[Dom]

Afternoon all,

I'd like to mention a couple of gripes I've got with the shared hosting webmail client 'AtMail'. Some aren't too important, but I think others should really be looked at.

The first thing I wanted to point out is that when you first access the login page for AtMail, there is an option to select which interface you want to use. When the login page loads for the first time (using Firefox) it automatically selects the first option in that dropdown list (which is "Simple (Any Browser)" I believe). But once you've logged in, gone about your business, and then logged out again in order to login under a different account, the page automatically detects what browser is being used and chooses the appropriate interface type (in the case of Firefox, it chooses "Advanced (Mozilla)".

This wouldn't be so bad, but it can be annoying, as I forget that the first time the page loads, it logs in using the simple interface (which I like), but further logins automatically choose another interface (suited to Firefox, which I dont like). It's just a bit inconsistent.

Another slight niggle I've got is that once you've logged into your mailbox (using the Simple Interface) you can see options on the left hand side, such as 'Inbox', 'Sent', 'Trash' etc. You can also choose to move some selected emails into a different folder. The trouble is, custom folders dont appear in the list of choices. In order to be able to move the email to a folder, I have to click on the 'Folders' link at the top of the page, then go back to the Inbox. Only after I've done that do the folders appear down the left hand side and in the dropdown box, allowing me to move my emails into those folders.

Both of those things are only annoyances, but I've got a problem (which I have mentioned before on these forums) with receiving emails from people using that silly Incredimail program, that can be detrimental to my business. Basically, if the client sends me a mail from Incredimail, I receieve the email, but no text appears in the body. The email is clearly sent in it's entirety, as the filesize of the email is accurate, but no content appears.

I know that the email has sent because I've set up forwarding to another email account and I receive the email just fine in that account. It just seems that AtMail has issues with Incredimail.

The last thing is a question: why do we now need to type in the address of the mail server when we login to AtMail. At first, we simply typed our email address and password, and now we need to type the mail server address too. I'm a pro web developer (or so I tell everyone :P) and it took me ages to figure out what the actual address was. I received no email about the changes, or information about what to type in the Mailserver box. And as it turned out, the address of the mail server is the same as you type into the browser address bar to get to the AtMail page in the first place, which makes it a bit unnecessary really.

Sorry for posting an essay, but these issues have been bugging/affecting me for a while now.

[Kieran]

If you have numerous problems with AtMail then you could always install your own webmail client in a subdirectory on one of your domains? This would allow you to choose what to use. If you want recommendations I would say RoundCube webmail. Its slick, easy to use and has hardly any problems (that I've noticed).

[Dom]

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't realise that I could do that. After being told that I couldn't make any changes to the PHP installation settings, I wouldn't have thought that I could install custom wotsits like that either.

However, I do pay for my hosting, and although I'm very happy with just about everything I get from it, I'd like to know that if something is causing me a problem (such as not receiving body text in emails) then someone at Xilo will at least look into it.

It might sound a little stuck up or something, but if I wanted to be responsible for my own hosting, and it's associated features, then I'd set up my own server and do things that way. Suffice it to say that I don't have the time, patience or general inclination to do that.

[Kieran]

AtMail isn't coded by XILO, it is a paid-for product. As such I would imagine getting issues like this fixed are not within the powers of XILO but I will allow Matt to comment on this issue from here.

[Dom]

I know that most of the apps used are externally developed, and a lot are free and open source. If Xilo pay for a mail client that has a few bugs/inconsistancies, I'd suggest paying for something else.

I didn't expect them to rewrite the code for it or anything, but I figured it might be something to do with spam filters, or some settings somewhere that can only be changed by Xilo staff.

[solaris]

Another freely available webmail client is SquirrelMail. While perhaps not as visually swish as some of the others, its very functional and there's a whole host of add-ons that let you do all sorts of useful things.