Wishlist for Google Docs and Youtube

Web has given us so many great products that we cannot live without. Though there is a lot of research gone into making our life easier, there are still some small things that can increase the user experience. This post is a continuation of my earlier post  Gmail features - Wishlist

Though every writer/reader hates excessive usage of 'I', please note that the word represents the user in this post.

Following are some of the Minor changes that would make these great products still useful.

  

Uploading through the web interface  -

If I am looking at a folder  'XL Folder' > 'L Folder' > 'M Folder' and go to the 'Upload…' I get to upload page, but I need to select the Destination Folder again !!!.  It would be better if the current folder is set as default during the upload. If I could add Tags to every doc (Just like in Gmail), nothing like it.

 

Uploading through the Google Cloud Connect -

I create a document in MS-Office, use Google Cloud Connect to 'Sync'. Firstly, It does not give me an option to choose the folder I want to store it at. Secondly, it does not save it in the Google Docs format. In order to collaborate, I need to choose the option of making it a Google copy and then share it, effectively losing the link between copies of the document in my MS-Office and in Google Docs.

Copying from a Spreadsheet -

When I open a existing spreadsheet and copy a column, Content in the clipboard is  limited to the loaded data only. I will only realise after doing all the data crunching on the partial data.

It would be better if Google docs warns me about partial content in the clipboard.

If I am streaming a video at 240px and switch to full screen, the resolution changes to a higher resolution automatically  and streaming starts afresh, losing all the streamed data!!! C'mmon, I have waited for a while to load the video completely, though it is of lesser quality. Even if I change the resolution back to 240px continuing in Full screen or exit the full screen, streaming still starts afresh.

There is also a good option of 'Stop download' in the context menu. But on choosing that, again the streamed data is lost. It would be better if it stops download, but keeps the streamed data.

It would be better if the streamed data is cached. Still better, video is cached so that it need not be streamed if I am watching next week. Yes, there is a possibility that the video is removed by user or because of some violation, but still I can watch from the cached copy.

Then, Youtube can cache the data in encrypted form, and download only the decryption key every time I am watching the video, the key being available only if the video is still active at youtube.com

Just a thought - Suppose the video is downloaded in 240px, and then I switch to 480px, why the whole file be downloaded? Cant we just download the difference between the two, thus reducing the load on the server as well providing a better UX. Well, the existing compression algorithm won’t support this, but such a algo can definitely be developed.  I am not an Encryption guru or a Video Codec specialist, but as I said earlier, 'Just a thought'. May be somebody who is in this field can throw some light.

GMail features - Wishlist

Undoubtedly, labs is one of the coolest features in GMail. Below are some of  features, I would like to have in GMail.
1. Annotations inside E-Mail.
Sometimes, we need to add some more information to the mail, without sending it to anybody. I save them in drafts. Another work-around would be to add the mail to the 'Tasks List'  and edit the description. But having a feature where we can add some Notes to the Mail is something more useful and easier.

2. Sync GMail settings between accounts
I have customised my regular GMail ID with various labels, themes, lab features, filters, spam filters and other settings. After getting another GMail ID (GMail App from my employer), I have to repeat the process of customising the new one. Though the work-around would be to forward all the mails to my regular ID, it still has some backbacks. If there is any feature using which I can just copy all the settings to another ID, it would be awesome.

3. Attachments from Google Docs / Google Drive(Or Whatever you call it)
Instead of attaching a file from our computer, an option of attaching a file from Google storage or Google docs, while composing mail would make our life easier.

4. Return receipts.
Quite often we need to acknowledge the mail to the sender. This can be easier, if there is a option of sending a return receipt of the mail.

5. Unsubscribe from particular thread in Google Groups
Google allows us to either subscribe to all the mails or do not subscribe any or get a daily digest. But what about the gray area? I am interested in reading all the mails from the group, but some subjects are completely irrelevant to me. Added to the problem,it appears in the top of my Inbox every time somebody adds to the thread. If there is a option of unsubscribing/ archiving a particular thread, it would save some time.

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Why Firefox still scores over Google Chrome

A lot have been talked about Google chrome. Rounding up , Its better because , it wont crash, is very fast, makes good use of the real estate on your display, manages downloads, operate in incognito mode etc. Its scores negative in few features like, dropdown bar in the url field is absent, history can be viewed date wise only, no extensions, privacy invasion etc.

In this post, I am ‘throwing some light’ on more drawbacks/bugs.

1. If the link is opened in new tab, the color doesn’t change till you refresh.
The search term in the screenshot is “google chrome”. We can see that the first and second links are purple colored indicating that the link is present in the history, while others, which aren’t in the history, are blue in color.

Now, lets open the wikipedia link, which is still blue, indicating that the link is unopened.
Even after opening those links in new tabs, the color doesn’t change until you refresh the page.

2. What the heck is this?


I get this whenever I close the chrome and reopen with a google search result page open. Interestingly, it happens only for the google page.

3. While we switch tabs, the page is white for a brief period of time. More heavy the page is, greater is this time, sometime to the tune of 7-8 secs. Sometimes, it makes the user wonder that the page is really blank.

4. While the picture attachments in gmail are being opened, loading is not shown.While in the firefox, we know something is still getting loaded in that mail.

5. Gtalk window is not fully compatible! Just do this to know. open any gtalk window and then resize your chrome window, first make it small and again enlarge... poof! your gtalk window is gone. Or put your cursor on any text in the gtalk window and drag down using your mouse. Now did you get that white patch in the bottom?

Here is a compilation of some basic improvements that can be made in further releases.
a. ? searches using the default search engine. A similar hot key in the address bar which will mock the 'I'm feeling lucky' button is needed.
b. User must be able to customise the new tab page with his own set of thumbnails.
c. More similar customisation settings are needed for more advanced users.
d. I didnt understand why the forward button is inactive while I m in Gmail page.
e. Last but not the least, holy cow, I cant see the title of the webpage at all, as the title bar itself is removed.

Hope these issues are addressed in the subsequent releases.
- 'About Google Chrome' window says ‘Google Chrome is up to date(2.0.172.33)’.
- This post is written using Mozilla Firefox :)

April 1: Launch of 'Gmail Paper' & 'Google TiSP'

Whatever Google launches, it is cool to sign up before your friends... isnt it? Gmail just launched two new services from their stable ... Gmail Paper & Google TiSP.

Through Gmail paper, you can get your mails to be handed over to you in hand, yes real hard paper. The fun fact is that it is completely free since some 'relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements' will appear on the back of your paper prints. Even the photos will be printed on 'high-quality glossy photo-paper' that too without any limit on the copies.

Google TiSP stands for 'Toilet Internet Service Provider'. Codenamed Project teaspoon, you get free in-home wireless broadband service, even the hardware will be provided free by Google. The connection is taken from your toilet and the wiring will be in the sewage that's why... Toilet.

Hey are you serious?

Not even Google. It was just another April Fool's day joke by them. People went mad reading it, not seeing the date or day (April 1st was a Sunday). Discussions started going on blogosphere as soon as it was put up.
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] and many more


Google has had a tradition of such hoaxes since long

2000: Google MentalPlex
2002: Pigeon Rank
2004: Google Lunar/ Copernicus Center
2005: Google Gulp
2006: Google Romance
2007: Gmail Paper & Google TiSP

Even Gmail was also released on April 1 2004, if you remember, as a marketing strategy. People then thought 1 GB mailbox to be a joke.

So... Even nerdy guys have such a good sense of Humour
Kudos... Google