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iCloud Mail Web UI - Will it ever be fixed?

Will it ever be fixed?

  • Probably

    Votes: 3 30.0%

  • Not likely

    Votes: 4 40.0%

  • It doesn't need to be fixed, it's great the way it is

    Votes: 3 30.0%
  • Total voters
    10
Michael Goff

Michael Goff

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 5, 2012
13,329
7,422
Quite simply, I keep looking at it and it doesn't endear itself to me over time. Even GMail's web interface is better, and Outlook definitely is. I know that most people probably just use a client (whether it's Apple's own or a third party), but sometimes I just need to access it from the web and it's just plain awful.

Some of it is just general UI badness, and some of it is ... well, an example is how the fonts look on IE 11. They're not just poorly sized, but it looks like a pen that's starting to fade. I just looks awful.

And that's not even mentioning the big functionality problem I have with it!
 
Apple does not excel at the web, Google does. Google makes (IMHO) awful apps from both a design and functionality standpoint. Their DNA is different, and it is reflected in their design choices. I don't see Apple competing effectively with Google at what it is best at, web apps.
 
impaler said:
Apple does not excel at the web, Google does. Google makes (IMHO) awful apps from both a design and functionality standpoint. Their DNA is different, and it is reflected in their design choices. I don't see Apple competing effectively with Google at what it is best at, web apps.
Click to expand...

Except Gmail has an awful interface. It isn't as bad as iCloud Mail, but it's still not great. Drive is passable, but nothing noteworthy. YouTube finally got good after a thousand remakes.

But this isn't about Google, so I'll stop.

Apple needs to start working on this. They have the money to hire people with taste, they should get to it.
 
Michael Goff said:
Except Gmail has an awful interface. It isn't as bad as iCloud Mail, but it's still not great. Drive is passable, but nothing noteworthy. YouTube finally got good after a thousand remakes.

But this isn't about Google, so I'll stop.

Apple needs to start working on this. They have the money to hire people with taste, they should get to it.
Click to expand...

Don't hold your breath. Again, I go back to my original point: Apple doesn't apply its passion for the web that it does to on-device apps. They don't see living on the web like those in the Google culture do. Us wanting them to do it doesn't change their culture. iCloud Mail's interface is rough, for sure, unless you're not a techy. Gmail's interface used to be fresh and exciting, in the mid-2000s (I joined in 2004). iCloud mail has its share of issues and problems, but I'd rather put up with those issues to avoid mail ads and mining of my emails. I just wish iCloud would stop it's well-known practice of silently filtering emails - I am finding it hard to trust.
 
Michael Goff said:
I do, at times. If I have to use a public computer, it's a lot quicker and a lot easier to just go to a web interface.
Click to expand...

Same here - which seems to be what is driving the OP's frustration. If you're talking about the old dial-up AOL, their email wasn't web-based to begin with - they were an island unto themselves. The idea of the web was a very open feeling thing, I remember, after going away from AOL and/or Prodigy initially.
 
I rarely use web based email, but I admit that iCloud is a bit too simplistic. It seems to be Apple's style to hide all functions (even basic ones) behind menus, just like they do with iOS iWork apps.

At least Gmail puts most of what you need right there.
 
Traverse said:
I rarely use web based email, but I admit that iCloud is a bit too simplistic. It seems to be Apple's style to hide all functions (even basic ones) behind menus, just like they do with iOS iWork apps.

At least Gmail puts most of what you need right there.
Click to expand...

They're definitely different design philosophies, and they are are plain when you look at the interfaces.
 
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