Google killing Basic HTML version of Gmail In January 2024

Google will discontinue the Basic HTML version of its Gmail service in January 2024. It's unclear when Google made the decision to end Basic HTML support – news of which can be found in this 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 …

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: WTF? Why should it take almost a minute to finish loading elements?

I mean, realistically Google's spyware loads very quickly and it's on almost every website.

[CowHorseFrog]

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.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Nope, it's a world-wide greed fest. The USA has its share, but it's just part of human nature to try to grab all it can get. The biggest players get the biggest share.

[CowHorseFrog]

Re: The way of [insert tech giant name here] I'm afraid

No you are not measuring the actual relative inbalance.

How about you compare the benefits and rights the average person in Australia or Western EU gets, im talking about stuff like free healthcare, paid holidays, maternity leave, sick leave, workers rights.

The problem is the arseholes in America have taken far more away from the little person in the name of greed than they have in other places. Whats even sadder in AMerica, people have been so brainwashed that half of them think free healthcare is wrong. THat only happens in America, the poor people vote Republican, because free healthcare is wrong, free healthcare that they badly need.

[Snake]

Re: The way of [insert tech giant name here] I'm afraid

I don't understand why these types of things do not yet have a boilerplate, industry-standard notice.

"Dear Cattle-user [insert name here],

As you are aware, you and your data are valued to us as we monetize your data stream to the best of our abilities. Therefore, you are a product, and regretfully products can not have say in operations.

We are now in the process of implementing changes to our system in a manner that suits our needs. We hope you understand and accept the compromise in your experience to better serve our requirements.

Best regards,

Legal Department

BigCorp, Inc.

[Winkypop]

“a core consideration“

How very generous of them!

Good design considers accessibility to be a core necessity.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

[Evil Scot]

Re: “a core consideration“

Big T?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: “a core consideration“

not so able developers

[Strahd Ivarius]

Re: “a core consideration“

Accessibility is a core necessity.

Of course, in Google case, it is accessibility for their advertisers to the content of your emails...

[cyberdemon]

Re: “a core consideration“

They already know the content of the email, badoc HTML or not..

Full fat GMail is more about knowing how much time you spend reading each one, the exact path of your mouse cursor, your 'typing gait', etc. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Chrome had an eyeball-tracking API for supported hardware.. (Pixel perhaps?)

I use the basic HTML version on my phone.. It works much better than the 'full' version, which tries to make me use the App, which of course won't work on this de-googled phone (/e/ OS)

[Downeaster]

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.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail

I switched to using Thunderbird as MUA years ago and never looked back.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail

Have you had the misfortune to install v115 yet? Amazing how they managed to redesign the interface to be both crowded and sparse at the same time. Nowhere near as clean as the original UI.

[doublelayer]

Re: Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail

I have installed that and got the same surprise you did. I can't say I've found any changes I actually like in it, but at least I have not found any functional problems, just annoying interface elements.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail

I suspect Thunderbird has some developers who progress it in ways we would NOT expect. I used to use several hundred copies in a company, it never missed a beat, but occasionally some of the changes in new versions were nuts. I once paid a developer to fix an issue that had been "introduced" for no rational reason that I could see.

[drankinatty]

Re: Will Miss Plain Old HTML Mail

E-mail is supposed to POA (plain-old-ASCII). What is anything bug a simple html interface needed for? (sarcasm unfortunately intended)

Ironically, and with credit due, Squirrelmail was recently updated to run on PHP 8.3 -- and it's all plain old html tables (it will display html/images in frames if you configure it to, but -- don't). So there is still hope for simple e-mail interfaces out there. (and the total package is still less than 2M)

I haven't used gmail's new interface, I just use it as an imap host for tbird or alpine, but I feel safe in predicting the "new" interface will not be capable of displaying half the message list in the same amount of screen real estate. That tends to be the side effect of all web UI "improvements" -- loss of concise information.

[An_Old_Dog]

Will Not Miss Plain Old Text Mail - I Still Have It!

I switched to using Mutt as MUA years ago and never looked back. (That said, I don't have it set up for Gmail because I don't use Gmail.)

[vtcodger]

Re: Will Not Miss Plain Old Text Mail - I Still Have It!

YOU don't use gmail. But other people do. And they will be sending you yet more, and more complex, HTML email. Their email will be a problem for the visually handicapped. And for those who use text browsers like MUTT or ALPINE. And, of course, HTML emailis are wildly insecurable. Which may be a problem when the day comes that people actually become worried about internet security.

I'm not sure whether the problem at Google is utopian thinking or dementia or maybe something in the drinking water. But I think this is probably yet another bad idea from our digital masters in Mountain View.

BTW, I think that if the secure internet ever comes about, the rule for those who send email will be "If you MUST email HTML, put it in an attachment", and for users, the rule will be "Don't EVER open an attachment unless you need to and you trust the source."

[Paul Hovnanian]

Re: Will Not Miss Plain Old Text Mail - I Still Have It!

Today, GMail "Basic HTML" messages are send as "multipart/alternative" with both a "text/html" as well as a "text/plain" part. As long as they keep the text/plain, I'm OK with that.

I imaging that people who feel they must have the enhanced features of HTML will have to upgrade. Or do without.

[An_Old_Dog]

Re: Will Not Miss Plain Old Text Mail - I Still Have It!

Yes, I get trash on my Mutt text display from people/companies which send me complex HTML, and I have to save the HTML part as a textfile and use an editor to extract the relevant web links. But that's a reasonably-rare occurrence for me.

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

[Insert sadsack pun here]

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.

[FrogsAndChips]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

You forgot the part about disposing of the secretaries in the shark tank after they have printed the emails. How do you want to keep them secure otherwise?

[Atomic Duetto]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

No, no, no… she will just become some watery or moistened bint handing out swords to billionaire consumer capitalists to wield executive power over all of us. Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses…. Seems somehow how prophetic. Democracy is dead (it got lost on the way to the shops)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

"Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses"

Calm down, Donald.

[Atomic Duetto]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

Ooh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That’s what I’m on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw it, didn’t you?

[Ace2]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

This thread is a farcical aquatic ceremony.

[Strahd Ivarius]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

You should use a more environment friendly container, like a coconut for example.

You may need then however to change your carrier to a more sturdy avian...

[Korev]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

You should use a more environment friendly container, like a coconut for example.

You may need then however to change your carrier to a more sturdy avian...

There's a Bounty if you can do it...

[Allonymous Coward]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

Could a swallow carry a coconut?

[Ken G]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

African or European coconut?

[Allonymous Coward]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

[coredump]

Re: POP3. IMAP ?

Replies go on the opposite leg, surely.

[Will Godfrey]

What happend to...

plain text?

That's how my email client is set up. Anything else is treated as spam.

[Ian Johnston]

Re: What happend to...

I refuse to read any document printed in proportionally spaced fonts.

[Dinanziame]

Re: What happend to...

That's nothing! I only read documents printed using dot matrix! But I make an exception for spirit duplicator.

[DJO]

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.

[Jad]

Re: What happend to...

We used to use daisy wheel primers back in the day, and if you wanted to draw a picture with them you had to essentially program them to behave like a single pixel dot matrix ... that was a very slow and noisy printer mode ...

[DJO]

Re: What happend to...

Been there, done that - microspacing full stops on a diablo daisywheel. Needed a reinforced table to stop it shaking the bugger to bits.

[Nick Ryan]

Re: What happend to...

Argh! Now I'm having flashbacks of the noise of those things... particularly when made to do "interesting" things.

In my defence, it was not me that decided to play a "tune" on a printer as it printed. I may have suggested it, but it was a colleague who was happy to rise to the challenge that undertook it. It worked... for a certain interpretation of the word "worked".

[Agamemnon]

Re: What happend to...

Green Bar is a pain in the ass to get now-a-days as well.

[An_Old_Dog]

Re: What happend to...

The Okidata 100 is a printer model the tech rep denied Okidata ever made when I called for replacement parts in the late 1990s. This beast was a multiheaded dot-matrix printer. A shuttlebar held 34 dot-matrix printheads, each with its small horizontal area of responsibility. On powerup, the shuttlebar would start shaking left-and-right (as intended), and I needed to wedge the table it was on in-place.

It produced two pages of text per minute.

[doublelayer]

Re: What happend to...

This wasn't talking about HTML in emails. It was talking about the webmail client, which can be the one that is mostly HTML (I'm not sure if it's entirely JS-free, but there's relatively little of it if any) versus the full version which is a very large pile of scripts so the interface changes more as you use it. Both support plain text and HTML emails.

As for what an email can contain, the ship sailed on HTML email a long time ago. People wanted to do something as simple as add some formatting to text, and plain text couldn't do it. They wanted to select a format that could do some more and HTML was chosen. It's not going back, but since the email protocol is still the same, plain text emails will continue to function for a long time.

[Dan 55]

Priorites

How are Google going to implement emoji reactions with plain old HTML? Clearly the POH version has to go.

I suspect all it will take is the AFB to direct Google's attention to the Americans with Disabilities Act and Google will post a GIF on Twitter with a black border and very serious reply saying sorry, hopefully with alt text.

[aerogems]

ADA Compliance?

As hinted at in the article, this sounds like it could be problematic for things like ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act for anyone not living in the States) compliance. Unless they've updated the "fat" version to work with screen readers and the like, Google could well find itself on the wrong end of a(nother) lawsuit.

[Nick Ryan]

Re: ADA Compliance?

A crap load of Javascript and very inefficiently dumped out HTML is never going to produce anything that is truly accessible.

But then we still have the snake oil sellers who will sell a "make your site accessible by adding our JavaScript to it" nonsense.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ADA Compliance?

Blind user here. While I don't use webmail at all now, I've seen both interfaces. It won't end up being an ADA problem for them. The basic HTML interface was much cleaner and easier to use, but the full interface isn't inaccessible per se, just much more annoying. The same is now true of Google Docs and Sheets: over a decade ago when I was forced to use this, they were basically unusable and I had to make a variety of excuses to get someone else to copy text I produced in it to avoid punching my computer in frustration. Nowadays when I've become forced to use it again after a wonderful period of not needing to, there's still a chance that I'll be frustrated, but I can't argue that it's unusable. When compared to basically any word processor, Docs is worse from an accessibility perspective (with the possible exception of the web version of Office365 but at least you normally have the option of locally installing it), but everything works enough that Google can claim that I haven't used it enough to be familiar with the interface. In their defense, that argument is probably true, as I have spent relatively little time learning to throw away the way interfaces work everywhere else and learn the ways they work there, and if I did I could probably be much faster whenever I'm doing something more complex than the basic editing I sometimes do.

Not to mention that there are various places that have applications that are much worse from an accessibility perspective and nothing ever happens to them. If the customer complaint doesn't make them change, I try to drop them and find a replacement. This is much easier when I'm using it personally than when it's my work's choice. Anyone with a captcha on your website that doesn't have an audio or text version, this is a one-time thing for me. I will get someone to read the captcha for me and then I'll dump you. I won't ask first.

[stiine]

Re: ADA Compliance?

If you're blind, how did you manage to see both interfaces? Did you patent the method?

[PRR]

Re: ADA Compliance?

> If you're blind, how did you manage to see both interfaces?

I assumed he was speaking metaphorically. Or holistically: integrating info from a screen-reader to form a mental image (not always a visual image).

But he could be like my friend Newton. So very near-sighted and tunnel-vision that he left nose-prints on the CRT. He could read a few letters at a time on a large EGA. Lots of head movement gave him everything on the display. He was very critical of cluttered and bloated interfaces. He would have hated either form of gMail.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: ADA Compliance?

Yes, your pedantry is recognized. I'm afraid, however, that I can't count it as unique; at least a few hundred others have used a similar line on me other times I've used the word "see". And yet, I'll still say "I'll see" or "See you later".

For the record, I do not have vision, but I construct a model of an interface from the controls available and spacing information which can be determined by the order the voice interface reads controls and the spacing used on Braille output devices. You may find that an experienced blind person has a better understanding of the application model than the average sighted user. For example, one of the primary ways we navigate in web interfaces is by using parts of the object model. For example, I can press a key to jump to the beginning or end of a containing tag, which is pretty useful in jumping over tables, lists, or frames (really useful if I'm using a computer without an ad blocker because it becomes a one-key jump over ads option).

[Doctor Syntax]

There are a couple of alternatives which can be used singly or together: a local email client and a better mail service provider.

[s. pam]

what an arrogant arsed move!

I don't normally use the basic mode with the exception of emptying the Spam and Bins. By using basic mode, you can select all at the top of the left column and with 2 clicks (selecting all) and then delete-forever purge the folders.

This arse about face decision means I shall either (1) have to manually click every email, or (2) just never empty the folders.

Guess since it's free and not my disk spae I'll go with (2) then.

[johnfbw]

Google Users complain they aren't getting their monies worth!

hmmm

[Rich 2]

Do you think Google will ever stop being shitheads?

“ When your correspondent loaded it, Google delivered a warning that it is "designed for slower connections and legacy browsers."

In other words, “we know our new shiny email interface is utterly shite, bloated, full of spyware, slow, and horribly horribly inefficient” …which is why YOU need to use a browser that supports Google’s latest proprietary Web-GX protocol to “speed up your browsing experience” (oh, and to make it much easier to spy on you too, but don’t worry about that - trust us, we’re the nice guys)

[Bebu]

Do you think Google will ever stop being shitheads?

No. Not before Alphabet goes out of business - not in my time I would think.

I must have another go at getting Alpine to handle the Oauth2 part to do imap/tls with gmail.

Text MUAs must be easier for screen readers to handle. Alpine or Mutt. Others?

An alternative, I guess, is to forward the mail from gmail to a more friendly mail service. Possibly an opportunity for a mail sevice to receive the client's email, scan, process/decrappify (AI/ML?) it into a more accessible format.

Getting older and really noticing the optics are not what they used to be :(

[Grunchy]

Still getting bills for $0 a month from Telus after firing them 10 years ago

They finally called me up to switch me to fibre optic since they are spending megabucks to convert the entire city of Calgary. So I asked the lady “why” I am getting monthly bills for $0 owing for the last decade. She says that’s cause I still have access to my Telus.net email address (even though no service!) because they ditched that server way long time ago and it’s been operated by google mail ever since then, which retains your data for at least 99 years after your demise, whether they caused it or not. So I’m all, “ok how do I access that defunct account then,” and she’s all, “well are you buying fibre optic service or not.” Check Mate.

[Mostly Irrelevant]

I'm not surprised, every other website has ditched the noscript version of things. I'm surprised Google didn't do this 10 years ago, they tend to be first on things like this.