Question about Gmail/Browsers

Hi...

I wonder if it is possible (either by default or by means of a modification of some sort) by which a browser (IE8, Chrome, Opera) can be minimized to the system tray?

What I want to do is to have Gmail open but not occupying a part of the taskbar. Of course there is an option of keeping Gtalk open but minimized to the system tray. But this means that when I receive a mail, I get a notification, but still have to fire up a browser to read the mail.

I don't know if this is possible at all. But if it is and you folks know how to do this, I would appreciate it if you could let me know.

Thanks in advance.

 

Maybe use Chrome and make Gmail an App using Google Gears (click the "create application shortcut" button in the menu)?

 

Hmmm...Thanks. So, no options with either IE8 and Opera?

 

If you set up Opera Mail to access your GMail account, it should give you notifications about the System Tray, and I believe it gives you a short snippet of the message. But you have to open Opera Mail in the browser window to actually read the whole thing, as far as I'm aware. It'd be similar to Google Chat - Opera can live in the tray when set up with the mail client, but you can't read the whole email from just above the system tray. At best, it'd be a bit quicker to load the email with Opera Mail than loading AJAX-heavy GMail itself. But I don't think it's the silver bullet you're looking for. TBH, though, I'm not sure quite what you are looking for. Reading the email just above the systray? The only ways I know of reading emails are within a browser, or in an e-mail client (Outlook/Thunderbird).

Not sure of anything similar with IE8. And I've never done this with Opera myself - set up an RSS feed once, and I believe Opera Mail would work similarly (RSS Feeds open in Opera Mail, after all) but that's about it. So no guarantees that it will work just as I've described.

 

Opera can easily be minimized to the tray (right-click tray icon, Hide Opera), and if you click the icon once, the browser pops open. You can keep a locked tab in Opera of Gmail too (right-click tab, Lock Tab), if you like.

 

Thanks folks. I should clarify. What I want is to have gmail open all the time (I use it as my primary email) but not have a window open all the time. I think what MidnightSun describes about Gmail is the closest to what I am looking for.

I did not know I could do that with Opera. I particularly like the Lock Tab feature.

Can a similar thing be done with Chrome and IE8?

Also, I don't use Opera Mail.

Thanks