Google is going to end an important feature of Gmail
Discover the latest Gmail update: Google is saying goodbye to the HTML Basic View in 2024. Learn how this change impacts users, particularly those with visual impairments.
California: Technology giant Google is going to end a much-loved Gmail feature.
Gmail users who use the website’s HTML Basic View feature will no longer have this feature available as of January 2024.
According to a notice in the company’s support patch, Gmail will only be available in Standard View from that date.
HTML Basic View is originally a 2007 design by Gmail that users often use on slow Wi-Fi. Standard view features such as chat box, spell check, or contact importing are not loaded in this mode.
However, Pratik Patel, an expert in blind technology, warns that the feature being retired is a major setback for blind and partially sighted people.
He said that many blind people who use this mode of Gmail will not only be confused but also unhappy.
HTMLView makes the screen much easier for blind people to use. The standard interface is now available for use by the blind, but many people are left with the basic HTML version because that’s what they know how to use.
Pratik Patel added that it is not that standard interfaces are not available. But some people will not be willing to use this mode.
