The best webmail services

[juvenile moment]William Harris...[/juvenile moment]

Anyway, I like Gmails interface, I don't use it much really though, I like the POP on it.

Gmail does have rich text composition features. Don't really use them so not sure whether it's full HTML or not, but you can definitely do bold, italics, font size, colour, alignment etc.

Sorry, however Google Mail does allow for the composition of rich text format emails. It didn't to begin with but has done now for quite some time.

http://www.matthewcornish.info/temp/gmail_rtf.jpg

[EDIT]
mclean007 beat me to it ;)

Gmail definitely does html email, you need to check you're not using the html only (as opposed to the java script version), right at the bottom of the screen, just above the copyright you should have the choice of standard with chat, standard without chat, or basic HTML. The chat bit being an in browser gtalk client, quite nice imo.

Also, if you want your webmail encrypted there's always freenigma, which being a firefox plugin will work with any of the big three webmails and de/encrypts right in your browser.

Ahh.. the days of using hotmail before it was M$'d... I still have/use my original hotmal account.

About hushmail -- granted they have HTTPS on login and signup, but do they explicitly state (or not state) whether or not they log your IP?

(can't check from work -- all webmail based sites are blocked )

I only use Gmail and Yahoo mail, so can't comment on the others

Gmail -
It can create html emails - its limited, but the same features as Yahoo mail.
The interface I find fine - it is incredibly quick to get at what you want, with labels links down the side and search entry at top. It is different to desktop email clients, so I agree there is some learning curve (but more than worth it). I think that is where it shines, very useful if you send/receive lots of emails and need to find old ones fast.

Yahoo mail - you have to switch to the old interface to set up filters!! Very nasty... on the whole I agree with the article about it though.

Originally Posted by Article
cope we spam

with ??

Live Mail DOES have live messenger integration... Your contacts are shared and so on.

page 1: "How do they cope we spam?" [edit: beaten to it^]

I use the Hotmai.... Windows Live Beta (c'mon It'll always be hotmail :))

tbh, I've used it as my main account since I was in Uni about 10 years ago (yes the very same account) and I think I've had about 5 maybe 6 spam emails in all that time.

I was using the desktop client (beta) although that seems to have developed a bug which now stops me from accessing the Hotmail server through the client (I've been sent details of a fix, but I've yet to attempt it to see if it works. Can still access the account using Thunderbird or Outlook (however, I think this is only as I have an old account, I don't think newer accounts have the same privilege)

I also use the Orange/Wanadoo/freeserve webmail (as this was my old ISP before moving to Pipex). Again the interface was nice (once it received the obligatory facelift last year) and does pretty much the same job as most of the others (junk mail if not in your address book, HTML formatting).

I took one look at the Pipex webmail interface after first switching and haven't looked at again. didn't seem as user friendly as the other two (live/Freeserve).

Haven't used Gmail yet, however I think I might give it a go in the near future.

I actually use both Gmail (or Google Mail) and Windows Live Mail Beta, and I like Gmail a lot more... Probably because Windows Live Mail Beta doesn't like Linux :D
http://glider.sin.khk.be/pix/WLMB.png

Wich is a PITA TBH...

I think the Gmail usability is spot on. The interface is intuitive and easy to use. Just because they used text links doesn't make it bad. In comparison the good looking interface of Live Hotmail is horrible to use. Unfortunately, my main e-mail is a hotmail one that I've been using for years.

I don't see the need for HTML in e-mail, either.

the link to PGP encryption also doesn't work properly, leaving a load of bit tech code wrapped around it
(http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2007/02/19/the_best_webmail_services_/%22http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pretty_Good_Privacy%22)

Personally, the new yahoo interface is a disaster - want to delete a spam message - every time you try it opens the email - seriously bad idea
There is no way to mark the message without it being displayed (at least not when i tried it) and the UI is blooming slow too
Personally i just stick to the standard yahoo interface - who cares if its all fancy - functionality > looks
But one thing i hate about yahoo is that its spam filter is cr**, all too often i mark messages as not spam and they STILL go in my spam box, and lots of spam emails get through to my inbox as well, its a utter pain in the ass

Also on the POP access front, you can tell your POP access client to leave a copy of the message on the server - therefore it doesn't matter if Gmail doesn't offer IMAP support
http://img241.imageshack.us/my.php?image=popsettingssc0.jpg

ive used yahoo in the past.. then switched to hotmail then to gmail... i think gmail is the best one yet... i use to keep both hotmail and gmail but my hotmail got deleted :(

layout is good... i use both samurize and the gmail desktop email alert so i no when new mails have arrived...

plus it allows you to access email nearly anywhere :)

anyways... one thing i dont like about web based emails is that some places ban them from being used... i had to set up my home account to register with a couple of forums :(

Guys,

Thanks for the headsup on the Gmail rich text email. I discovered it - many apologies! Also fixed a couple of the other bugs.

Originally Posted by g3n3tiX
with ??

Live Mail DOES have live messenger integration... Your contacts are shared and so on.

I think it's a Yorkshire-ism, it's supposed to have been wi' :)

As in, 'we 'it 'im wi' spade, it wer' reet good fun'.

http://www.digg.com/software/The_best_webmail_clients

Please give us a Digg if you think it's worthwhile :)

"miccrosoft provides anti-spam that is on the same track." I disagree my hotmail account lets far more spam in and there is only a small limit to the number of blockable adresses. Also some adresses will still let mail in even after been blocked as they pay ms money to get through the spam filters.

Gmail has a very light weight client that uses less bandwidth and disk space and also intigrates a chat client which I don't think msn manages.

to me it's the clear winner.

Interesting.
I have a gmail address because they have great storage, a half-decent spam filter and semi-big attatchment size limits.

I jsut use Windows Mail for the actual recieving and sending of email so as long as a webmail provider supports POP3 then I'm not bothered which one I use.

Like plenty of others here, I primarily use gmail (although I have several other accounts over at least three more domains). The option to set it up for your own domain is awesome, and thankfully isn't too tricky. The spam filtering has been just about perfect for me, although I'm very careful about giving out my address so there's very little to start; in any case, none makes it to my inbox.

One thing I've found out and love is that even while using it for POP access (as I do), they still store the messages on their server. It's certainly not IMAP quality for accessing your mail anywhere on multiple machines, but I can still search for messages away from my main machine as if I were there, something that the POP access through my domains (that haven't been Googlized) can't touch. Great stuff for when I want to print out something at the library and just use one of their public terminals instead of unhooking my laptop and carrying it down there.

Originally Posted by Page 2
Whilst Gmail is ad-free

What are these?

http://blog.named.com/uploads/google-ads.jpg

Couple of things:

1) factual error: you state gmail is 'ad free' - it *isn't*. Sure the ads aren't as horrible as Yahoo, but it's still heavily ad-supported in the left-hand side. Have a look.

2) Gmail has a great interface, but the contact management features are extremely limited. Also, you can't sync your contact. Also, it frequently much through large attachment without letting your know delivery failed. Also, it won't let you check multiple at the same time. You have to logoff, log back in and so on.

Finally, I use gmail for your domain professionally over 8 domains and 150 accounts and I can tell you, it's not the technical nirvana you described. For a quick personal account, it's the best in town, but for SMB, it leaves a lot to be desired.

I don't know but i prefer Y!mail over gmail.

Y!mail has a tabbed viewer wich lacks on gmail. You can start to compose a mail, and if u're in the middle of the composition, you can refer to another mail without closint it.

You can drag and drop a msg anywhere in the interface.

As for the filters you still need to go to the old version of the mail service, but as stated by the good people inn Y!mail they're working on it:
"We're still tweaking the Yahoo! Mail Beta Filters option. Temporarily you'll need to access it through the original Yahoo! Mail interface. But, rest assured, any changes made will take effect once you've reloaded the Yahoo! Mail Beta."

It lacks the checkboxes in each message so you can delete without seeing it. As said by "randosome". This is, in my opinion, a minor drawback.

The only complain that I have is that it takes a long time to load and to attach files and the annoying "flash ads".

With all this being said, I think Y!mail way better in terms of organization and interface (a matter of personal taste)

Anyway the're BOTH in BETA versions...

I've been using GMail as my primary account since the day I got into the beta (way back when ;)). I have tried the new Yahoo! Mail — it was neat, but I prefer GMail's simpler interface — and Windows Live Mail — I just didn't like the interface at all — and came to the conclusion that I should stick with GMail.

Hushmail is cool, except that, as mentioned in the article, it hasn't been properly updated to keep up with the times. I'd love to use it if it were.

I must confess that I don't understand why having a lot of links is a problem.

Or for something just a bit different: http://www.goowy.com/

Has really nice calendar integration and stuff like that. :)

GMail also has a "Check for new mail" button. It's in the inbox there, labelled "Refresh". But considering it updates on its own every minute (Or so), that's really not necessary. GMail's web interface is about as fast as IMAP at reporting new mail.

Oh, and while I do agree that tabs for GMail would be great, that little blue arrow icon in the corner of each message (Including creating new messages or replying to a message) will "Promote" the current view to a new window, so you can use your browser's tabs to hold multiple messages open for reference.

I know the name is probably synonymous with hatred, but what about AOL Web Mail? Since the drop of the EU Access business, and the focus switch to Web Content, they have cleaned up the webmail service quite a bit.

2GB of storage, free address, IMAP access. It has full integration with AIM/Address Book, and AOL Calendar. It also supposrts Rich Text/HTML editing in mail. Spam controls are constantly improving on it as well. Only 1 banner ad at the top of mailbox, ala the new Windows Live Beta, and 1 curtain ad to the side of letter windows.


Just would have been nice to see another of the big players, as it has just as many users as Y!Mail.