Resistance is Futile

After years of resistance, I’ve decided it’s time to relent. I am now using Gmail’s web interface for most of my email reading. I’ve used web based interfaces for email before, of course, but I never thought using one all the time made as much sense as using a desktop client. I’ve slowly changed my mind.

If you want to skip to the good stuff, I threw together a rough little Python script that build what I think are useful bookmarklets to use with Gmail. See “Gmail Smart Reply Folders” to learn more about that. If you are interested in my rationale for switching, read on.

I signed up for a Gmail account on May 20, 2004 and have used it every day since. In those days I was still using Mutt as my mail client. I used it to read email for my main email address and several project related aliases. I used my Gmail account mostly for family members and mailing lists.

Eventually, I decided to configure Mail.app for Mac and use Mutt or a web interface when I was using Linux or Windows¹. Mail.app is not a great mail client but I love the OS integration.

In late 2007, Google introduced IMAP support for Gmail. Though Gmail’s implementation was, and is, flawed, this was a step in the right direction. I immediately configured Mail.app for my Gmail account and I assumed I was free of the web interface for good.

In early 2008, I discovered Google Apps and I was very impressed. I was administering an Exchange server at the time, and I decided to switch over to Google Apps immediately. I also decided to move my personal email domain. Now Gmail was doing all the heavy lifting and I had reliable (albeit flawed) IMAP email for all of my accounts.

A few months later, Gmail introduced keyboard shortcuts. One of the things I missed most about Mutt was the old school *nix style keyboard shortcuts. I had configured Mail.app with some keyboard shortcuts but it was never the same. Now the web interface was starting to grow on me.

The last two hurdles were OS integration and dragging to attach files². Though I am certainly more of a keyboard user, attaching files to emails always seemed like one of those tasks for which the mouse was designed. When Google added the drag to attach functionality earlier this year, I realized it was time to rethink my position on web based email.

NOTES:

1. I used Outlook and Entourage when I had to for access to Exchange. I played with Thunderbird a bit but never stuck with it.
2. Many people stayed away from web based email in the early years because of accessibility. This was never an issue for me. I only check my email a couple times a day and I’ve used an almost-all-the-time, very fast connection to the Internet for many years.
3. I came up with what I thought was a cute title for this post, but I quickly learned it was not as original as I thought – I’d Rather Switch Than Fight. It is even a song! </ol>