Electronic Mail, commonly referred to as e-mail, comes in a variety of packages, each package utilizes it's peculiar software. The Internet e-mail service is text only, don't let this fool you as current software allows linking of many types of files. Small software programs referred to as Scripts are required to establish protocol and routing for message handling. These Scripts are commonly referred to as e-mail Accounts. Every Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides their users with a unique user name and associated password. Also provided are the names of the servers (computers) used for incoming and outgoing messages. Once a client has the accounts set up the process of mailing and receiving messages is relatively easy.
In this course the clients will be introduced to the CLC Server's Control Panel. The Instructor will demonstrate how accounts are established at the ISP end of the operation. This should aid in the client's understanding of the inter workings of e-mail. Each client will select a user name and password. These will be used throughout the course in sending and receiving many types of messages with varying content in many forms. Both types of e-mail will be used; Web Based e-mail Programs and Application Based e-mail.
Details
The information below is more than clients want or can remember. The acronyms are important but will soon be forgotten. What is important is that they understand that there are many ways, ideas, and concepts for electronic mail transfer. We will consider first application based e-mail as opposed to Web Based e-mail.
Application Based e-mail
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), first published as Internet standard 10 in 1982. In the process of transporting email messages between systems, SMTP communicates delivery parameters using a message envelope separately from the message (headers and body) itself. In 2008 SMTP was updated with additions and is the protocol in widespread use today (Extended SMTP (ESMTP). SMTP is specified for outgoing mail transport and uses TCP port 25. (More on ports later.)
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet
standard that extends the format of e-mail to support:
• Text in character sets other than ASCII
• Non-text attachments
• Message bodies with multiple parts
• Header information in non-ASCII character sets
Post Office Protocol (POP) is an application-layer Internet standard protocol used by local e-mail clients to retrieve e-mail from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection. POP and IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) are the two most prevalent Internet standard protocols for e-mail retrieval. Virtually all modern e-mail clients and servers support both. The POP protocol has been developed through several versions, with version 3 (POP3) being the current standard. Examples of the more common desk top programs (e-mail clients) are Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla's Thunderbird, or Apple Inc.'s Mail.
Application based e-mail requires a more extensive Script for setting up an account. It is generally easier to use after the account is established.
Web Based e-mail
Webmail (or Web-based e-mail) is an e-mail service intended to be primarily accessed via a web browser. A major advantage of webmail over application-based e-mail is that a user has the ability to access their inbox from any Internet-connected computer around the world. However, the need for Internet access is also a drawback, in that one cannot access messages (not previously stored to the hard drive) when not connected to the Internet. On the other hand, if one uses the IMAP protocol through an application-based e-mail client, all contents of the mailbox will be consistently displayed in both the webmail and the PC e-mail client contexts.
In 1997, before its acquisition by Microsoft, Hotmail (now Windows Live Hotmail) introduced its service, which became one of the first popular web-based e-mail offerings. Following Hotmail's success, Google's introduction of Gmail in 2004 sparked a period of rapid development in webmail, due to Gmail's new features such as JavaScript menus, text-based ads, and bigger storage.
There are also software packages that allow organizations to offer e-mail through the web for their associates. Some solutions are open source software like SquirrelMail, BlueMamba, RoundCube and IlohaMail, while others are closed source like the Outlook Web Access module for Microsoft Exchange. Conversely, there are programs that can simulate a web browser to access webmail as if it were stored in a POP3 or IMAP account. They are susceptible to changes in the user interface of the web service since there is no standard interface.
It is easier to log onto a Web-based e-mail account than to set up a Script for accessing application based e-mail. One drawback is that Web-based e-mail is more time consuming to use and has less flexibility.
Examples
Guides for specific accounts at various e-mail servers are provided below. Information you must know will be shown.
The first is the CLC's e-mail server...
Web-based e-mail... URL -
About the e-mail training at the CLC