Facebook Gmail Gadget: gBook

I am proud to introduce you the prototype version, the very first release, of the Facebook Gmail Gadget: gBook.
gBook allows you overview your Facebook account directly from your Gmail with a glimpse: status, walls, comments, photos and much more.

The gadget doesn’t replace the Facebook website, it’s just a different, ligher way to access it when you are connected to your Gmail and/or if Facebook is banned from the network you are currently connected to.

Your Facebook email and password won’t be stored by the gadget at anytime.

Install

In order to use gadgets, your Gmail needs to be in English. If it is not, go to Settings -> General -> Language -> English. Save Changes.

Then, if you have never enabled gadgets, go to Settings -> Labs -> Add any gadget by URL. Enable and Save Changes.

Finally you have to add the gadget. Go to Settings -> Gadgets -> Add a gadget by its url:

http://www.francesco-castaldo.com/fb-gadget/gBook.xml

To make your Gmail more readable, I suggest you to enable 3 more labs (Settings -> Labs):
Navbar drag and drop: lets you order boxes on the left column.
Right-side labels: moves label on the right column so that the left one is shorter.
Right-side chat: moves chat contacts on the right column so that the left one is shorter.

Current features

• gBook works everywhere, even if your current network forbids facebook access (use at your own risk)
• Status: lets you see your latest status, comments made by your friends to your status, lets you add comments to your status, update your status, lets you see your friends’ status and add comments to them
• Inbox: lets you see the latest messages you received and lets you reply to the sender, if the message was sent to you (and not to lists such as groups, event attendees etc.)
• Photos: lets you see the last pictures uploaded by your friends or the last tagged photos (with you or with your friends). If you have popups enabled, you can open the photo detail in a bigger window, see photo comments and add yours.
• Notifications: list of recent activity on your profile and or pictures
• Logout: Logs you out of the gadget. Use it on shared computers!

ToDo list (unordered)

• improve UI
• add album page
• add pokes
• browse more elements with prev/next page (statuses, photos, walls, inbox etc.)
• complete profiles with info
• add “add as a friend” feature to profiles that are not already a friend
• add notifications page
• add photo page
• add group page
• add event page
• add todays event
• add live feed page

Want more? Feel free to suggest new features in comments to this page.
Remember that by subscribing this blog RSS you’ll be up to date whenever new features are released ;)

Known bugs

• Afted adding a comment to a status from the user profile, the gadget does not go back to the profile but to the status page
• Afted adding a comment to a status from the status page, the new commented status should already show stories
• Inbox -> message detail: it does not show threads but only the last message

Found a bug? Please submit it with a comment along with relevant information about how it happened.

Remember that there is no garantee the gadget will always work perfectly nor that it will always be updated. It is just one of many side projects by now.

Updates

• New features: photo detail and notifications

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