24 October 2005

e-Mail Terms You Should Know

Most people use e-mail without understanding how it works and that’s okay. After all, you don’t need to know how the internal combustion engine works to drive a car. Most drivers are familiar with terms relating to the automobile they drive – fuel tank, tire pressure, transmission, boot, bonnet, and windscreen. So too, a savvy e-mail communicator will be familiar with the terms listed here. It wouldn’t hurt if you know them, either.

General terms:
Above the fold - Portions of an e-mail message (or Web page, newspaper, or any written or typed content, actually) that is visible without scrolling down the page or screen. In newspapers, the most important content is above the fold so that readers can see it right away without having to unfold the paper. It's kind of tricky to predict where the fold is in e-mail messages because there are so many variables that you can't control, such as your recipients' screen resolution and font size.

Alias - generic term used to identify an e-mail account.

Attachment - An image, a video or audio file, or any other sort of data file that is sent along with an e-mail message as an "attachment."

Bcc: line - The place where you put the addresses of persons to whom you wish to send the e-mail in addition to the person on the To: line, but without the knowledge of any of the other recipients.

Bounces - Messages that can't reach their destination, and are returned to you, the sender. There are hard bounces (due to invalid e-mail addresses) and soft bounces (due to temporary conditions, such as full inboxes.)

Cc: line - The place where you put the addresses of persons to whom you wish to send the e-mail in addition to the person on the To: line. If you use the “To:” or the “Cc:” options, the address of EVERYONE to whom you sent the message appears in each message.

Domain name - The part of an e-mail address that comes after the @ sign. My e-mail address is info@computer-2tr.com, so my domain name is computer-2tr.com. Yours may be hotmail.com, aol.com, or (your own obscure name).com. Your domain name identifies one or more Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which are assigned numbers that identify computers on the network. Each domain name has a top-level domain it belongs to, such as .gov (government), .org (nonprofit organization), .mil (the military), and .com (commercial and general purpose).

e-mail client - software program on your computer that enables you to send, receive, and work with your e-mail. Examples of e-mail clients are Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird, Netscape Mail, Outlook, and Outlook Express.

Message header - Message headers provide a list of technical details, such as from whom the message came, the software used to compose it, and the e-mail servers it passed through on the way to you, the recipient. These details can be useful for identifying problems with e-mail or identifying sources of spam.

MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) and S/MIME (Secure MIME) - extends the basic, text-oriented Internet mail system. It provides a way to format messages so that they can be sent over the Internet to people using all types of e-mail clients, protocols, and text editors. S/MIME supports encrypted (secret-coded) messages.

Spam - unsolicited commercial e-mail.

Subject line - is where you put the subject of your e-mail message. Sending messages without anything in the subject line is like writing a book without a title: Just don't do it.

To: line - The place where you put the address of the person to whom you wish to send the e-mail.

Protocol: A code of conduct and the conduct of code
Unless you know what protocol your e-mail provider supports, you won't be sure about how to set up your e-mail program. And then you won't be able to get your mail and then where will you be?

HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used to display Web pages, but it can also be used to send and receive e-mail. You can read and receive e-mail messages from any computer in the world with an Internet connection and a Web browser that supports graphics.

Note: HTTP accounts are not as private as POP3 accounts since your messages are stored on an external server. Also, the amount of space you get to store messages is limited; if you go over that set amount you won't be able to get or send more messages until you clean your room.

IMAP - Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) is a way to access your e-mail on a server and, if you like, keep your e-mail messages stored there instead of on your local computer.

MAPI - Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) is a system built into Windows that enables different e-mail applications to work together to distribute mail. As long as both applications are MAPI-enabled, they can share mail messages with each other.

Note: When you are using MAPI, it serves as both your incoming and outgoing mail server.

POP3 - When you use the very common Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3), your e-mail is stored on your e-mail provider's server initially. But once you go and "get it" from whatever e-mail program you use, it's downloaded to your computer and is no longer stored on the server. If you want to keep it, you can either never delete it from your program, or you can create a copy of it and keep it somewhere on your computer.

Note: Some POP3 e-mail providers have special Web sites set up where you can access your e-mail from anywhere. This, however, is not the same as IMAP or HTTP mail.

Both Sonic.net and Tiger Technologies use the POP3 protocol for incoming mail. You can access your Sonic mail online at https://webmail.sonic.net/ or your Tiger Technologies mail online at http://webmail.tigertech.net/

SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used by most (but not all) e-mail systems to send e-mail messages across the Internet from an e-mail client to an e-mail server. (As mentioned above, MAPI functions as both the incoming and outgoing mail server.) That's why you need to specify both the incoming server (POP3, IMAP, and so on) and the outgoing server (the SMTP server) when you set up your e-mail accounts.

Both Sonic.net and Tiger Technologies use the SMTP protocol for outgoing mail.