I was just looking over at someone else's computer and noticed that they had a completely different look and feel for their Google Gmail Web pages. I mean, REALLY different look, with ninjas and everything. She said she'd tweaked her "theme" but I don't know about that plug-in. But, damn, it looked cool. How can I tweak the appearance of Gmail?
Dave's Answer:
It was only a day or two ago that I learned that Google had unleashed themes in Gmail, actually. Prior to that, there were third-party add-ons you could download and install that would give you some control over the Gmail look and feel (mostly color schemes) but truth be told I've always been nervous about the possibility of a UI hack messing up the functionality of the system.
The good news is that Google's now added about twenty themes of its own, ranging from the banal with just the slightest tiny changes from the standard (now "classic") design to those that are quite amazingly different and really quite fun.
Here's how ya get there...
When you're logged in to your Gmail account, look on the top right for "Settings":
Click on "Settings", and you'll see the usual set of tabs, with something new on the far right:
Chose Themes and you'll be amazed at the number of cool themes that are now available for Gmail users:
Finally, I suspect that the woman you were spying on, uh, whose computer you glanced at, was running the "ninja" theme, but the one I like is actually called "desktop":
Nice. And great job, Google, with these new Gmail themes!
CommentsAbout the Author: Dave Taylor has been involved with the Internet since 1980 and is internationally known as an expert on both business and technology issues. Holder of an MSEd and MBA, author of twenty books and founder of four startups, he also runs a strategic marketing company and consults with firms seeking the best approach to working with weblogs and social networks. Dave is an award-winning speaker and frequent guest on radio and podcast programs. AskDaveTaylor.com http://www.intuitive.com/blog/