Fast “separate” Gmail windows

Great news for Mailplane users: "Separate" Gmail windows got much faster! Try the File > New Separate menu item or shift-click a conversation in the Gmail overview list to see the difference.

Here's more info from the official Gmail blog:

One of the lesser-known features of Gmail is its ability to help with multitasking. Frequently, I find that I need to find an old message while I'm composing an email. When this happens, I click on the "new window" icon to pop my compose area into its own window:

There's only one problem — it's been slow! Today, we're rolling out a change that will fix this (reload your account to make sure you get this change). Now, popping out a window is much, much faster. No more "Loading..." progress bar.

There are a number of places you can pop up new windows in Gmail.

• In chat, there's the little upward arrow in the title bar:
  
• When writing a message, hold the "Shift" key while you click on the Compose Mail, Reply, Reply All or Forward links and you'll get a new window for your new message. (Holding the "Shift" key while typing the keyboard shortcut — in other words typing "C" "R" or "F" — has the same effect.)
• When you're reading your mail, hold the "Shift" key while you click on a message to open the conversation in a new window. (Same holds true for the "Shift" key and the "o" or "Enter" shortcuts.)
• If you're reading an email and want to save it for later, you can click the "New window" link in the upper-right hand corner of the conversation view: