Google Apps Hacks

133

HaCK 55:



Use the power of Gmail’s permalinks.

Many of today’s web applications are optimized to dynamically load new content into the current

page you’re on instead of forwarding you to another page. This x can offer faster loading times, but

it often comes with a problem: your browser’s back button won’t work the way you expect it to, and

if you create a bookmark, it usually brings you to the main page rather than the content you were

interested in.

Gmail.com offers a more accessible version of the default service, which you can switch to by

choosing the footer link reading “basic HTML.” This service not only uses an interface with fewer

features, but behaves more like a traditional web application in many respects. But even in its

default version—a dynamic web application—Gmail allows you to use the URL shown in your

browser’s location bar to link to specic content.



For instance, when you open a conversation thread in Gmail, the location bar contains a URL similar

to this one:

http://mail.google.com/mail/#inbox/11623a4bda0eea2f

Imagine that you’re emailing about an upcoming event with your friend, and you now want to

add this information to Google Calendar. Instead of copying all the details into the Calendar

event description manually, you can now just add the URL of the thread, and click thr