Gmail seems to be updating it’s user interface with rich new features, the first I noted today the eligible warning sign from Gmail that using Firebug could be hurting my Gmail performance experience.

Firebug warning on Gmail

Firebug, to those who don’t know, is Javascript debugging plugin for Firefox. It is very helpful for debugging problems, and can trace XMLHTTPRequests. It seems I had it Enabled long time back for some testing and forgot about it. Firebug is one the best plugins I’ve used, and I would say it’s a must for web developers. However for most of the time that you are just browsing, it does eat up your resources for nothing. Disabling it immediately made Gmail a lot faster. So if you are not developing all the time, or like to see which sites has javascript bugs all the time, just disable this plugin and enable once necessary.

Other nice feature I noted was the quick smart HREF linking. Now, if you highlight in an email editor something like blogallalong.com and click the Link button, it will automatically link to that page/url for you and give you the option to edit it. Note that you have to highlight the url part exactly, no extra spaces.

Gmail smart linking

If you highlight any text and try to link it however, you will get this screen to enter URL or email address, and get a Test Link option which simply opens new page for you to verify it.

Gmail linking

There seems to be a bit more to explore as they have an option to switch back to older version. I find the smart linking feature for now good, and the warning message is the kind of messages we may love to see. A side from your main use, targeted, no annoying pop-ups or silly assistant characters. And it did work at the end!

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