Any way to read Gmail "normally"

[JulianL]

The ipad is great but one thing that I'm really not enjoying is reading Gmail. I really like the regular desktop browser interface that I've used for years where there is the thin strip of stuff on the left and most of the screen is taken up by a big pane that shown the list of email message subject titles (I run with snippets turned off). When I want to look at a message then I click on it and it opens in the big pane, replacing the list of subject lines, and when I've finished I can either use the back button or more usually I just click the "Inbox" link on the left to get back to the list of messages.

My problem with the iPad is that gmail seems to try to be clever and if I log onto my gmail account it sees that I'm on a iPad and insists on using a different screen format that looks more like the built in iPad mail app, I.e. The list of messages in the left pane and a preview window showing the currently selected message on the right.

Is it just me or do other people think that this side by side format is less efficient than the good old fashioned Gmail desktop browser interface as far as use of screen space is concerned? When I'm looking at my inbox then all I'm interested in is scanning down the list of messages to look at who they're from and what the subject line says and then, when I decide what message I want to look at next, all I'm interested in is the content of that message and I don't care about the message list until I'm done.

Is there any way to get something that looks like the standard desktop interface, either by spoofing the google web site to think that it's talking to a regular desktop browser, or via some specialist Gmail reader app? I'm perfectly prepared to pay money for a decent app to do this.

- Julian

 

[slpdLoad]

iCabMobile is a really nice browser, and lets you change the identifier to a desktop browser so that web pages render how you expect.

Atomic Web does this too, but I would recommend iCab first.

 

[MikhailT]

The ipad is great but one thing that I'm really not enjoying is reading Gmail. I really like the regular desktop browser interface that I've used for years where there is the thin strip of stuff on the left and most of the screen is taken up by a big pane that shown the list of email message subject titles (I run with snippets turned off). When I want to look at a message then I click on it and it opens in the big pane, replacing the list of subject lines, and when I've finished I can either use the back button or more usually I just click the "Inbox" link on the left to get back to the list of messages.

My problem with the iPad is that gmail seems to try to be clever and if I log onto my gmail account it sees that I'm on a iPad and insists on using a different screen format that looks more like the built in iPad mail app, I.e. The list of messages in the left pane and a preview window showing the currently selected message on the right.

Is it just me or do other people think that this side by side format is less efficient than the good old fashioned Gmail desktop browser interface as far as use of screen space is concerned? When I'm looking at my inbox then all I'm interested in is scanning down the list of messages to look at who they're from and what the subject line says and then, when I decide what message I want to look at next, all I'm interested in is the content of that message and I don't care about the message list until I'm done.

Is there any way to get something that looks like the standard desktop interface, either by spoofing the google web site to think that it's talking to a regular desktop browser, or via some specialist Gmail reader app? I'm perfectly prepared to pay money for a decent app to do this.

- Julian

It's based on the browser's user string. Have you click on full version link on the bottom of the gmail page?

You can always get Atomic Browser and tell it to use Safari Desktop user string.

 

[JulianL]

It's based on the browser's user string. Have you click on full version link on the bottom of the gmail page?

You can always get Atomic Browser and tell it to use Safari Desktop user string.

Sigh! Why didn't I think of that?!? I tried switching it to desktop mode and it messed up the page completely, the only way I could get things back was to log out and back in again, at which point it reverted back to mobile mode. I then tried switching to basic HTML mode and that works pretty well and is a huge step forward. Thanks MikhailT.

Thanks also sipdLoad. I had a quick look at the developer's homepage and iCabmobile looks really, really interesting - I think it might solve some other issues I'm having with the iPad browsing experience.

- Julian

 

[spectre51]

+1 for atomic browser. At .99 it's a steal. Plus if you have any issues or comments on it the developer is easily reached via email. He responds promptly to any issues I've had.