Google jazzes up Gmail with custom themes

If you like your webmail personalized you’ll be a fan of Google’s newly introduced custom themes for Gmail. The new feature lets you add a personal touch to your inbox by setting your own background image.

If you like your webmail personalized you'll be a fan of Google's newly introduced custom themes for Gmail.

The new feature lets you add a personal touch to your inbox by setting your own background image. Users can choose to upload their own photo, a picture they have previously uploaded to Google+, any image URL from the web, or one of the many Featured Photos on Google for an enhanced inbox look.

Greg Bullock, Software Engineer at Google, said "When we unveiled Gmail's new look back in November, we introduced a number of new, beautiful HD themes. We also heard that many of you wanted to bring an even more personal touch by setting your own background. So over the next couple of days we are rolling out a new Custom themes section with two options, Light and Dark."

Since its arrival on the scene back in 2004 Gmail has been constantly updating its feature set in the hope of outdoing webmail alternatives such as AOL Mail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and MobileMe.

The new custom themes feature will roll out to Gmail users over the next few days and can be accessed from within Gmail under Settings > Themes > Custom.