New Inbox Becoming Default

[Jeff Grossman]

When I logged into Gmail this morning a screen came up saying my inbox has been upgraded to the new tabbed inbox.  I also received an e-mail stating that also.  I guess Google is starting to force the new inbox on its users.  I am using a free Google Apps account.

I had to go into the Gear and Configure Inbox and deselect the tabs to remove them.

Jeff

[Sean Murphy]

    I had the same thing happen today. I was surprised that I actually found the divisions useful and relevant.

[berneAI]

I agree that having a choice is important, but I agree with paradox (below) that I have found the new interface very useful and a bit help dealing with my daily load of approx 100 emails. Being able to prioritize this way is a bonus over having to go through and set filters and manually label large numbers of emails...would be a bigger help if we could customize tabs...for me two more additional custom tabs would make this interface totally killer. 

[Alvin]

Sorry, the New Inbox does not do anything for me.  I don't have--or want--a social networking account, and it looked like one of the tabs was just another way to get advertised at. 

What I am a fan of is that it was easy, and obvious, how to get back to the original Inbox.  Kudos to the Gmail developers for that.  :-)

Wish they'd have made it as obvious how to get back to the old compose. :-(


Alvin - Who really is a fan of Gmail.

[Marko Vukovic]

Hi Alvin

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 3:19 AM, Alvin <alvin.or...@gmail.com> wrote:

Sorry, the New Inbox does not do anything for me.  I don't have--or want--a social networking account, and it looked like one of the tabs was just another way to get advertised at. 

Of course you can just turn off the Social tab if you don't need/want it but he Promotions tab has nothing to do with advertising, it is just another filter like the other tabs.

What I am a fan of is that it was easy, and obvious, how to get back to the original Inbox.  Kudos to the Gmail developers for that.  :-)

I have to say, the new Inbox has uncluttered mine somewhat. I do like that it is faster than clicking on labels.

Wish they'd have made it as obvious how to get back to the old compose. :-(

I still have the option to switch back but can't think why anyone would want to. We've heard many complaints about the new compose but I've yet to hear one that offers any compelling evidence as to why it is worse, or why the old one is better.

--
Marko

[Alvin]

Hey, Marko.

You will notice that when these posts are being composed there is a nice row of formatting options above, all visible without hovering or clicking, which make them obvious, easy to get to and use, and they don't clutter the last line; usually the one being typed.  Maybe I'm just a Luddite, but this system works very nicely, and it's pretty similar to what is seen in most word processing programs, which means there little to no learning curve.  And--lo and behold--it's just like the old Gmail Compose.  Is any of this "compelling evidence" for you?

There is an old adage that begins, "If it ain't broke..." 


Alvin

[karina]

I agree Alvin,

 

Tabs just a bit too much. 

 

If sorting email is an asset to some users then a "Sort By" option, like the "Mark Important or Unimportant" would be less intrusive.

[Andy]

Marko wrote:

...

 We've heard many complaints about the new compose but I've yet to hear one that offers any compelling evidence as to why it is worse, or why the old one is better.

You might not have been paying much attention to them.

Here's a few.

The new compose requires many more steps (usually more mouse clicks, sometimes twice as many) to get the same job done.  Maybe you don't see that as "worse".  I'm sure there are some who are delighted to click away until the cows come home.  But for me, fewer steps are better, more steps are worse.

By default, the new compose never shows me what my reply will look like.  I have to do yet more steps, every single time, to get it to show me that.  To me, that is negative progress.  i.e., it is worse.

The new compose makes it more difficult to get around by keyboard.  It is more dependent on mousing.  I should mention I do not have Gmail's keyboard shortcuts turned on, and I don't want them on, because they are not what I want.  I just want to get around within my compose or reply window, like you can with other tools such as word processors and email programs.  Thus, I don't know if this argument applies if you have keyboard shortcuts on.  But, as a general observation, if it REQUIRES mousing around, where the old one did not, it is a disadvantage.

The new compose (especially in a reply) is klutzy with respect to scrolling within the reply.  Between this and the dinky old-new compose window, I see less of the message I am writing, which is a disadvantage, since I have this whole big display space that is being wasted.  You'd think Google was trying to make it look like an ipad instead of a computer screen.

So there you have some evidence as to why it is worse.

YMMV.

Andy

[Marko Vukovic]

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 5:09 PM, Andy <AI.e...@gmail.com> wrote:

...

 We've heard many complaints about the new compose but I've yet to hear one that offers any compelling evidence as to why it is worse, or why the old one is better.

You might not have been paying much attention to them.

Here's a few.

The new compose requires many more steps (usually more mouse clicks, sometimes twice as many) to get the same job done.  Maybe you don't see that as "worse".  I'm sure there are some who are delighted to click away until the cows come home.  But for me, fewer steps are better, more steps are worse.

How so Andy? Please elaborate.

 

By default, the new compose never shows me what my reply will look like.  I have to do yet more steps, every single time, to get it to show me that.  To me, that is negative progress.  i.e., it is worse.

Again, how so? I'm composing this reply using the 'old' compose. I'm not seeing how this makes my reply look any different. What steps are you talking about?

 

The new compose makes it more difficult to get around by keyboard.  It is more dependent on mousing.  I should mention I do not have Gmail's keyboard shortcuts turned on, and I don't want them on, because they are not what I want.  I just want to get around within my compose or reply window, like you can with other tools such as word processors and email programs.  Thus, I don't know if this argument applies if you have keyboard shortcuts on.  But, as a general observation, if it REQUIRES mousing around, where the old one did not, it is a disadvantage.

What exactly do you mean here, arrow keys? I'm pretty sure mine work fine in both interfaces.

 

The new compose (especially in a reply) is klutzy with respect to scrolling within the reply.  Between this and the dinky old-new compose window, I see less of the message I am writing, which is a disadvantage, since I have this whole big display space that is being wasted.  You'd think Google was trying to make it look like an ipad instead of a computer screen.

Klutzy how? How is scrolling any different?

The old compose window takes up nearly half of my window just with the headers and formatting bar. The textbox is small. I can't see the advantage here. If I click the 'In new window button' it's even worse, I have to drag the window larger. I wish I could minimise the header and formatting bit at the top, but one can't in the old compose interface. I have to resize it every time.

I really don't need to see the From: and To: headers, I have after all hit 'Reply'.

 

--
Marko

[Marko Vukovic]

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 2:34 PM, Alvin <alvin.or...@gmail.com> wrote:

You will notice that when these posts are being composed there is a

nice row of formatting options above, all visible without hovering or clicking, which make them obvious, easy to get to and use, and they don't clutter the last line; usually the one being typed.  Maybe I'm just a Luddite, but this system works very nicely, and it's pretty similar to what is seen in most word processing programs, which means there little to no learning curve.  And--lo and behold--it's just like the old Gmail Compose.  Is any of this "compelling evidence" for you?

No Alvin, I have no idea what you mean by the above statement. Where am I supposed to see this '

nice row of formatting options above'? Are you talking about the Groups interface?

--
Marko

[Marko Vukovic]

On Sat, Jul 20, 2013 at 3:46 PM, karina <karin...@gmail.com> wrote:

Tabs just a bit too much.

Just turn them off then?

--
Marko

[Andy]

The new compose requires many more steps (usually more mouse clicks, sometimes twice as many) to get the same job done.  Maybe you don't see that as "worse".  I'm sure there are some who are delighted to click away until the cows come home.  But for me, fewer steps are better, more steps are worse.

How so Andy? Please elaborate.

You are joking, right?

Usually, fewer steps means less work and less time, which for most people would be better than requiring more steps to get the same job done.  Doesn't it?

I have seen numerous messages in this forum about the extra steps required by the new compose ... two mouse clicks where the old version needed only one, three instead of two, etc.  I wonder if you chose to ignore those.

By default, the new compose never shows me what my reply will look like.  I have to do yet more steps, every single time, to get it to show me that.  To me, that is negative progress.  i.e., it is worse.

Again, how so? I'm composing this reply using the 'old' compose. I'm not seeing how this makes my reply look any different. What steps are you talking about?

Using old compose to send a reply, by default you see the full text of the message to which you are replying, right away.  Not so with the new compose, where it stays hidden to you until you click on the ellipsis icon.

Plus, Gmail encourages replies that quote the entire previous message, un-trimmed.

The new compose makes it more difficult to get around by keyboard.  It is more dependent on mousing.  I should mention I do not have Gmail's keyboard shortcuts turned on, and I don't want them on, because they are not what I want.  I just want to get around within my compose or reply window, like you can with other tools such as word processors and email programs.  Thus, I don't know if this argument applies if you have keyboard shortcuts on.  But, as a general observation, if it REQUIRES mousing around, where the old one did not, it is a disadvantage.

What exactly do you mean here, arrow keys?

I don't know.  You tell me.  What arrow keys are you talking about, and why??

The new compose (especially in a reply) is klutzy with respect to scrolling within the reply.  Between this and the dinky old-new compose window, I see less of the message I am writing, which is a disadvantage, since I have this whole big display space that is being wasted.  You'd think Google was trying to make it look like an ipad instead of a computer screen.

Klutzy how? How is scrolling any different?

When I pop to the top or bottom (Ctrl-Home or Ctrl-End) of the edit box, my cursor goes there, but it stays hidden because the top (or bottom) of the message is scrolled off the top (bottom) of the edit box.  In Microsoft Word, for example, that doesn't happen.  In "old" compose, it didn't happen.

If I scroll the cursor, line by line through the message, perhaps while holding down Shift so that I am preparing to delete lines (a frequent operation in almost every reply I compose), the cursor scrolls several lines beyond the extent of the edit box to where it is hidden.  It is annoying and nonsensical.  To compensate, I have had to get into the habit of scrolling many lines past where I want to go, and then back up to where I wanted to be.  I end up doing a lot of blind editing, doing things that I can't see because they are outside the visible window.

The area of the edit box shrinks and grows annoyingly, frequently obscuring key parts of the message, with NO SCROLL BAR.  (Whoever thought of that should be fired.)  The size is often much less than it ought to be; say, only 6 lines when my message is 20+ lines; and I need to mouse around or cursor around to get it to show more.  (To be fair, the edit box was somewhat short in old compose too, but at least it was consistent, and frequently larger than it is with new compose, and it had a scroll bar!)  The bottom of the message being edited is usually obscured until I manually make an effort to scroll there, and I have to scroll both down AND up to make sure I see it.  Without scroll bars, you don't know if anything more is off the bottom of the edit box.

"Undo Send" has saved me many times now from sending a reply that had dozens or hundreds of unnecessary lines on the bottom ... a problem that only happens now with new compose and its inability to show you that there is more at the bottom of your reply.

Regards,

Andy

[Andy]

You will notice that when these posts are being composed there is a

nice row of formatting options above, all visible without hovering or clicking, which make them obvious, easy to get to and use, and they don't clutter the last line; usually the one being typed.  Maybe I'm just a Luddite, but this system works very nicely, and it's pretty similar to what is seen in most word processing programs, which means there little to no learning curve.  And--lo and behold--it's just like the old Gmail Compose.  Is any of this "compelling evidence" for you?

No Alvin, I have no idea what you mean by the above statement. Where am I supposed to see this '

nice row of formatting options above'?

I think he is referring to the "new new" compose window, when composing a new message, with the new "full-screen" option enabled. (Not really full-screen, but that is Google's term for it.  In other words, not the "old new" compose window in the bottom right corner.)

With this "full-screen" compose window, the standard text formatting icons are enabled full-time, rather than hidden behind the A icon next to the Send button.

Andy

[Karin Anders]

Sure did

 

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[Alvin Orzechowski]

I thought "You will notice that when these posts..." made it clear I meant the Group Interface, Marko.  Alas, there's a corollary to Murohy's Law that goes, "If you can explain something so clearly that no one can misunderstand, someone will misunderstand."

A short video comparing the old and new Gmail compose would be so much clearer, but I don't have the skill.  Would someone please provide one?


Alvin

--

[Marko Vukovic]

On Sun, Jul 21, 2013 at 5:17 AM, Alvin Orzechowski <alvin.or...@gmail.com> wrote:

I thought "You will notice that when these posts..." made it clear I meant the Group Interface, Marko.  Alas, there's a corollary to Murohy's Law that goes, "

If you can explain something so clearly that no one can misunderstand, someone will misunderstand."

Wow, can't believe I didn't get "these posts" as obvious! 

This is Gmail-users not Groups-users. Please make it clear when you stray off-topic :P

"You know what thought did!" or "Assumption is the mother of all @#$%-ups". Sorry, couldn't think of a corollary.

--
Marko

[Marko Vukovic]

Hi Andy

On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 1:02 AM, Andy <AI.e...@gmail.com> wrote:

The new compose requires many more steps (usually more mouse clicks, sometimes twice as many) to get the same job done.  Maybe you don't see that as "worse".  I'm sure there are some who are delighted to click away until the cows come home.  But for me, fewer steps are better, more steps are worse.

How so Andy? Please elaborate.

You are joking, right?

Usually, fewer steps means less work and less time, which for most people would be better than requiring more steps to get the same job done.  Doesn't it? 

I have seen numerous messages in this forum about the extra steps required by the new compose ... two mouse clicks where the old version needed only one, three instead of two, etc.  I wonder if you chose to ignore those.

No I wasn't joking. I didn't ignore anything, just can't see what you are talking about. In both old and new I click compose or press 'c'. The compose window appears. I type my recipient, press Tab, type subject, press Tab, type message then click Send (btw, the Ctrl-Enter keyboard shortcut *only* works on the new compose). The new compose window can be popped out and back in. Old can only pop out. 

Please tell me where all the extra clicks are (esp. twice as many). Yes, I do know about the extra click for formatting options. Good old Ctrl-b, Ctrl-i and Ctrl-u still work though.

Using old compose to send a reply, by default you see the full text of the message to which you are replying, right away.  Not so with the new compose, where it stays hidden to you until you click on the ellipsis icon.

Indeed, except that with new compose, the entire conversation is still in view above, and with more space to see it, not just what's included in the message being replied to. In the old compose, your reply window is just as small so you still have to scroll up and down to see the text *and* there's less space above to see the conversation.

One trick I've learnt with that ellipsis is to press Ctrl-Shift-a (select none) which expands it. Ctrl-a (select all) will also expand it, with all text selected.

Yes, I know - it's three keys to press but at least it's not an extra click, which you hate :P

Plus, Gmail encourages replies that quote the entire previous message, un-trimmed.

Yes, but this is the norm for most email systems these days. It's called top-posting. It is stupid because each subsequent message just gets bigger and bigger. I blame Microsoft and Outlook for this email madness.

The new compose makes it more difficult to get around by keyboard.  It is more dependent on mousing.  I should mention I do not have Gmail's keyboard shortcuts turned on, and I don't want them on, because they are not what I want.  

I just want to get around within my compose or reply window, like you can with other tools such as word processors and email programs.  Thus, I don't know if this argument applies if you have keyboard shortcuts on.  

But, as a general observation, if it REQUIRES mousing around, where the old one did not, it is a disadvantage.

What exactly do you mean here, arrow keys?

I don't know.  You tell me.  What arrow keys are you talking about, and why??

Firstly, you said "

I just want to get around within my compose or reply window, like you can with other tools such as word processors and email programs."

In what way can you not get around the new compose window that you could in old?

You also said "

But, as a general observation, if it REQUIRES mousing around, where the old one did not".

Ok, I'm calling BS on this one. I can type an entire message using the new compose window using only the keyboard from start to finish, including adding Cc and Bcc recipients. You cannot add Cc or Bcc recipients using the old compose without using the mouse. 

 

The new compose (especially in a reply) is klutzy with respect to scrolling within the reply.  Between this and the dinky old-new compose window, I see less of the message I am writing, which is a disadvantage, since I have this whole big display space that is being wasted.  You'd think Google was trying to make it look like an ipad instead of a computer screen.

Klutzy how? How is scrolling any different?

When I pop to the top or bottom (Ctrl-Home or Ctrl-End) of the edit box, my cursor goes there, but it stays hidden because the top (or bottom) of the message is scrolled off the top (bottom) of the edit box.  In Microsoft Word, for example, that doesn't happen.  In "old" compose, it didn't happen.

That's probably just a bug.

I don't see less of my message in the new reply window at all, in fact I see more because most of the header is hidden, and the formatting options. I'm going to attach window snips of both old and new in one image, side-by-side so that you can see this with your own eyes.

If I scroll the cursor, line by line through the message, perhaps while holding down Shift so that I am preparing to delete lines (a frequent operation in almost every reply I compose), the cursor scrolls several lines beyond the extent of the edit box to where it is hidden.  It is annoying and nonsensical.  To compensate, I have had to get into the habit of scrolling many lines past where I want to go, and then back up to where I wanted to be.  I end up doing a lot of blind editing, doing things that I can't see because they are outside the visible window.

Probably just another bug.

The area of the edit box shrinks and grows annoyingly, frequently obscuring key parts of the message, with NO SCROLL BAR.  (Whoever thought of that should be fired.)  The size is often much less than it ought to be; say, only 6 lines when my message is 20+ lines; and I need to mouse around or cursor around to get it to show more.  (To be fair, the edit box was somewhat short in old compose too, but at least it was consistent, and frequently larger than it is with new compose, and it had a scroll bar!)  The bottom of the message being edited is usually obscured until I manually make an effort to scroll there, and I have to scroll both down AND up to make sure I see it.  Without scroll bars, you don't know if anything more is off the bottom of the edit box.

"Undo Send" has saved me many times now from sending a reply that had dozens or hundreds of unnecessary lines on the bottom ... a problem that only happens now with new compose and its inability to show you that there is more at the bottom of your reply.

I don't agree with needing another scroll bar within the compose window. The old compose window needs one because it doesn't grow as your message grows. It stays the same fixed size.

The new compose window grows as your message grows, so scrolling up and down has the effect of scrolling to the top/bottom of your message and then further than that, the entire conversation. I think this is the point, that your reply window, even as it grows, is still in-line, giving one a perspective of the *entire* conversation.

I've never had the problem of not knowing where the bottom of the message is, I suppose that because I have a signature and that marks the end for me.

Ciao

--
Marko

[Marko Vukovic]

On Mon, Jul 22, 2013 at 1:07 AM, Andy <AI.e...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think he is referring to the "new new" compose window, when composing a new message, with the new "full-screen" option enabled. (Not really full-screen, but that is Google's term for it.  In other words, not the "old new" compose window in the bottom right corner.)

Nope, I will refer you to Andy's reply quoting Murphy's Law.

Apparently we were supposed to just know that he was talking about the Groups interface, and not about Gmail at all ;)

--
Marko

[Alvin Orzechowski]

I thought I quoted a corollary to Murphy's Law, Marko.  And yes this discussion--which is off the original topic--is about Gmail compose that's what I was talking about because the old Gmail compose is almost exactly like the Google Groups post compose.  I meant to make it easy to reference, and I should have said as much.


Alvin

--

[Marko Vukovic]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 2:26 AM, Alvin Orzechowski <alvin.or...@gmail.com> wrote:

I thought I quoted a corollary to Murphy's Law, Marko.  And yes this discussion--which is off the original topic--is about Gmail compose that's what I was talking about because the old Gmail compose is almost exactly like the Google Groups post compose.  I meant to make it easy to reference, and I should have said as much.

You quoted a corollary to Chisholm's Third Law, which I guess is a 'Murphyism' ;)

Back to the new compose window, if you bring up the formatting options while you happen to be editing the bottom line, it moves the text up so that it doesn't 'clutter' the last line as you say.

The compose window is not a word processing program. It's primary function is to compose email, not format text. For this very reason I prefer that the formatting options, which are rarely used, stay hidden and provide me more space for my actual message *and* also to see the conversation below.

Basic formatting (bold, italics, underline and alignment) is easily done using the keyboard without having to click anything.

Regards

--
Marko

[Alvin]

Back to the new compose window, if you bring up the formatting options while you happen to be editing the bottom line, it moves the text up so that it doesn't 'clutter' the last line as you say.

That wasn't my experience, Marko.  Could be that the new Compose performs differently in different browsers.  I develop and maintain websites, and all I have to say is, "Internet Explorer" and most everyone reading this will understand.  But it may also be true that because of this inconsistency Gmail developers hace changed the code and the new Compose behaves now just as you say across all browsers. I wouldn't know about recent changes because as soon as I found out how to get back to the classic Compose, I went AWOL with the new Compose.

BTW, you'll notice I said "different," not "wrong."  I finally get to say that sometime IE gets it right, and it's taught me to takes it's differences seriously, and scrutinize my code before I insert an unnecessary IE hack.
 

The compose window is not a word processing program. It's primary function is to compose email, not format text.

Then why bother allowing bolding, lists, indenting, et al.?  These ARE features common to word processing programs and they make one's e-mail look better.  I know.  I was sending and receiving e-mails all over the world back before most people even knew about ARPANET, and it hadn't become the Internet.  Dinosaurs were roaming the earth then, and Abraham Lincoln wasn't even a gleam in his father's eye.  And when I heard about web pages, I thought how stupid; e-mail is why people will get excited about the Internet. Websites will go the way of of hula hoop.

Hula hoop?  Ask your grandparents.

For this very reason I prefer that the formatting options, which are rarely used, stay hidden

The point of showing all the formatting options is to remind the user that they're there.  If the "rarely used" options--whatever that means--are hidden, it's a sure thing they'll be forgotten. See hula hoop.

 and provide me more space for my actual message *and* also to see the conversation below.

The space for the message is the space for the message.  Since I've never reached a limit, as I see it the formatting options make no difference; they are outside the text area which ever Compose is being used.  And did you mean "above"?  I was under the impression you were taking the side of the new Compose.

Basic formatting (bold, italics, underline and alignment) is easily done using the keyboard without having to click anything.

I believe most of us who are in a graphical user interface environment forget what those keyboard shortcuts are.  That's one of the selling points of GUI--we don't have to remember.. Granted in many cases the keyboard shortcuts are more efficient, but I for one only remember the ones I use often (ctrl-c, ctrl-z, and ctrl-v for example). Thank goodness I don't have to pass a driver's test for computers. :-/

All the best,

Alvin

[Marko Vukovic]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 5:03 PM, Alvin <alvin.or...@gmail.com> wrote:

Back to the new compose window, if you bring up the formatting options while you happen to be editing the bottom line, it moves the text up so that it doesn't 'clutter' the last line as you say.

That wasn't my experience, Marko.  Could be that the new Compose performs differently in different browsers.  I develop and maintain websites, and all I have to say is, "Internet Explorer" and most everyone reading this will understand.  But it may also be true that because of this inconsistency Gmail developers hace changed the code and the new Compose behaves now just as you say across all browsers. I wouldn't know about recent changes because as soon as I found out how to get back to the classic Compose, I went AWOL with the new Compose.

Please verify your statements at the time that you make them. I have taken the time to switch between old and new to respond, please afford me the same courtesy.

BTW, you'll notice I said "different," not "wrong."  I finally get to say that sometime IE gets it right, and it's taught me to takes it's differences seriously, and scrutinize my code before I insert an unnecessary IE hack.
 

The compose window is not a word processing program. It's primary function is to compose email, not format text.

Then why bother allowing bolding, lists, indenting, et al.?  These ARE features common to word processing programs and they make one's e-mail look better.  I know.  I was sending and receiving e-mails all over the world back before most people even knew about ARPANET, and it hadn't become the Internet.  Dinosaurs were roaming the earth then, and Abraham Lincoln wasn't even a gleam in his father's eye.  And when I heard about web pages, I thought how stupid; e-mail is why people will get excited about the Internet. Websites will go the way of of hula hoop.

You know? Then you will also know that email was designed for sending messages, not rendering web pages. I know, I was also around in the time of Hula Hoops. Maybe not so much Lincoln and Dinos. Just how old are you!?

I know that these features are common to word processing programs and yes, they do make email pretty... but my point is I prefer more space for message, less for stuff I don't need to see all the time. I'm guessing that's exactly why Google have made it hidden. We can argue this ad nauseum but that's how it is, and that's how I like it.

Hula hoop?  Ask your grandparents.

No, I was there... it wasn't that long ago :P

For this very reason I prefer that the formatting options, which are rarely used, stay hidden

The point of showing all the formatting options is to remind the user that they're there.  If the "rarely used" options--whatever that means--are hidden, it's a sure thing they'll be forgotten. See hula hoop.

This is grasping at straws now, nobody is going to forget. In case somebody does, they will be reminded every time they see the 'Formatting options' icon next to the send button. 

'Rarely used' means exactly what it says. 

 and provide me more space for my actual message *and* also to see the conversation below.

The space for the message is the space for the message.  Since I've never reached a limit, as I see it the formatting options make no difference; they are outside the text area which ever Compose is being used.  And did you mean "above"?  I was under the impression you were taking the side of the new Compose.

No, the formatting options take up screen real-estate. Yes, they are outside the text area but that's not the point. Hide them away and there's more space. 
You're not getting the point so I'm attaching the same comparison image I sent in response to Andy, maybe this will make you understand.

Basic formatting (bold, italics, underline and alignment) is easily done using the keyboard without having to click anything.

I believe most of us who are in a graphical user interface environment forget what those keyboard shortcuts are.  That's one of the selling points of GUI--we don't have to remember.. Granted in many cases the keyboard shortcuts are more efficient, but I for one only remember the ones I use often (ctrl-c, ctrl-z, and ctrl-v for example). Thank goodness I don't have to pass a driver's test for computers. :-/

I'm sure you could remember a few more, I mean Ctrl- b, i, u all start with the first letter of the function ie. Bold, Italic, Underline. Not rocket science...

Regards

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Marko

[Alvin Orzechowski]

I'm gonna declare myself stalemated, Marko.  End of the debate for me.  Both sides won... or lost depending on your temperament. Enjoy the new Compose in peace and happiness.  The Gmail developers are as proud of you as they are as frustrated with me.


Shalom, Salaam,

Alvin
“Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious.” ~Brendan Gill

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