Recently Gmail rolled out a series of user interface improvements that I didn't really like. I tweeted about the changes and seemed to get many replies in agreement. Top of my annoyance list was adding a Mail/Contacts/Tasks context switch as the top most item on the left hand side. My annoyance was that the context switch seemed unnecessary for my usage of Gmail - I rarely go into contacts and I don't use the tasks area. Whilst I've no doubt both features are useful to other people, I like to keep my inbox lean and minimalist.

After a few days of usage I decided I hadn't adapted to the change and wrote a script to hide the links. I also took the opportunity to make a few other improvements to the standard GMail interface - most notably:

• Removes invite a friend and messenger panels
• Removes the select All/None tickbox
• Remove tips in footer
• Remove search the web button
• Remove adverts when viewing emails
• Makes the inbox area border complete rather than head off edge of the right edge of the screen

For those wondering how you access the contacts once the link has been removed you can do a keyboard shortcut of g then c. To get back to the inbox do g then i.

The difference can be seen in these two screenshots:

With the changes above I definitely prefer the interface when compared to the old one. The script was produced purely for personal preference though and my changes won't suit everyone. It is released as is but if you want just some of the features then the code is commented and really easy to change. Install or grab the code over at userscripts