Ong Jiin Joo : The 12 Settings of GMail’s Tea House Theme

The 12 Settings of GMail’s Tea House Theme

Posted by jiinjoo in November 25th, 2008

In ancient China there used to be the concept of 时辰 (Shi Chen), each lasting 2 hours long, to make up the day. They name these “bi-hours” using the 12 zodiac animals.

Here’s an illustration of that using Gmail’s tea house theme

5am – 7am: Rabbit

7am – 9am: Dragon

9am – 11am: Snake

11am – 1pm: Horse

1pm – 3pm: Goat

3pm – 5pm: Monkey

5pm – 7pm: Chicken

7pm – 9pm: Dog

9pm – 11pm: Pig

11pm – 1am: Mouse

1am – 3am: Cow

3am – 5am: Tiger

Here’s a video of an earlier incarnation of this theme for iGoogle.

Images © Google 2008

Updates: There are more!

3:14am: Probably a play on the number PI (π)

Thanks to Knux The Fox (see comments)

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Horizon Said in November 25th, 2008 @2:04 pm

Honestly, I love the Google theme at their first launched of the iGoogle. It impressed me even with a simple interface as compare to other.

brandon Said in December 8th, 2008 @12:25 pm

does anyone know if there is an easter egg one like there was at 3:14 for igoogle?

Knux the Fox Said in January 8th, 2009 @4:25 pm

There are also interproximal scenes which happen during special times. I’ve found one thanks to a tip from someone on youtube. It’s 314am [img]http://mail.google.com/mail/images/2/5/teahouse/314am/footer_bg.jpg[/img]

If anyone finds any more, please let me know.

Knux the Fox Said in January 8th, 2009 @4:28 pm

times I’ve confirmed so far, and you can put those times in the url in place of 314am to see the image. It’s 2am, 314am, 4am, 6am, 8am, 10am, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm, and 10pm. There must be different codes for noon and midnight, so I’ll play around with it.

Knux the Fox Said in January 8th, 2009 @4:30 pm

Noon and midnight are simply “noon” and “midnight” in the time space. So, there is a scene every 2 hours on the hour, but the special scene at 2:14am Central time, though the code reads 314am unless it’s a glitch and someone put it as 2:14am by mistake instead of an hour later.

jiinjoo Said in January 8th, 2009 @4:36 pm

That’s awesome! I’ll add it to the main post.

Hollabaloo Said in January 13th, 2009 @4:19 am

THANKYOU!
after a co-worker asking about my new iGoogle theme,(teahouse fox) I have fallen in love with the little kitsune. After many hours of-Googling- I found the creator (MEOMI @ Flickr) and my search ’twas complete-except for a complete set of Gmail screenshots. You have made my day-THANKYOU!!
Now all we need is a backstory from the author……

ray Said in May 31st, 2009 @5:15 pm

Hello,
Could I use your images to make a screen-saver. With due acknowledgements of course.
Best regards and many thanks,
Ray
p.s. You could mail me your answer.

jiinjoo Said in May 31st, 2009 @11:30 pm

sure – these images are not mine anyway!

Holly Said in August 28th, 2009 @4:25 pm

Hey, there’s a Facebook page about the ‘lil fox if anyone’s interested.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=44608715885

younsoon Said in March 21st, 2010 @4:45 pm

Oh, Thanks. I’ve searched these scenes of the tea house thema. I love it. Can I use these scenes on my blog? If you wouldn’t like it, please let me know.

Kaki Said in September 2nd, 2010 @12:38 am

Thank you for the little fox.

Maybe you can help me finding the original drawer, and maybe tell me why are there just trees (about 1 second) when updating the iGoogle page.

And is there a difference between your version of the theme and mine (in France)? Maybe because your is the Asian one.

I would be grateful for your answer, feel free to answer on my mail. Thanks. See you.

jiinjoo Said in September 2nd, 2010 @12:52 am

Kaki, I don’t know the original artist. It’s likely that the “just trees” you’re seeing are repeated “background images” while the main picture on the left (which is larger) is loading.

Post the French version ) and share the link – merci!

Kaki Said in September 2nd, 2010 @2:29 am

I wonder the tea house theme that you show is the gmail one… am i right?

http://blog.use-design.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/tea-house.png

The French version is the iGoogle one with ducks, ghosts, etc. and the tea house is on the right of the screen, not on the left like the one you show.

My iGoogle looks like http://code.google.com/intl/fr-FR/apis/themes/images/teahouse-header.gif

Got a “japanese fox” at home, i’ll send you some pics

Kaki Said in September 2nd, 2010 @2:31 am

Sorry, i misread the title ^^

Kaki Said in September 3rd, 2010 @2:22 am

jiinjoo did you receive the house tea we have in france ?

Kaki Said in November 8th, 2010 @6:58 am

hello how is kitsune

mmeacham Said in December 31st, 2010 @12:13 pm

What is happening in the tea house 3:14 am scene?

Lenka Said in August 26th, 2011 @4:34 pm

to mmeacham Said in December 31st, 2010

At 3:14 am those are chinese vampires.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Shi

They are usually controlled by a Taoist priest (fox in the yellow) who makes them follow him by ringing a bell. (This only works when there is a special spell attached to their foreheads, else they just go wild and hop about and attack people. (I think this particular Taoist priest is nervous because his vampire/zombies got away.)
source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/meomi/3045751867/