[ILUG] Re: Web based E-mail

[Adam Beecher]

[Not (directly) on ILUG at the moment - please copy replies off-list]

Uno wrote:
>
> I've been looking for a Web based E-mail package and found
> Neomail (Brilliant program)
>
> I just wanted to know if anyone has any other suggestions for
> a good Web based E-mail client.
>

Somewhat of a hobby of mine, keeping an eye on the web-based mailers. Here's a
few pointers:

PHP Web-Based Email Clients
http://php.resourceindex.com/Complete_Scripts/E_Mail_Utilities/Web_Based_E_Mail/

Out of all of these, IMP is the only one I would recommend, and only then if you
have a lot of time and patience to set it up. However, it *may* be available as
a set of RPM's now, so it might be worth looking into. Be warned that it relies
heavily on client-side scripting.

The one that I use at the moment - and the cross-browser compatibility nuts will
love this one - isn't listed at all for some reason. It's called Twig, and I
love it. Definitely worth a look, at http://twig.screwdriver.net.


C/C++ Web-Based Email Clients
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/C_and_C++/Web_Based_E_Mail/

Most are commercial unfortunately, but one to note is DMailWeb, and it's sibling
CWMail. I used CWMail for quite a while, and found it one of the best. However
the lack of source code - and so the restrictions on customisation - can be a
pain. It's still template-based though, and you can do a hell of a lot with it.


Perl Web-Based Email Clients:
http://cgi.resourceindex.com/Programs_and_Scripts/Perl/Web_Based_E_Mail/

Few to note here, but again the best ones are commercial.

Endymion MailMan is an excellent app - another of the best - but they've
seriously obfuscated the source code, so making changes is a pain. It can also
be quite slow, but I think mod_perl should cure that. I notice that the makers
of MailMan have also created a Java-based app - Sake - but I haven't tried it.
If it's as good as MailMan, it's worth a look.

Both Alias-Mail and EMUmail look good, but you can't get a trial version of
Alias-Mail, and the trial version of EMUmail comes loaded with their banners.
Both have reg scripts though - Alias-Mail for DB-driven (flat-files I *think*),
and EMUmail for actual accounts. At-Dot *was* good, but development died a long
time ago, so it's probably not even worth a look anymore.


Also, a bit of advice - if you're looking at lots of users, and you don't have a
serious machine to handle it, outsource. There's a few freebie operators out
there - Everyone.net and BigMailBox are two of the better known ones - and
there's a good number of commercial operators too.

One day you'll see my web-based mailer up there too, only mine will be MySQL
based, c/w sign-up scripts. All I need now is an email RFC nut... :)

Good luck,
adam