I'm not sure it's a good idea to take anyone's opinion of gmail seriously that doesn't use the keyboard shortcuts. If you really are composing so much, hit 'c', not reach all the way over to the mouse like an orangutan.
Pop the window out and maximize it if you don't like the new interface. If you hit d, it will open the compose window in a new tab, _the whole thing_, dedicated to your awesome email that you really need to concentrate on writing.
But as for the "hidden text formatting controls".
Don't use text formatting; send plain text email like a decent human being.
If you need to emphasize or:
1.e
2.nu
3.mer
4.ate
that's why we have markdown. No one wants to see your fancy fonts and fuchsia signature. Content, yo.
If it's that much of an issue, why not edit content in your favorite editor then paste it into gmail?
If you're on a mac, you can format to your heart's desire in textedit (full-screen-mode-obviously) then copy it all and paste into gmail and all your stupid font size changes and bold shit will still be there.
EDIT: minor changes, also imagine that the formatted stuff is the raw markdown, because I forgot that this does that.
https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6594?hl=en
Pop the window out and maximize it if you don't like the new interface. If you hit d, it will open the compose window in a new tab, _the whole thing_, dedicated to your awesome email that you really need to concentrate on writing.
But as for the "hidden text formatting controls".
Don't use text formatting; send plain text email like a decent human being.
If you need to emphasize or:
1.e
2.nu
3.mer
4.ate
that's why we have markdown. No one wants to see your fancy fonts and fuchsia signature. Content, yo.
If it's that much of an issue, why not edit content in your favorite editor then paste it into gmail?
If you're on a mac, you can format to your heart's desire in textedit (full-screen-mode-obviously) then copy it all and paste into gmail and all your stupid font size changes and bold shit will still be there.
EDIT: minor changes, also imagine that the formatted stuff is the raw markdown, because I forgot that this does that.
Edit 2: it's cool to hate - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkRJzErnRmY