Lifehack.org has made a detailed post about what changes Google should make to its applications to make them more useful. I really enjoyed reading through them and it would definitely make Google a much better service than it is right now – of course, it is still better than its competitors at this stage. But of course, I will also like to see few more changes in Google out of this list. Here are few that I liked –
Gmail
- Sort features. You should be able to sort your inbox (or any folder/label) by date, sender, etc.
- Two panes. When you open an email, you shouldn’t have to leave the inbox view if you don’t want to.
- Dragging. You should be able to drag emails if you want, to re-arrange them, pop them in a label.
- Open emails in new tab. Self explanatory. Firefox made me addicted to tabs. Why can’t I use them in Gmail?
- Message size. I should be able to see how big a message is, and sort by size. Would make deleting emails easier.
- Off-line reading. I love Gmail being online all the time, but what if my Internet connection is down, or I’m away from a wi-fi spot? How will I get my Gmail fix?
My Additions
- Integrate Google Reader: You should be able to read your subscriptions right from your inbox. It can be there along-with links on left side.
- Integrate Google Groups: Same as for Google Reader. Your Groups should be more accessible. Right now, if I have to read messages from groups for which I have opted – No Email option, I have to go to group home for reading messages posted in those groups.
Gcal
- To-do list. C’mon. This is pretty basic.
- Pop-up notifications. Yes, they have this already, except when Gcal isn’t open. I’d like to be notified at all times.
My Additions
- Accessibility through Email: You should be able to add/delete Calendar events through email.
- Integration with Desktop Clients: That will be a big push!
Google Reader
- And search! How is it that the king of search companies doesn’t have search in Reader?
- Also: someday/maybe list. If I unsubscribe to a feed, I might want to save it on a list to check out at a later date.
My Additions
- Flexible Management: I still find it difficult to manage my subscriptions like adding tags/labels and moving them. You have to jump through lot of links to do these tasks.
Google Docs & Spreadsheets
- Sharing with non-Google users. As far as I know, if you want to share a Google doc with someone, they’ll need to log in with a Google account to access it. Well, they shouldn’t have to.
- Spreadsheets. This app needs a lot of work. It’s so behind other spreadsheet programs it’s almost not usable. I can make some very basic spreadsheets, but it’s a lot more time consuming. Simple things, like being able to quickly do a Sum formula without having to click on the Formulas tab first. Keyboard shortcuts. Things like that.
- Off-line working. Same as above. This would be killer.
My Additions
- Download all: Download all the documents and spreadsheets in one go. Right now, I have to take help of scripts to do that.
- Blogging: It should help you integrate blogging platforms so that you can blog right from Google Document/Spreadsheet…after all, it should be the best online office app!