This morning I got into the office and checked my Gmail as I normally do. To my surprise, I found out that Gmail had pushed out an update overnight that redesigned the web app’s buttons. While they definitely look sleeker, I’m wondering whether they look more or less like buttons now. Are there usability implications?
The buttons pre-redesign were actually unstyled (similar to Google’s search buttons, pictured left) – they took the default look of buttons in your OS (grey rounded-corner rectangles for Windows users, grey/glossy pill-like shapes for Mac users). From a usability standpoint, these buttons made the most sense and were most natural and recognizeable to the user (after all, they’re used to seeing them in most of their desktop applications and prompts). You knew by looking at it that it was a button. Plain and simple.
The buttons post-redesign are now a bit sleeker (pictured right) – flattened down with a solid grey border, slightly rounded corners (~1 pixel radius), and a subtle gradient to mimic the button’s convex surface.
For a web-savvy user, the redesign has little effect. If anything, web-savvy users would probably enjoy the new look more. But for more casual users, are the newly-redesigned buttons still obviously buttons? Would less web-savvy users confuse the buttons for tabs?
There are definitely subtleties between buttons, tabs, and text links. Each sort of have their own implied conventions and purpose. Does the redesign blur these differences in any way?
Thoughts?
