Dynamic webmail screen layout
After logging in you will see a view of your INBOX displayed in a split screen view with the message list at the top, a menu to the left and a message preview panel at the bottom.
Screenshots
Click an image to view the full size version.
Message list
The message list is a scrollable list of all the messages in the current folder being displayed. As you scroll down the list you will see the subject, date and sender of each message listed.
If you have a large mail folder then you may see a small circulating graphic appear as the message list is queried from the mail server. This will disappear as the message list is displayed.
If you click on the column headings in the folder listing then the sort order of the folder will be changed and given priority to that column heading.
Message preview
Before any message is displayed you will see a summary of the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to display, delete and work with messages in the panel below the message list. The shortcuts are:
- Click on a message while holding down the Ctrl key to select multiple messages.
- To select a range of messages, click the first message of the range, navigate to the last message of the range, and then click on the last message while holding down the Shift key.
- Cursor up and cursor down to move up and down the message list
- PgUp and PdDown to more up and down the message list a page at a time
- Home and End to move to the start and end of the message list
- Del(ete) to delete the selected message(s)
- Shift + Del(ete) to delete the current message and open the next in the message list
- Enter to open a message in a popup message display window
- Control + A to select all messages in the current mail folder
When you click on a message in the folder listing then you will see a preview of that message appear in the panel below the list.
If the message contains any images then by default they will not be displayed just in case the message is spam and contains offensive content. You can display images by clicking on the link at the top of the message preview.
Menu
The menu to the left of the screen provides both functional buttons to compose a new message. link to facilities to manage addressbooks and filters, and also displays your folder tree.
Functions
The function buttons at the top of the menu provide facilities to check for new mail but also to:
Standard folders
The next section in the menu is for links to open standard folders such as INBOX, Sent Items and Drafts.
Other webmail applications
There are then some links to other applications in webmail to allow you to manage:
- Filters to define rules to filter and respond to your mail automatically
- Manage addressbooks
- Manage mail folders
- Link to MyEd
Folder list
At the bottom of the left-hand menu are a list of links to open all your subscribed folders. Clicking on a folder name in the folder tree will open that folder and display the message list for that folder. If any folder has a sub-folder then you will see a small plus sign next to the folder name. Clicking on the plus will expand the folder tree.
Right clicking on a folder name will display options that you can apply to each folder:
- Create Subfolder - this will allow you to create a sub-folder of this folder
- Rename Folder
- Empty folder - this is a dangerous option and will delete all messages in the folder. Use with care.
- Delete folder - this will delete the mail folder. Use with care.
- Mark all as read - this will make all the messages in the folder appear to be read
- Mark all as new - this will make all the messages in the folder appear unread
- Check for new mail - this will cause the folder list to be updated periodically to show if there are unread messages in the folder.
This article was published on Jun 16, 2011