KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid, is how I like things, especially when it comes to tasks I quickly tire of. Checking e-mail for numerous accounts definitely qualifies as one. Fortunately, there are lots of great helpers out there to make this less of a chore and more of a quick routine.

An Outlook convert, I’ve been using Click to visit this external linkGmail for 2 years and really enjoy the convenience of web mail. Being an Click to visit this external linkEarlyXer (early Generation X baby) enamored with technology, I like things quick, fast and in a hurry. The fewer clicks to check mail, compose mail, close mail, the better. One great method I’ve stumbled across is the use of bookmarks and bookmarklets plus keywords.

The first obvious choice is to add a bookmark to Gmail.com. To make things even quicker, once you’ve created the basic bookmark, set it’s keyword. Right-click on the bookmark and choose Properties. Fill in some text in the Keyword field. My keyword is “mail”.

Dating back to the year 2005, a still-reliable handy bookmarklet called Click to visit this external linkGmailThis! is a favorite of mine. GmailThis! is a quick version of the standard “Send this link by mail to someone” action. With one click, a window is opened with a pre-filled Gmail compose mail window. The subject is filled with the title of the referring web page and the body is filled with the URL of the web page. Enter an e-mail address in the To field and click Send. Presto chango. Be sure to add a keyword for this bookmarklet. My keyword is “mailthis”.

I’ve altered GmailThis! a bit for my personal use, making the window a little larger, positioning it a bit higher, and adding some default text within the body. Here is my altered version:

javascript:popw='';Q='';x=document;y=window;if(x.selection)%20{Q=x.selection.createRange().text;}%20else%20if%20(y.getSelection)%20{Q=y.getSelection();}%20else%20if%20(x.getSelection)%20{Q=x.getSelection();}popw%20=%20y.open('https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&to=&su=(link)%20'%20+%20escape(document.title)%20+%20'&body='%20+%20escape(Q)%20+%20escape('\n')%20+%20'Here\'s%20a%20link%20you%20may%20find%20interesting:'%20+%20escape('\n')%20+%20escape('\n')%20+%20escape(location.href)%20+%20'&zx=RANDOMCRAP&shva=1&disablechatbrowsercheck=1&ui=1','gmailForm','scrollbars=yes,width=680,height=560,top=145,left=75,status=no,resizable=yes');if%20(!document.all)%20T%20=%20setTimeout('popw.focus()',50);void(0);

The above adds “(link)” to the beginning of the subject line and “Here’s a link you may find interesting:” to the beginning of the body text. Change this text remembering to replace spaces with %20.

Note: There is a Firefox add-on called Click to visit this external linkEmail This! (originally called Gmail This! in 2006) that works in a similar fashion to GmailThis!. For now, at least, I still prefer the bookmarklet due to it’s ease of customization. I’m not great at altering add-on files and there is no options dialog for the changes I’d like. The Email This! link does not show up in the right click context menu as an option when no page text is selected (must use the optional toolbar button). There is also no way to pop up a quick window to compose an e-mail from scratch. Finally, the mail windows shows in a tab as opposed to a pop-up window. The pop-up window from the GmailThis! bookmarklet closes itself upon sending the mail. The Email This! window (tab) must be closed manually. Not a huge deal, but the whole point is to avoid extra steps. Customization is key.

Lastly, composing mail (from blank) should be just as quick and painless. Use the bookmarklet whipped up by Ken at Geek Night that opens a Click to visit this external linkblank compose window (derived from GmailThis!). Again KISS, set an easy-to-remember keyword for this bookmarklet. My keyword is “newmail”.

Extras

Got the Click to visit this external linkGreasemonkey add-on installed? It’s a great convenience maker for users of Firefox. From the description: Allows you to customize the way a webpage displays using small bits of JavaScript. Hundreds of scripts, for a wide variety of popular sites, are already available at Click to visit this external linkhttp://userscripts.org.

For Gmail users, I recommend two scripts in particular. They are the Click to visit this external linkGoogle Inbox Count Display and the Click to visit this external linkGoogle Account Multi-Login scripts. The former alters the Gmail page title putting the new mail count first. The new page title will read as (6) Google Mail – Inbox. The latter was Click to visit this external linkfeatured on Lifehacker and is the original and official version of this script. Please do not be fooled by or install the stolen copycat versions! With this script you can log in and out of different Google/Gmail accounts with a simple pulldown menu selection. I rate this as excellent.

Highly recommended: Click to visit this external linkGmail Notifier add-on. This add-on provides a small icon and bit of information notifying you of new (and old unread) mails in your Gmail account(s).

And finally, add a little style. The Click to visit this external linkGMail FavIcon Alerts “Updates the Favorites Icon for the tab in which Gmail is loaded when you have new mail or new chat messages.”

Customize the favicon for your new bookmarklets. The Click to visit this external linkFavicon Picker will let you do just that. I use this one: