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Mail Bonding with Mozilla
In previous versions of this book, we discussed setting up e-mail in Netscape 3.0, and also in Netscape 4.0 — they were totally different, so it was pretty exciting. Now, we just recommend that you use Mozilla. Mozilla is the open source version of Netscape, which means it’s still being maintained even though no one found a way to make money off of it. If you used Mozilla for mail on a Mac or Windows system, you’ll find it eerily familiar. If a version of Netscape is on your system (some flavors of Linux include it), its mail works just like Mozilla.The part of Mozilla that does e-mail (and news!) is called Mail & Newsgroups. It’s easy to start it; just select WindowMail & Newsgroups.When you first open the Mail & Newsgroups window, you’ll probably be confronted with a series of windows where Mozilla tries to set up your e-mail account. Remember all that stuff we said you’d need to set up a remote mail account? Here’s where you need it. Follow these steps to answer them all.Mozilla asks whether you want to set up an e-mail or a newsgroup account. Pick the e-mail account, and then click Next.
Mozilla asks for your name and your e-mail address. Enter them, and then click Next.
Mozilla asks whether you’re using POP or IMAP. Choose the appropriate server and click Next.
If you’re not sure, enter POP; if you’ve been told you’re using IMAP, pick that.
Mozilla asks for the names of your incoming and outgoing mail servers. Enter these names, and then click Next.
If you aren’t sure, ask your ISP about them. If your ISP isn’t sure either, try guessing the name mail , which works for a lot of ISPs.
Mozilla asks for your account name. Enter it, then click Next.
If you aren’t sure, a likely guess is the left-hand side of your e-mail address (before the @). Check with your ISP.
Mozilla asks you to name this account. Pick a name and click Next.
This is a friendly feature; Mozilla lets you check multiple e-mail accounts, so it wants you to give them unique names. You can give it a name like “Betty’s Email”, or you can use names like “Work” or “Personal”. If you only have one, it doesn’t matter much what you call it — just don’t call it late for dinner!
Mozilla asks for confirmation. Reassure it, and then click Finish.
Mozilla asks for your e-mail password. Give it your password.
We do not recommend that you use the Password Manager feature to remember your password. It sounds really convenient, but after you go without typing your password for a few months, if you lose your Mozilla settings, you’re out of luck.
After you make it through the grueling windows of preference setting, Mozilla tries to download your mail. If it’s configured correctly, spam starts pouring in almost immediately.To send a message, follow these steps:
Click the Compose button on the toolbar.
The Write Mail window opens, chock-full of incomprehensible icons, although you can ignore most of them.
Enter the name of your recipient in the To box.
At the top of the window are a couple of lines that look sort of like lined notebook paper. Near the left end of the line may be an entry that says To or Cc or Bcc. If it says anything other than To, click the little arrow to the left of the Cc or Bcc and switch it to To. Having done that, type your recipient’s address in the right half of your freshly updated To: line. If you have other recipients, you can enter them on the next lines, one per line.
Type the subject in the Subject box.
Enter your message into the rest of the window.
Warning Mozilla offers a fantasia of fantastic formatting features. Don’t use any of them. Mail that isn’t plain text is likely to show up as unintelligible gibberish in mail programs like Pine, and makes you look like a newbie. It sounds really neat to have mail that’s all formatted, but lots of different programs format mail in different ways. In fact, mail sent in HTML is often used as a sign of probable spam, because so much spam uses HTML formatting.
Click the Send button.
If you use any of the formatting features, or sometimes even if you haven’t, Mozilla pops up a window warning you that your recipient may not be able to handle the beautiful formatting and giving you some options. Pick the Send in Plain Text Only option, and click Send again. Whew!
You may be wondering why we haven’t mentioned Outlook Express, the Microsoft answer to Netscape Messenger. Simple! Outlook Express doesn’t run on UNIX systems — and with all the e-mail viruses that only spread through Outlook Express, that may not be such a bad thing. There were some versions of it, but development has stopped, and references to UNIX versions of Outlook Express, or Internet Explorer, are now on an “if I told you, I’d have to kill you” basis only. Microsoft ignores UNIX, except for the annual Making of the Excuse, where they explain that it will be this year that Windows 200X finally replaces UNIX. We think they should have used “the dog ate my reliability.”
To see your new mail, click the Get Msg button on the toolbar. (You may be prompted for your login password, depending on your mail setup.) After you have mail in your mailbox, double-click a message in the message listing to see that message in a new window. The Reply, Forward, Next, and Previous buttons do what they look like they should.
