not to be snarky but you know, this is 2013, not 1999. If the largest and best funded company can't get something as simple as email right, then they should just pack up and go home. Or at least fire their whole UX/UI department and start fresh.

By right, I mean a clean, simple interface that you don't need to judiciously learn over dozens of hours of frustrating trial and error or by googling in support forums.

The old gmail UX was fine. In fact, compared to the new compose it was the bees knees. It takes humility to be able to realize that. But Jason wants to leave his mark - unfortunately the mark is an ugly smear.

Thats funny, cause they got it right for me.

Who is jason?

Jason Cornwell is responsible for the atrocious gmail UX

Or hold down Control when you click Compose.

Holding shift when you click compose is also a good one to know about. (Opens the compose dialog in a new, dedicated window.)

Oh, wow! This is pretty beautiful. Thank you.

I just use the old basic html view. On the one hand, it's ugly as sin, but on the bright side, you can open any link in the UI in a new tab and it works as expected, which is like a breath of fresh air. So I can just middle click the compose button to get a new full-screen compose, or middle click threads from the inbox.