Gmail, Google Calendar, and iGoogle

I wish I had looked at the Gmail tutorial when I had first set up the account! I love that they filter out the spam for you, but that it's still accessible in case they were wrong. In another email account I have I was frustrated that people I have corresponded with are not automatically put in the contacts list, but apparently Gmail handles it automatically, and I can even add info. I was frustrated that spellcheck seemed to only identify misspelled words, but I now know how to access the spelling suggestions. (I will have to try my other email account to see if it also works the same way. It turns out spellcheck on this blog also works by just pressing control and clicking  the word for suggestions. Now you've learned something too ;)

I really liked Google calendar, particularly the share feature. I've always found it frustrating when my family schedules a fun event and expects me to come, even when I've told them my work and school schedules and they should know that I won't be available. I'm wondering if they have any filters on it though. I'd love for family and work colleagues to know that I'm not available, but I wouldn't want them to know specifically about my doctors' appointments, ect! I also like that you can easily change the focus to the day, week, month, or next four days, and I like that it can list your agenda. I also LOVE that the most recent version is still available even when you are offline! I currently don't have internet access at home, and wish other websites (email and Sakai for example) could also be accessed this way.

I agree that it's a shame that they are discontinuing iGoogle. I was shocked by how easy it was to set up, and I can't imagine that setting up various apps could be so easy (and certainly not free). I liked that they could set up your page for you after asking just a few questions, but that you could still also add things yourself. I was surprised that you could click on each item and make it full screen. (I don't know why that should surprise me, as it seems to be fairly typical of computers and the internet in general, but I was still delighted when I saw that it was possible, especially because I feared I was adding so many things that it would no longer be practical to view them.)