Zen Internet Support Forum

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Vista-XP forum - xpforum - Windows XP - Vista - HijackThis support

I don't seem to have any speed issues with mine.... just need the interface updating :-)

I'm not aware of any current issues with the webmail. If you are storing email on the server and webmail is displaying a large number of emails this would be a cause of slow-down as it reads each of the email headers.

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David Nelson
Team Leader
Business Support Unit
Zen Internet

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Vista-XP forum - xpforum - Windows XP - Vista - HijackThis support

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Vista-XP forum - xpforum - Windows XP - Vista - HijackThis support

I have recently joined zen which at the moment is very good (fingers crossed). However I agree that webmail is just too basic. Any news on the update?

 I'm probably going to make myself unpopular by saying that I like the simple webmail (though I would appreciate an address book).

The option to automatically cc yourself in on every mail sent is great and, for my purposes, is more than enough to compensate for the lack of a sent box.

It does basically do the job, but we are aware of the shortcomings. Our mail administrator hasn't been able to find any suitable replacement interfaces, so I think he's writing a new one from scratch.

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Kindest regards,

James Sweet
http://www.zen.co.uk

I saw earlier in this thread that one of the options being trialled was @mail, I think. Having just left PlusNet who used @mail I am *very* pleased to be leaving it behind me. It was a nightmare, especially on slower PCs.

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Vista-XP forum - xpforum - Windows XP - Vista - HijackThis support

I'd like to add to the resuscitated clamour for a few extra features on webmail.

The one I'd really like is the ability to create an extra folder or two and drop selected mails into it from the main Inbox.

The reason for this is that I use Zen webmail mainly as a "fallback" when my usual mailhost is down (as happens from time to time for a day or two). On these occasions I can mail from Zen webmail, and people reply to me there.

If I could drop these particular messages (the Cc: of my original, and any replies) into a separate folder then I could POP3 from that folder back to my home machine, and no others. As it is, if I POP3'd from my Zen webmail Inbox, I would get everything that was in there. This is not what I want, since I want to leave other mails in the Inbox, so would have to send them back again once they'd arrived on my home machine!

Hoping to hear of progress! It can't be a big deal to implement the few simple features people have been requesting.

I'm working on writing my own webmail client with the needs of Zen and other ISPs in mind, but this is in my own time at my own pace. I did research a number of webmail clients that supported POP3 some months back, but none of them were suitable to our needs, so I gave up.

I was working on the new version a-pace some months back, but the summer months have meant I've been enjoying getting out on my bike of an evening rather than sitting there coding. Now that the autumn/winter months approach I shall be focusing on it again, but cannot give any timescales as to when the beta version will be available. I did ask for (pre-)alpha testers some time back however.

Zen's webmail was, and will always be, seen as a backup access method, not the primary system for accessing your email. The system I'm writing will deal with some of the major complaints (mainly speed related) about the current system and will add in some more features, eg "virtual folders". POP3 doesn't really lend itself to leaving email on the server and continually accessing that mailbox, so I've written my client such that it looks for changes in a mailbox rather than querying the whole thing each time (as the current system does). It will also provide "virtual folders" in that the user can "move" an email into a folder. These will only be relevant to webmail, so when accessed by a real client everything will still be in the Inbox. This is mainly so someone can go on holiday and access their mail remotely but keep it in some form of order.

When I'm happy for a beta to be used by Zen then I'll inform everyone. I suspect that it'll be an alpha release first where you can only read, but not compose emails. I also suspect that I wont be implementing any fancy "rich text" editor either - I'm a big believer that email should be plain text with the odd attachment, not HTML.

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Jerry Nicholls
Principal Systems Engineer
perl -e '$_=q(print "perl -e \x27\$_=q($_);eval\x27\n");eval'

Ok, so I am now bumping this again . . I posted originall back in 05-24-2005,  and still no sign of a decent webmail client.

I have another account that I used years ago and since moving to ADSL, only use it to continue use for my email address. They have gone through 3 new versions of their webmail, and each time improving its features, speed and user interface.

 

Its about time Zen did the same, we have a nice new shiny portal, how about a nice new shiny webmail

Hello Jerry,

First of all it was nice to hear from you and to know someone is actually working on writing a bespoke solution. I think thats fantastic, it sounds like a pretty challenging task too.

Secondly, I'd also like to reiterate what someone else has said in this topic, please! please! please! dont use @mail for webmail.  I found it was dreadfully slow & cumbersome when I was an F9 PlusNet customer. @mail also behaved in very erratic ways at times, I found it pretty user unfriendly, and it lacked many useful features. OK! I can admitt it might have been partly to do with F9 & the way they had it installed & configured but I dont want to ever go back to @mail ever again.

Thanks Ivan

Bump Bump Bump!

 

 

simon goode:

Ok, first off this isn't a moan, but are there any plans to upgrade the webmail we use. I have come across other webmail software in accounts I have had in the past and the webmail facility is much more easier to read, use and access.

I think it would be of great benefit to most users to be able to access their webmail easily without having to remember a cryptic password. I know we have to bear in mind security issues etc, but maybe having an alternative option may help.

Secondly, the web interface used, whilst doing the job of sending and receiving emails well, could do with a bit of a face lift. Adding other features such as address books etc would be nice to.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this