For those of you who were wondering why Gmail looks a little funky, fear not. The change will cut down on the amount of time you can possibly spend organizing your email. Don’t worry, you’ll find other ways to procrastinate.

If you do use “Labels” in Gmail (like folders, except that messages can belong to multiple labels instead of just one folder) you’ll probably be jumping for joy at this development. You’ll remember with a grimace how involved the whole process used to be. You had to click Labels, select the one you want, and then click �Archive.� Oh, the wasted time of our young lives.

No more archiving! One fewer clicks! Just select the label and you�re done. And shortcuts (L for Labels, M for Move to � make sure you have Keyboard shortcuts enabled) reduce the necessary clicks one further. Keystrokes minimized by the auto-complete feature � meaning you type R-I and it knows you mean to assign the label �Richard Bulliet and his curse words.�


Hyper-organizers should find this helpful � god knows how many keystrokes and clicks it actually takes to organize every piece of email you receive. The rest of you should consider labeling more. The shock of the new-fangled-looking menu bar will wear off.

Check out Gmail’s blog for some help navigating these changes. And if you’re still using Cubmail, it’s time to leave the 90s already.