The Iterative Web App: Redesign of the Compose Page

On April 7th 2009, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Compose view redesign

You're on the subway and you get the brilliant idea to host a TV viewing party for your friends for the premier of Conan O'Brien's new show. You pull out your phone (or your iPad) and start typing names into the compose page at gmail.com. (Yes, it works on the subway.) You've added Naveed, Suzy and 7 others before you remember that Naveed made you eat grass at the last BBQ. You want to remove him from the list but his email address has scrolled way out of view. Argh! After some intense scrolling and lots of backspaces, you finally manage to get rid of Naveed's email address.

Enter our redesigned Compose page. It has new address fields that automatically expand to fit all the email addresses that you're entering, so you'll never have to worry about this type of problem again.

As always, when you start typing an name into the new compose view, you'll see possible contact choices in the autocomplete dropdown. When you select a contact from the autocomplete dropdown, only the person's name is entered into the address field. This saves screen space and won't leave you thinking "man, who is hikingfan@gmail.com?" when you're reviewing an email before sending.

Once you select a contact from the autocomplete menu, you'll also notice that the contact becomes an object that you can tap on. Tapping on a contact opens a detailed view that let's you double-check the person's email address or remove them from the email. Yes, this means you can remove an email address in two taps!

Some other nifty new features which will help you compose your emails faster:

• Remove the contact you just added by tapping Backspace.
• Press the '+' button to see your top contacts, or hide them by pressing the '–' button.
• If for some reason autocomplete fails you and the person you are trying to reach is a Gmail user, just type their Gmail username and a comma, and we'll take care of the pesky @ sign and the rest (so [hikingfan] becomes [hikingfan@gmail.com].)
• The page now fills the entire screen, giving you more space to see what you're writing.

This update is available for Android, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch devices. We always love to hear what you'd like to see next, so be sure to leave your feedback in our Help Forum or the Mobile Product Ideas page!

Happy composing!

Posted by Andra Adams, Software Engineer Intern, Google Mobile