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by Volpe 4957 days ago
It is weird to ask for the subject of an email before writing an email.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has change (or left blank to begin with) the subject once I've written the email.

Also I've observed a lot of people who write the content first then fill out the top (To, CC, BCC) after. Often the content effects who should/can see the email.

The current UX is wrong given mis-sending, mis-addressing still occurs.

2 comments

That's why i said A/B testing would be nice. Because now i can tell you exactly the oposite of what you tell me.

I have 18000 mails in my work mail account (no spam amongst them, mostly "real" mail), 43000 emails in my gmail account (which is not even that old) and not a single mail with half-written content or whatever. This includes mails by extremely tech-unsavy people. I also never did the mistake you mention myself, despite the UI so flawed.

And i've observed that most people start by adding the recipients first, then content, then subject and then maybe in the end they decide to add a CC. So would a UI with To, then Content, then subject, then CC be better? Don't think so.

Also that interpretation of "the content effects who gets the mail" is REALLY flawed. It certainly effects if you add someone on CC, but not the person who you are talking to. Atleast i know to whom i write a mail before i even open the mail editor. I also know to whom i want to write a letter before i write a letter. Maybe i am crazy or even psychic, knowing who i want to talk to beforehand :P

In the end i think your ideas try to solve a problem that does not really exist (not in my experience) or even if it exists that the disadvantage of confusing customers would outweight the minor percentage of people that would be helped by far.

I realise you've hit "someone is wrong on the internet" territory, and thus seem to be just ranting. But when you are telling me that peoples conceptual models of how to use email are flawed... you are losing credibility.

Computers should bend to people, not people to computers.

Quoting stats from your email accounts doesn't actually mean anything. You can't possibly make the claim you are making, only the sender knows if the email was 'finished' or not, not the receiver.

I didn't actually suggest any UI changes, only that existing UX (as in the experience) seems sub-optimal, because problems still occur.

>Also I've observed a lot of people who write the content first then fill out the top

I do that. Saves hassle of accidentally sending half finished emails.