{ "version": "https:\/\/jsonfeed.org\/version\/1.1", "title": "Ilya Birman’s Blog: posts tagged email", "_rss_description": "Ilya Birman’s blog on design, cities, music, and life", "_rss_language": "en", "_itunes_email": "ilyabirman@ilyabirman.net", "_itunes_categories_xml": "<\/itunes:category>\r\n<\/itunes:category>\r\n\r\n", "_itunes_image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic-square@2x.jpg?1573933764", "_itunes_explicit": "no", "home_page_url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/tags\/email\/", "feed_url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/tags\/email\/json\/", "icon": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1573933764", "authors": [ { "name": "Ilya Birman", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/", "avatar": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/userpic\/userpic@2x.jpg?1573933764" } ], "items": [ { "id": "377", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/automatic-email-sorting\/", "title": "The problem with automatic email sorting", "content_html": "

New email apps keep coming out, trying to organize your inbox. Folders in email were invented nearly fifty years ago, and since then we’ve had filters, rules, and now AI — all aiming to automate sorting.<\/p>\n

Some apps don’t even call them “folders” anymore, but “categories” or something else that only adds to the confusion. Every new app tries to outsmart the others at sorting: “inbox”, “important”, “newsletters”, “social”, “purchases”.<\/p>\n

Even Apple Mail recently jumped in with its own version: “primary”, “promotions”, and so on. Surely, I have no idea how it decides where things go. To avoid missing an email, I have to check all the categories, so the workload goes up, not down. “Didn’t get our message? Check your spam, secondary, non-urgent, and low-priority folders!” I turned that off immediately, of course.<\/p>\n

For some reason, email designers don’t get that folders only work when you create them yourself and sort things manually. If the system exists in your head and you stick to it, you can trust it. But someone else’s system makes you second-guess everything.<\/p>\n

Instead of sorting emails into folders, computers should be mining the actual information from them.<\/p>\n

Yes, finding booking references and boarding pass QR codes in your inbox is a pain. But even finding them inside an email you’ve already opened is a pain! I don’t want just a folder with those emails — ideally, I’d see the info without even opening a message. If I do need more context, let there be a shortcut to the original message. And I don’t care what folder it’s in.<\/p>\n

If an email invites me to a conference and asks me to respond by the 25th, I want that deadline clearly flagged next to the message. And show me, in my inbox, the three emails I should respond to today — based on what they say. Leave folders for people who actually like manual sorting.<\/p>\n", "summary": "New email apps keep coming out, trying to organize your inbox. Folders in email were invented nearly fifty years ago, and since then we’ve had filters", "date_published": "2025-05-23T18:14:18+03:00", "date_modified": "2025-05-23T18:14:14+03:00", "tags": [ "AI", "email", "interface" ], "_date_published_rfc2822": "Fri, 23 May 2025 18:14:18 +0300", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "377", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": false, "links_required": [], "og_images": [] } }, { "id": "169", "url": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/all\/neat-mail\/", "title": "Ugly and neat mail", "content_html": "

Ugly mail defames the sender. It may later occur that the sender was a good person, but life is unjust: a book is judged by its cover.<\/p>\n

Examples of ugly mail<\/h2>\n

Random line breaks, an unwelcome line in bold with a blue highlight, multi-level colorful signature — the first thing you want to do is wash your hands:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

Two long links, a fly in the middle, no signature:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

Shapeless text, strangely split paragraphs, three links in random places:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

Lines start with lower-case letters, the signature is enormous — only ten percent of the body are actual information:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

This one is just hell:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

How to make a mail neat<\/h2>\n

You don’t have to be a designer. Starting sentences with capital lettres and splitting it into paragraphs is something everyone is taught in school.<\/p>\n

This one is pleasant to read:<\/p>\n

\n\"\"\n<\/div>\n

So, little advice:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Break text into sentences. A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a period, question mark or, rarely, an exclamation point. Sentences are separated with a single space. Excessive use of ellipses and parentheses blur the sentences boundaries.<\/li>\n
  2. Separate paragraphs with an empty line. For a start, a simple rule will work: if you press Enter, press it once again. Do not break line if you are not going to start a new paragraph. Do not start a paragraph with a left indent (an email is not the same as a book). Paragraphs separated by empty lines and<\/i> left-indented are the worst.<\/li>\n
  3. Do not put long links inside a block of text. When broken into lines, such a link looks particularly bad. It is better to give it a dedicated paragraph. Or it can cling to the previous or the following paragraph, if it has to do with it<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  4. Do not include the whole history of correspondence. Quote only the part you reply to. Nobody likes to hunt for meaning. The shorter your mail is, the quicker you will get a response.<\/li>\n
  5. Make your signature short. Does everyone need to know some obscure instant messenger ID you have long abandoned? Probably not.<\/li>\n
  6. Lay out the signature in a clean way. A bad example would be separating the signature with a line<\/a> of hyphens. Do not put the signature in a box, do not use a logo (sure, your logo is awesome). Do not colorize the text: any added color, including grey, adds clutter. Grey signature with blue links attracts attention, while the opposite is required.<\/li>\n
  7. Leave two empty lines before signature. It is the simplest and the most effective way to separate the signature without adding noise.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It amazes me how some people pursue neatness in places where it does not matter (like in how the store their bills or how things are laid out in a car trunk), but don’t care how they look daily on the screens of others.<\/p>\n", "summary": "Ugly mail defames the sender. It may later occur that the sender was a good person, but life is unjust", "date_published": "2014-07-11T19:51:15+03:00", "date_modified": "2014-07-11T19:50:30+03:00", "tags": [ "design", "email", "life" ], "image": "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-1.png", "_date_published_rfc2822": "Fri, 11 Jul 2014 19:51:15 +0300", "_rss_guid_is_permalink": "false", "_rss_guid": "169", "_rss_enclosures": [], "_e2_data": { "is_favourite": true, "links_required": [], "og_images": [ "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-1.png", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-2.png", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-3.png", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-4.png", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-5.png", "https:\/\/ilyabirman.net\/meanwhile\/pictures\/neat-mail-6.png" ] } } ], "_e2_version": 4269, "_e2_ua_string": "Aegea 12.0a (v4269e)" }