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Filed under: Utilities, E-mail, Productivity, Browsers

Lifehacker's Better Gmail scripts come to Google Chrome


Since I wrote a post about ten great Firefox userscripts, I've been excited to see how user scripting is progressing for other browsers. Apparently, in the case of Chrome, it's come along far enough that Lifehacker's insanely popular Better Gmail script collection now has a Chrome version. Many Gmail addicts swear by these, so this could make the difference in choosing a browser for some.

So, what's better about Better Gmail? You can hide the stuff you're not using, including chat and the unread spam message count. You get handy visual touches like highlighting a row when you hover over it, and showing icons for attachment types without having to open a message. You can also use labels as folders, sub-folders included. These sound like small improvements, but you'd miss them if you didn't have them. Now users of one more popular browser don't have to worry about that.

Filed under: E-mail, Google

Better Gmail 2 now shows unread messages in the favicon

Better Gmail 2
The other day the folks at Google launched a new Gmail Labs feature called Title Tweaks that lets you decide whether your browser title bar should read "Gmail - Inbox (20)" or "Inbox (20) - Gmail." This is a feature that's been a part of Gina Trapini's Better Gmail 2 add-on for Firefox for a while, but now that it's officially part of Google Labs, you can set your preferences once and they'll apply no matter what web browser or computer you use to check your email.

But there's one thing that the latest version of Better Gmail can do that Google can't... yet. Better Gmail 2 now lets you see how many unread messages you have right on the favicon. This takes up a lot less space than the typical Inbox notifications in the title bar. And that means you should be able to see how many unread messages you have even if you have dozens of tabs open, or if you're using an add-on like Faviconize.

If you don't want to install Better Gmail 2 for one reason or another, you can get the same effect by using the Unread Messages Count in Favicon userscript with Greasemonkey.

Filed under: E-mail, Google, Browser Tips

Better Gmail 2 now supports Firefox 3, HTML signatures

Better Gmail 2

Want to tweak the heck out of your Gmail interface, but don't want to install dozens of Greasemonkey scripts one at a time? Lifehacker's Gina Trapani has whipped up an updated version of her awesome Better Gmail 2 extension for Firefox. The latest version adds support for Firefox 3, plus a few other nifty features. Here are a few of our favorites:

  • HTML signatures
  • Gmail Redesigned skin, which makes Gmail look more like a desktop app. An awesome desktop app.
  • A few other slightly less awesome skins
  • Hide Spam count
  • Include icons for file attachments

Once you install Better Gmail 2, you can find the options dialog in the Firefox Tools menu. Just check the boxes next to the features you want to enable and refresh your Gmail window.

Filed under: E-mail, Google, Browser Tips

Better Gmail 2 Firefox add-on works with new Gmail

Better Gmail 2There's good new and bad news in the fact that Google is rolling out an updated version of Gmail. On the one hand, pages load quicker and there's an advanced contact manager. On the other hand, many of your favorite Firefox extensions for tweaking Gmail may have stopped working.

For a while now, personal productivity site Lifehacker has been rolling up some of the best Greasemonkey scripts for Gmail into a package called Better Gmail. And Google went ahead and broke pretty much every single one of those scripts with its new version.

Now Lifehacker has released the initial version of Better Gmail 2. It doesn't have all the features of Better Gmail 1. In fact, right now there are only about 6 options, compared with more than 25 in the old version of Better Gmail. But considering the fact that most users are just starting to see the new Gmail interface, we suspect it will take a little while before the Greasemonkey coders get around to making all of their hacks "newer version" compatible. In the meantime, Lifehacker promises to continue updating both the Better Gmail 1 and Better Gmail 2 packages until Google eliminates the "older version" option. Then all development will be on Better Gmail 2.

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With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

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