A Dedicated 9.1 User Tries Desktop, Part 2
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 3:40PM by Summer
I've gotten a lot of comments from folks warning me about what they like/don't like on Desktop. Thanks so much! I'll certainly be on the lookout for these things and let you know if I can find some way around the ones you don't like.
Meanwhile, today I downloaded Desktop 10.1. As it downloaded, I got a little tutorial about all the new features. This is a nice touch – entertaining and informative.
Some of the features I noted from my tutorial:
1) Browse without signing on. Not sure what that means, but I am sure I will figure out when I get downloaded.
2) Tabs for browser, email and IM windows. My husband uses Firefox so I've seen this before. It's neat, but it takes some getting used to. I tend to automatically close the X in the upper right corner, thus shutting down 3) Send and receive email from multiple accounts. Ohhhh, that's kind of cool.
4) Easily add maps and directions to emails and IM's. I wonder if they could make it even easier than just adding a link. Personally, I prefer to just send an address and make someone else do the work. I'm inconsiderate that way.
Even though I read the intro, when Desktop opened, I thought it had automatically signed me in because I was looking at a slicker version of the Welcome experience I was used to receiving after I signed in. But then I had to sign on once I tried to get my email. Ah-ha, this is "Browse without signing on." Makes sense. I like the new way you sign in.
A poll was recently done that showed 55% of
Something else I really appreciated is that when I minimized 10.1, I saw my old
My next step was adding my Gmail account. When I went to access it, the inbox claimed I had 430 emails but it only showed me the first 100 or so, with the most recent from Oct. 2007. I tried moving those 100 to my saved folder, and then tried deleting them, but it claimed I had zero emails, which wasn't right either. I couldn't access anything recent. So I removed the Gmail account and will play around with it over the next week. More on what I figure out, plus my thoughts on adding favorites to the toolbar, next week.
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About The Team
Terrie is the lead product manager on the AOL Desktop Affinity software. Terrie works to define new views of Desktop. Like the Asylum Desktop and LemonDrop Desktop. Take a look, they are neat!
Summer is a Sr. Manager for AOL Member Communications. While she has no ties directly to the product development team, she has been a contributor to many AOL blogs over the last few years and is excited to bring a non-product team perspective to the Desktop blog.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1. Summer wrote: "I tend to automatically close the X in the upper right corner, thus shutting down ALL windows."
yeah.. i was over helping my grandmother update her computer, and she was complaining how sometimes when she closes a tab (she uses Firefox) she gets an "Unknown" page error. Turns out she was hitting the big 'X' that closes ALL the tabs, leaving her with a new, unaddressed tab.. totally confusing the daylights out of her.
So yeah, it may take some getting used to, but as a Firefox and Trillian user, i can tell you it's great having everything contained in one window :D
Posted at 4:19PM on Sep 2nd 2008 by keaven
2. Hey Keaven,
It does take a little while to get used to tabbed browsing. Even I was closing all the tabs accidentally when I first started!
Maybe a "are you sure you want to close all tabs" confirmation pop-up (with a "don't show me this again" checkbox preference) when you close all the tabs in the browser might help?
Thanks,
Laura
Posted at 1:56PM on Sep 3rd 2008 by Laura Peterson
3. @Laura
That's a really good idea! For someone like my grandmother, who is not used to tabs, those initial "hey, are you really sure you want to do that" prompts can be a big help. Shoot.. even for *me* it would be helpful! I mean.. how often have you accidentally hit something and been grateful for the "are you sure" confirmation? Though... that would lead into a totally different discussion on the desensitization of users so they just click "OK" without actually reading the message box... i've done that before as well... (and I think Vista is only going to create even MORE people who just click "OK" without reading. There are SOOO many "are you sure? are you REALLY sure? are you REALLY really sure?" confirmations with that OS)
Posted at 2:07PM on Sep 3rd 2008 by keaven
4. So, I was getting used to the various differences, and even decided that it wasn't horrid that there is no automatic resizing of photos inserted in email...when... AOL's redirect feature died. I can go to a website if I put in the exact address, but if I click on an AOL news story, or any internal weblink on an open page, AOL Desktop hangs with an untitled tab, and doesn't load. Now That's annoying!! Any clues out there?
Posted at 7:23PM on Sep 8th 2008 by Morgan
5. I still cant get into my email.
Please help me return to my old settings
Posted at 9:27AM on Sep 15th 2008 by Yvonne
6. The Desktop AOL Address Nook as it pertains to Mailing Lists is driving me crazy.
Just trying to select one of the many groups I have (to add or delete) takes a lifetime of patience.
In any event, if there is a particular email address I want to delte from a group I have previously created, it is impossible to do so.
Why?
There must be an easy way to add or delete to these groups?
If anyone has any advice, please advise: biffpincus@aol.com
Many thanks,
p.s. IT IS INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING DEALING WITH THIS INEFFICIENT SOFTWARE.
Posted at 12:08AM on Oct 12th 2008 by David