Gmail and Reader (Future)

Today is the the first post I am publishing about what I would like to see done with Google's products in the future. I will always make sure to distinguish my thoughts about Google products from actual news and updates from Google.

With Firefox, we have seen the integration of Google Reader into Gmail with the add-ons and extensions built from users around the world. What I would like to see done here is an official merge between the two applications. I will compare each section of the applications adding what I would like to see kept from each application, what should be dropped, and what could be done to make it even easier than they both are already to use.

Header




The top search bar (Gmail) is simple and shows the Advanced Options link. You also have the ability to search the web right from Gmail. I, as do most other users, rarely use the advanced options and just type and press enter. With the Reader search bar, we see a drop down to help us search our folders and subscriptons. I feel as though this unnecessary for most users. Usually a simple search will find what we are looking for. These could be integrated into the advanced search options. Another idea would be to separate results based on email or feed. There are many options here, but I would like to see the simplicity of the Gmail Header kept in the merge.

Sidebar

Starting from the top of Reader's sidebar, I will explain each link and where it should integrated into Gmail. The "Home" link can be dropped from the sidebar and moved elsewhere. Links that could be combined would be "All Mail" and "All items" and "Starred" and "Starred items". These would be condensed to Gmail. The "Trends" can be moved to a tab in the settings. Your shared items would be marked as sent mail, and your friends' shared items would appear as unread and marked as is normal in Google Reader and put into your Inbox. These two links could be removed from the merge to Gmail. The "Manage Friends" link would be nice addition to the Contacts manager of Gmail. A standard group of "Reader Friends" could easily be added. This would make an easy way to add contacts to your shared feeds. "Add Subscription" could be moved to the settings with a feed management tab. The folders of Reader would be made into labels in Gmail. Again, "Manage Subscriptions" could be moved to settings under feed management. Adding a tab in the settings for feed management and other options would be a cinch as the two applications are already similar in this department.

Adding a feeds tab to the left side of Gmail, would make it easier for users to switch to their feeds instead of switching to google.com/reader. This default view would be the "All items" view in Reader. One last feature in the sidebar of Reader that I would like to see moved to Gmail is the collapsing option. Sometimes, this makes feeds easier to read in Reader. This option in Gmail would open up space for reading emails and feeds.

Top and Tabs




For the most part, I like the features on the header of Gmail (top). The "Archive", "Report Spam", and "Delete" buttons would not possess any purpose within the confines of Reader. The label dropdown and links to select sets of messages or feeds would make it easier for feeds to be catergorized. The "newer" and "older" links in the upper right of Gmail would make scrolling through feeds easier and faster to read. This leads me to the list view tab and the expanded view tab. As some of you may note, this is already present in Gmail. We scroll through messages expanded all the time with the aforementioned links. I prefer to ease of use that Gmail provides for this. The list view is the standard inbox. The dropdown to sort feeds by date is handy, but could be moved to add in with the dropdown already in Gmail.


Other

The inbox of each of these products is nearly identical and very simple. I like this style and would like to see it kept. Another feature from Reader that needs to be ported is the Google Profile. This could be integrated with the Contacts Manager and your friends be shown in a group in your contacts. The last feature that I would like to mention is Gears. Adding offline accessibility to Gmail would give a more desktop feel to users who just aren't ready to make the jump.

If you have any other suggestions for either application that I haven't mentioned here, please leave me a comment.