Remove Gmail Clutter With the Simplify Chrome Extension
Chrome: Sometimes the best hacks are the simplest. And unsurprisingly, the Simplify Chrome extension is one of my new favorites because it takes away all the Gmail baked clutter and Thanos consigns it to oblivion.
If you are a regular Gmail user, you may not even think that using the service on the Internet is so cluttered to begin with. I understand. I’ve been using Gmail since it came out and it looks familiar to me, although I agree with Simplify developer Michael Leggett that the giant icon and logo in the top left corner looks a little ostentatious.
“Take a look at any desktop application and tell me how many of them have a huge fucking logo in the upper left corner. C’mon. This is pure ego, pure nonsense. Drop the logo. Give me a break, ”Leggett said in an interview with Mark Wilson of Fast Company.
And who better take a critical look at cleaning up Gmail than Leggett, who was not only the lead designer for Gmail from 2008 to 2012, but also a co-author of Google Inbox ( RIP ). I find it incredibly interesting that he now seems to hate what Google has done with the design of Gmail; at least I can only assume that this is his motivation for his Simplify extension, which removes most of the entire Gmail interface. Here’s what the difference looks like:
Gmail (regular)
Gmail (simplified)
Wah-bam. The changes are not incredibly drastic as Simplify is not a full-fledged Gmail conversion. However, the horrible logo is gone, as is Gmail’s entire right sidebar (now accessible via the three-dot icon in the bottom right corner). The create button is also missing, replaced by a cute plus sign in the bottom right corner that almost suggests it could conjure up the ghosts of Google’s failed social service. Plus, your email is now right in your browser. I didn’t like it at first, but I liked it.
I still have feelings for Simplify, but it’s definitely a fun new way to present your Gmail. At least I like that Leggett is direct about what the extension does, because data privacy is just as important and important as a beautiful web page. He writes :
“You always have to be very careful about which extensions or applications you use for your email. Simplification is basically some CSS plus some Javascript to apply the CSS. No trackers. No data is sent or transmitted. No ads ever. Promise. And all the code can be checked on Github . “
Bonus Points to Leggett if future versions of Simplify will allow you to choose what you want to cut, center, or otherwise alter.