The days when you had to rely on your own programming skills to come up with a Gmail skin are now over, we are glad to report. Google has made some minor changes to its Gmail client (small color changes and pixel shifts) and it also added a cool new feature, Gmail Themes. You can now customize your Gmail using said themes, and make the mail client as geeky, cool or cutesy as you want it to be.
Annie Chen, engineer with Google’s Gmail team, comments: “We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers -- it's not exactly practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred.”
If you would like to put the new feature to the test, follow these simple steps:
1. Login to you Gmail account. If you do not have one, why not register? Setting up an account is free-of-charge, it will take a very short time, and once you are done you will get to enjoy some of the cool features that Gmail has to offer.
2. Look to the top right corner and locate the “Settings” tab.
3. Click Settings and then locate the Themes button. If you don’t see one, then the new feature has not reached your Gmail account just yet. According to Google, the feature will be rolled out in the near future, so be patient for the time being.
Annie Chen, engineer with Google’s Gmail team, comments: “We wanted to go beyond simple color customization, so out of the 30 odd themes we're launching today, there's a shiny theme with chrome styling, another one that turns your inbox into a retro notepad, nature themes that change scenery over time, weather driven themes that can rain on your mailbox, and fun characters to keep you in good company. There's even an old school ascii theme (Terminal) which was the result of a bet between two engineers -- it's not exactly practical, but it's great for testing out your geek cred.”
If you would like to put the new feature to the test, follow these simple steps:
1. Login to you Gmail account. If you do not have one, why not register? Setting up an account is free-of-charge, it will take a very short time, and once you are done you will get to enjoy some of the cool features that Gmail has to offer.
2. Look to the top right corner and locate the “Settings” tab.
3. Click Settings and then locate the Themes button. If you don’t see one, then the new feature has not reached your Gmail account just yet. According to Google, the feature will be rolled out in the near future, so be patient for the time being.