What Google Needs

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

  1. Sort features. You should be able to sort your inbox (or any folder/label) by date, sender, etc.
  2. Two panes. When you open an email, you shouldn’t have to leave the inbox view if you don’t want to.
  3. Dragging. You should be able to drag emails if you want, to re-arrange them, pop them in a label.
  4. Open emails in new tab. Self explanatory. Firefox made me addicted to tabs. Why can’t I use them in Gmail?
  5. Message size. I should be able to see how big a message is, and sort by size. Would make deleting emails easier.
  6. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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

  1. To-do list. C’mon. This is pretty basic.
  2. 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

  1. Accessibility through Email: You should be able to add/delete Calendar events through email.
  2. Integration with Desktop Clients: That will be a big push!

 

Google Reader

  1. And search! How is it that the king of search companies doesn’t have search in Reader?
  2. 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

  1. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Off-line working. Same as above. This would be killer.

 

My Additions

  1. Download all: Download all the documents and spreadsheets in one go. Right now, I have to take help of scripts to do that.
  2. 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!

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