It seems the best of all possible email worlds might be to: (1) allow emails to carry either one or many labels (which, we know is already a gmail function); but there's no reason in Outlook or elsewhere, even using the paper/files/folders metaphor, not to allow content to appear in more than one folder--in the paper-centric paradigm people made multiple copies to store in various files/folders, so it's not even a paper-driven problem)
(2) allow "labeled emails" to appear, or not appear, in your In Box. The "inbox is as empty as I want it to be"...only as long as I am looking at a labeled set of emails. And true at that point you're looking at a smaller subset, and "emptier" inbox. But sometimes it may be desirable to treat the in box as an unfiltered, unlabeled zone. Meaning---I want the option not only to sort by labels, but for labeled emails to effectively *disappear* (into "folders" or wherever---the metaphor is immaterial) when I don't want to see them. When I want to clear them away, out of sight. And only see the uncategorized stuff. My other gripe with gmail is around scalability/performance. I've had gmail a long time, and not finding it scales very well. A couple of thousand emails are archived and in my inbox, and frequently gmail crashes after doing a search and trying to open old email, especially with attachments. On 10/10/07, Phillip Hunter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bianka, > > You wrote: "I do miss the folders. I like archiving, getting rid of emails > in the inbox. I don't understand why the folder model is supposed to be > broken." > > What is different between old-style folders and archiving labeled gmails > then clicking on the labels to see them? My inbox is as empty as I want it > to be, my older saved email is organized the way I want it, and I get > smarter "folders" that can "share" emails. > > I also use Outlook (for work) and the folders often frustrate me. I would > like to organize many times across 2 or 3 overlapping but non-hierarchical > dimensions (e.g., client, product, idea). Outlook does not support that. > Windows doesn't either. And what I would give for labeling in Windows. > > The real-life use of folders is just as broken for me and many other > paper-averse geeks. So it doesn't work as a metaphor for me either. > > ph > > > > > > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help > ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://gamma.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://gamma.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://gamma.ixda.org/help
