
And – as a current example – Apple Mail (Mavericks) still show already read mails from yesterday as unread in the 'unread mail' smart folder. 'Synchronize' does not help.
Comments
I use a native app for my gmail so I'm not the target (although I'd certainly be interested if I were using the online interface), but here's some feedback on your homepage:
-Make your headline a different color other than white, because it's very hard to see with that background image.
-It took me scrolling "below the fold" to find out what it is this product does. I'd change your headline to something more concrete, like "Gmail, the way you want it" while also finding a way to move up some of the product-specific content higher up on the page.
-You also have way too much text and the two paragraphs that start with "Gmelius, pronounced 'Gmail'-'jus'..." seem unnecessarily long and distract me from finding out more about your project. I actually read that and just skipped past that whole block of text and later realized I had also overlooked your donation box.
-There's also too much text explaining the features, making those screenshots look tiny in comparison. I think you could just get rid of the descriptive text and keep the feature titles, like "Restore the old compose window" and "Experience Gmail without ads" without losing any of the message.
-Minor point: That red download box should explicitly tell me it's not supported for Safari, if you're detecting my browser. Right now it says "Free Download for Safari" in bold text with "Browser not supported" in a lighter typeface underneath. Like I said, minor, but I found it a bit confusing.
Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot for the feedback kyro! Your idea of headline sounds better indeed :) Regarding the amount of text, you have a point... Will try to prioritize pictures and key features. Thanks again. Best.
Also, a lot of the wording in the feature paragraphs is strange. I'm not sure if English is your second language or if you're just trying too hard to explain things. If it's the latter, just keep it simple. For example - "In Gmail, labels are placed at the very left of emails subjects. This has for main consequence to decrease the visibility of the content of your emails." The second sentence there reads like an output from Google Translate.
@kyro:
Out of curiosity, which native app do you use for Gmail?
I am asking because I have not found a satisfying native app for Gmail so far. Standard IMAP clients like Apple Mail and Thunderbird are usually in a constant struggle to update all the folders (labels) and new mail outside the inbox might show up with major delays in comparison to Gmail on the web (or in a browser-like client).
I've been using Sparrow for over a year now. It seems like they've stopped releasing updates, and lots of users (from what I'm reading on the App Store) are complaining of stability issues, but everything's fine here.
They were acquihired by Google. AirMail is a decent alternative though I find it a lot less stable than Sparrow, but use it because of the number of glaring problems Sparrow has that will never be fixed at this point. In the end I find AirMail a tad more usable.
+1 for AirMail. Its developer is moving quickly to get issues resolved.
How do such apps avoid to run into the usual Gmai-related IMAP issues? Is there an API for Gmail access?
Issues such as? I don't know as far as I know they just use IMAP. I do notice the occasional syncing issues though.
Google's implementation of IMAP is very weird. You may want to read this http://tidbits.com/article/14219
Apple Mail and Thunderbird at least fail at keeping all folders (labels) up-to-date all the time. It usually works for the inbox but folders only get updated when you access them.
And – as a current example – Apple Mail (Mavericks) still show already read mails from yesterday as unread in the 'unread mail' smart folder. 'Synchronize' does not help.