You've Got Web-Based Gmail

In many cases the two can look strikingly similar, using homogeneous design and interaction techniques. Sometimes the Web version of applications can also outdo a downloadable equivalent. Google hopes to push that boundary even further with the latest update to its in-browser GMail for the iPad.

The previous version of GMail for the iPad already moved beyond the landscape of most Web-based mail, using HTML5 and offline caching to create a seamless in-browser experience, more like a downloadable application than a Web site.

In a blog post on the Google Mobile Blog, Craig Wilkinson, a Google Mobile software engineer, wrote that the company had changed some of the design elements to enhance GMail on the iPad.

The main difference that users will see is when they start writing a new e-mail. Mr. Wilkinson said that now GMail users will see a big full screen window when composing a new e-mail, while before, the inbox and new mail were cramped next to each other. That design had taxed the limited real estate of the iPad.

GMail also fixed a few bugs in the Web app, including making more text visible in the windows and fixing a problem that prevented scrolling through long messages.

Some users prefer the GMail browser-based mail over the iPads built-in Mail app as GMail is more familiar, offers threaded conversations between multiple people and is usually much quicker than Apples mail application.

One feature that can be frustrating with Apples built-in Mail program, for example, are the animations that appear when moving or deleting e-mail messages. Apple shows slick animations on the iPad, in which the e-mail messages swoop into folders and the garbage can; although this is visually appealing and notifies you that the mail has moved, it can become somewhat irritating when you see this animation over and over.