The team’s efforts to enhance and improve the Tucows Email Service continue to accelerate as more and more customers make the move from our older platforms onto the new service. As that happens, we’re learning a lot about how Tucows Email Service handles the load in the real world (really well, as expected) and we’re also taking in feedback and comments from users, through resellers like you (thanks!).
As a result, we’re continually tuning hardware and software for even better performance, and the technical delivery team continues to work to make things like the webmail interface better and easier to use.
Tomorrow we’re rolling out what we call the “Email Winter Release” - a bunch of enhancements and upgrades that make the service even better. A full list of those changes was sent out to customers on Tucows Email Service last week. If you want a sneak peek at how things are progressing, the upgrade has already been rolled into our Test environment. We’ve also released updated Tucows Email Service documentation that includes the latest changes and all the details you’ll need. A detailed summary of the changes can also be viewed in the release notes.
The enhancements encompass everything from minor user interface improvements inside webmail, to the creation of a new user account level within the MAC. Here’s a brief list of what’s changing Tuesday broken down into three main categories:
Reseller Tools:
- Domain Aliases at the Company level are now available
- Company Administrators are now able to suspend accounts (and shortly will be able to do so through the APP)
- Mail Administrator account level has been created.
Webmail Enhancements:
- Users are now able to sort on the Read/Unread column.
- POP mail accounts (if added by the user) are checked automatically during webmail check.
- Contacts can now be dragged into and out of groups.
- Users can choose between plain text and HTML email composition.
- The add contact group button in the contact area of the sidebar has been replaced by a pair of more intuitive icons.
WAP/Mobile Email Client:
- We now offer a WAP client for email access via mobile phone.
One of the neatest additions that comes along with this release is the WAP version of webmail. A recent survey by Webcredible, a UK-based web usability and accessibility consultancy, showed that 33% of mobile phone users said email was their most requested feature.
Our WAP-enabled webmail works on over 5,000 different phones (including the iPhone, although it has an IMAP email app that works great with Tucows Email). It lets user see their inbox and messages, send and receive mail, and even view contacts. All the information on how to access the WAP browser including how to set a CNAME to enable a custom URL (like wap.yourdomain.com) is in the email documentation.
The WAP browser is a standard feature of Tucows Email Service - just like IMAP, POP and our AJAX webmail application. It’s available today in the Test environment, and will be live for all users tomorrow.