Web based e-mail

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Web based e-mail

The term Webmail (or Web-based email) is used to describe two things. One use of the word is to describe a Webmail client: an email client implemented as a web application accessed via a web browser.

The other use of the word is to describe a Web-based email service: an email service offered through a web site (a webmail provider) such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and AOL Mail. Practically every webmail provider offers email access using a webmail client, and many of them also offer email access by a desktop email client using standard email protocols, while many internet service providers provide a webmail client as part of the email service included in their internet service package.

As with any web application, webmail’s main advantage over the use of a desktop email client is the ability to send and receive email anywhere from a web browser. Its main disadvantage is the need to be connected to the internet while using it (Gmail offers offline use of its webmail client through the installation of Gears.[2]). There exist also other software tools to integrate parts of the webmail functionality into the OS (e.g. creating messages directly from third party applications via MAPI).

Rendering and compatibility
Email users may find the use of both a webmail client and a desktop client using the POP3 protocol a bit incompatible: email messages that are downloaded by the desktop client and are removed from the server will no longer be available on the webmail client. The use of a webmail client in this mode is limited to previewing messages using a web client before they are downloaded by the desktop email client. On the other hand, the use of both a webmail client and a desktop client using the IMAP4 protocol has no such incompatibility: the contents of the mailbox will be consistently displayed in both the webmail and the desktop email client and any action the user performs on messages in one interface would be reflected when email is accessed using the other interface. There are significant differences in rendering capabilities for many popular webmail services such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, and Windows Live Hotmail. Due to the various treatment of HTML tags, such as <style> and <head>, as well as CSS rendering inconsistencies, email marketing companies rely on older web development techniques to send cross-platform mail. This usually means a greater reliance on tables and inline stylesheets.

Privacy concerns
Although every email service provider can read the email unless encrypted since it is stored on their servers, concerns have been raised about webmail specifically. Most popular webmail services tend to use what’s called targeting ads and online spam-filter(instead of a client-based), these services searches through email for certain target words and even if the service providers claim that no humans reads the emails some of them have been forced to make it possible to opt this feature out. Because web browser is the expected way of viewing the inbox webmail providers store emails longer than usual providers which often delete the email from their servers after they have sent it to the email client.

Another concern is considering the fact that most webmail service providers are U.S.-based and therefore are subject to the Patriot Act which means that U.S. authorities can demand the company to handover what information they have about a user, without necessarily letting the user know, no matter what citizenship you have or where the information is stored

Example Webmail usage

Webmail operations are same as that of e-mail with difference on web browser based access instead of an e-mail client software and the various operations for an example webmail account are discussed

Reading and managing mails

When you first login, your inbox is automatically displayed. To view an email, simply click on the subject. The selected email will be highlighted and the entire message will get loaded on a new screen. Bold messages are new or unread. Messages you have already looked at will be in un-bolded text. To view a different folder, just click on the name of the folder you want to view. The options for each folder work the same as your inbox. Let’s go through what each of the buttons will do:

Check Mail – This button will download any new messages received. This happens automatically each time you log in, click on the inbox link or explicitly click on this button.
Reply – This is the reply button. It will automatically set up the composition page with the information necessary to reply to the sender of the selected message.
Reply All – This is just like the reply button, but it’s used when the selected email is addressed to more the one person and you want to reply to everyone, not just the person who sent the message.
Forward – This will forward the selected message, and direct you to the composition page to enter your recipient.
Delete – No points for guessing. Clicking on this button will delete the selected/current message and move it to the trash folder. If you wish to permanently delete a message you will have to either Empty the trash folder or select the message explicitly and delete it.
Compose – This is the button you would click on to compose, write, or send a new email. When you click on this button, you will be sent to a new page to type out your email, subject, senders etc.
Actions – This button will gives you the option to mark an email or multiple emails as Read, Unread, Flagged or Unflagged.

Note: You may return to the current folder anytime either by clicking on the Back button or selecting that particular folder from the Email navigation page.

Mark messages as read/unread

Marking a particular email or a selected set of emails as read or unread is part of the “Actions” button available with
the webmail. Each action has its own significant impact on the listed email. After you have selected emails upon which an action is to be performed, you have the following list of actions to chose from:

Mark as read – Marks the selected email/s as read. The selected messages will be un-bolded after performing this action.
Mark as unread – Marks the selected email/s as unread. The selected messages will now appear in bold font indicating an unread message.
Mark as flagged – Marking a selected mail as flagged will illuminate a gold star at the end of the message line. This option is usually selected by users who wish to keep track or follow up on emails at a later time.
Mark as unflagged – Mails already marked as flagged will get unflagged upon selecting this action.

Forward received emails

Forwarding an email form your inbox to another email id can be achieved by checking the desired email and clicking ‘Forward’ button. This will forward the selected message, and direct you to the
email composition page to enter your recipient. The ‘Forward’ option is also available when you are reading an email.

Reply to received emails

You may reply to an email from your inbox or any of the created folders. You need to first select the email you wish to send a reply by checking the adjacent checkbox. This will activate the
Reply and Reply All buttons. Click on the ‘Reply’ button to automatically set up the composition page with the information necessary to reply to the sender of the selected message.

The ‘Reply All’ is just like the reply button, but it’s used when the selected email is addressed to more the one person and you want to reply to everyone, not just the person who sent the message. The ‘Reply’ and ‘Reply All’ options are also available when you are reading an email.

Compose a new email

Click on the Compose button to go to the email composition page. This is the page you are sent to any time you reply, forward, or compose a new message. To CC or BCC someone, you need to click on the “Add CC” or “Add BCC” link. If you wish to have a Reply-To address click on the “Add Reply-To” link.

Manage Attachments – With this webmail, you can compose your emails in Rich/Plain text formats. You can also add attachments to your email on this page. To do this, click the Add Attachment link given under the
Subject and click browse. Choose the file on your computer you wish to add, then click upload. To add another attachment, click the Add Attachment again.
Spell Check – The webmail has a spell check feature that scans through your message text and highlights any existing spelling errors. The Check spellinglink can be located on the email composition page in the plain text editor
mode. Clicking on this link will scan through your composed message and highlight spelling errors in it. When you click on a highlighted word in the spell check mode, the tool generates and lists suggestions to replace the misspelled word. Similarly, in the Rich Text editor mode the spell check tool
can be toggled by clicking on Toggle spellchecker button located on the rich text editor toolbar.
Switch between Plain-Rich Text editors – The two editor types available with .pw webmail are Rich Formatting and Plain Text. The option to switch between the two is available at the bottom right corner of the screen of an email composition pageNote: Switching from Rich Text to plain text will result in loss of formatting.
Change fonts/formatting – Changing fonts is part of the standard list features provided in the Rich Text editor on an email composition page. With this editor not only can you change fonts but also:
1. Align Text
2. Insert Bullets and Numbering
3. Insert Smileys and Symbols
4. Insert and Edit images
5. Change text and background color
6. Perform Spell Checks
7. Roll back changes

When you are done and wish to send the message, just click on the Send now button at the bottom of the page. The Cancel button will take you back to the Inbox.

Folder Management

Folder management is part of the webmail settings. Click on the Settings link given on the top left side of the screen to enter the webmail settings page. Select the Folders tab to enter the folder management tool. This page provides you the option to:

1. Create a new folder – Enter a folder name in the given text box and click on the Create button. To create a sub-folder under an already existing one, you simply select it before creating a new folder.
2. Rename an existing folder – You also have the option to rename an existing folder by clicking on the rename icon
3. Delete an existing folder – Click on the trash icon to delete an existing folder. Please note that emails within a folder will also be deleted upon deletion of that folder