Google killing Basic HTML version of Gmail In January 2024
- Reference: 1695619607
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/09/25/gmail_basic_html_discontinued/
- Source link:
It's unclear when Google made the decision to end Basic HTML support – news of which can be found in this [1]support page titled "Use the latest version of Gmail in your browser." Archive.org's last capture of the page comes from late 2022, and Google's own cache has not coughed up info that would identify the date of the change.
The Register asked Google when the decision to end Basic HTML was made, and why.
[2]
A spokesperson sent us the following statement:
"The Gmail Basic HTML views are previous versions of Gmail that were replaced by their modern successors 10+ years ago and do not include full Gmail feature functionality."
Google suggests that not including "full Gmail feature functionality" is the point of the Basic HTML offering. When your correspondent loaded it, Google delivered a warning that it is "designed for slower connections and legacy browsers."
Intriguingly, when we used Chrome's Inspect>Network tool to test the HTML page's load time, it came in at 1200 milliseconds. Full fat Gmail loaded in 700 milliseconds – but then kept loading elements for almost a minute before settling down.
[3]
[4]
The decision has been criticized by Pratik Patel, who describes himself on Mastodon as "a blind technologist … who finds himself championing #accessibility for fun and necessity."
"I know many #blind people who use GMail's HTML view. Not only will they be confused but will be unhappy," he wrote.
[5]
Patel also noted that Google has made Basic HTML view harder to find in recent months – a change he understands now that the feature has been cancelled.
[6]Microsoft mucks with PrtScr key for first time in decades
[7]Google Bard can now tap into your Gmail, Docs, more
[8]Google changes email authentication after spoof shows a bad delivery for UPS
[9]Search the web at least once every two years or risk losing your Google account
Google is infamous for discontinuing services that – for whatever reasons – don't meet its goals. Over the years it has killed off favorites like its RSS reader, flops like Wave, projects like [10]Google Code that lost to rival offerings , and [11]invasive ad tech that its peers rejected.
But the Big G has also kept some offerings alive after user uprisings. In 2022, for example, it [12]persisted with the free G Suite legacy edition after fielding many complaints from users who felt they were promised the service would be available in perpetuity.
Google [13]insists it is "committed to making accessibility a core consideration" and [14]lists many accessibility features in Gmail – among them screen reader support and hands-free email. ®
Get our [15]Tech Resources
[1] https://support.google.com/mail/answer/15049?hl=en
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZRFaSiMJvmoYNn7ODZdF1AAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRFaSiMJvmoYNn7ODZdF1AAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZRFaSiMJvmoYNn7ODZdF1AAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZRFaSiMJvmoYNn7ODZdF1AAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/13/microsoft_snipping_tool_default/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/20/googles_ai_chatbot_bard/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/09/google_bimi_email_authentication/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/google_inactivity_policy/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2015/03/12/google_code_shutdown/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/05/googles_floc_flopped_boffins_claim/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/google_keeps_legacy_g_suite/
[13] https://about.google/belonging/in-products/
[14] https://about.google/belonging/disability-inclusion/product-accessibility/
[15] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: WTF? Why should it take almost a minute to finish loading elements?
It's an email client. It wants to load the most recent mails first. If, once it's done that, it then spends a minute getting older emails that's a sensible bit of pre-caching.
The spyware loads first.
How unusual, an AC regtard with no idea what they are talking about!
Re: The way of [insert tech giant name here] I'm afraid
American greed is a disease, and you can be sure Google is definitely infected.
“a core consideration“
How very generous of them!
Good design considers accessibility to be a core necessity.
Re: “a core consideration“
Much like car manufacturers whose onboard systems are clearly designed by smartphone users who don't drive, Google's accessibility features are probably designed by able, sighted, developers.
Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail
Plain HTML Gmail is nice. I have used this for years on and off. It loads quickly, loads your email chronologically, and is easier to send messages and attachments in. Google often throws away good features.This is one of them.
POP3. IMAP ?
My preference regardless of whatever webby version of mail is offered is to tap directly into the API and use a proper local client. Which I do for my hotmail and zoho mail accounts.
Re: POP3. IMAP ?
That sounds a bit insecure to me. I have a secretary in Switzerland that prints out my emails. He or she or they - I have never met them, for security reasons - prints them in tiny font on rice paper, and then insert them into a yellow Kinder Egg container. The container is zip tied to the left leg of a pigeon that flies to my clifftop lair. The pigeon then reads the messages to me, and I dictate any required replies, which are returned in the manner the inbound message was received.
What happend to...
plain text?
That's how my email client is set up. Anything else is treated as spam.
Re: What happend to...
I refuse to read any document printed in proportionally spaced fonts.
Re: What happend to...
That's nothing! I only read documents printed using dot matrix! But I make an exception for spirit duplicator.
Re: What happend to...
Dot Matrix, Pah too slow and not loud enough. Just a shame it's impossible to get parts for line printers.
The way of [insert tech giant name here] I'm afraid
Quote:=
"Full fat Gmail loaded in 700 milliseconds – but then kept loading elements for almost a minute before settling down."
WTF? Why should it take almost a minute to finish loading elements?
Oh wait... that's the full set of spyware that you are loading onto your machine every time you open an email. Google wants its cake and also to eat it.
If this was ever an incitement to get rid of Google from your life then I don't know what is.
An email should not take almost a minute to load even if it was loaded with dozens of adverts and video clips.
Google is EVIL don't forget that people. They WILL ALWAYS want more from us than we are prepared to give them.