//beconfused

You can read about part 1 of the Windows Live Mail preview. This post concentrates on the main portion of Windows Live Mail - the Mail part. You can drag-and-drop, resize the columns and more. It’s new interface is more functional and quicker, but it lacks the simplicity that Gmail offers. I find that with the new interface of Hotmail, I get my mail faster significantly - much thanks goes to the three-column interface.

Drag-and-drop fun

(You can now drag-and-drop email messages into folders.)

It’s probably one of the simplest feature you can think of in a normal desktop application but it sure took a decade before web mail evolved into incorporating such drag-and-drop features. Even in desktop applications, it is probably one of the most “forgotten” features. Most people just don’t think of using such features. I am a fan of drag-and-drop interfaces and I just have to mention this feature in Windows Live Mail. [Click here for a larger image.]

Handling unknown senders

Also, like what you see in Gmail and Outlook, images will not be shown if it’s from an unknown sender. Windows Live Mail went a bit further by even disabling links. Remember those “Click here if you can’t view the email correctly” links to link you to the web page to let you view correctly? Well, guess what, those links are disabled. I’m not complaining by the way, I’m just amused.

Right-clicking on multiple emails

(You can also select multiple emails and right click.)

Most computer uses still prefer right clicking or copy-and-paste to get things done. Windows Live Mail has right clicking too. Select multiple emails by clicking with CTRL button held down, then right click to mark multiple messages read. It works just like a desktop application. [Click here for a larger image.]

Resizing your three columns

(And the three columns can be resized easily.)

Think you don’t have enough space to read your email? You can resize it easily. My complaint is that no matter how I resize, I still don’t have enough space. This is due to the vertical advertisement that Windows Live Mail, like Hotmail, places on the right hand size. It takes up about 200 to 250 pixels maybe, and it’s precious when three columns are used instead of two. [Click here for a larger image.]

More to come

Well, the last part of this preview is on writing emails messages in Windows Live Mail. I actually intended to have 2 posts only, I guess it went to 3.

[On a side note, I have 7 Windows Live Messenger invites to give away now.]

Well, I decided to blog about Windows Live Mail this time. I have been quite impressed by it so far.

What is Windows Live Mail?

Windows Live Mail is the successor for Hotmail. It’s codename “Kahuna” and I test around it. “Kahuna” is a Hawaiian priest or traditional healer according to Encarta. It has some issues with corporate firewalls or something I think. Windows Live Mail doesn’t work at my company for the past couple of weeks already. It uses AJAX to make cool features such as spellchecking as you type, faster searches and drag-and-drop support.

What is AJAX?

I like the whole AJAX thingy that has been going on. AJAX is basically an architecture that involves JavaScript, XML, DHTML and blah blah… It basically is the most talked-about technology in the internet.

An example of an AJAX application would be Gmail. To navigate from Inbox to Outbox, your page doesn’t seem to move. Basically the page stays and the information gets delivered to the page and is updated.

Think of a desktop application, when you click and drag things around, the respond is almost immediate. You don’t have to wait long for your information to appear, there is no flicker unlike a web link to the next page too.

AJAX aims to make web application seem faster. It is not as fast as a desktop application but it aims to be near to the speed and intuitiveness of a desktop application control. And Windows Live Mail aims to have both.

Calendar, Contacts and Today

Windows Live Mail is now in Beta and my mailbox’s size is 2GB now. In this post, I’ll show you how Windows Live Mail’s Calendar and Contacts page is like.

(The calendar doesn’t have any AJAX enhancements I think.)

I don’t think the calendar receive any major update. It still seems to be the same old calendar, just that it now just a new design. It looks more pleasent to me now. I have a feeling that it loads faster too. The calendar is a slight improvement but much more can be done to improve it using AJAX. [Click here for a larger image.]

(Look! You can drag and drop contacts to manage your friends easily.)

The Contact list has been improved, you can now drag-and-drop your contacts easily. It’s a good feature. I only wish Windows Live Mail would make the importing and exporting of contacts more user-friendly. I love to be able to view all my contact’s names and email address in a form of a table too actually.

The Today page wasn’t available when I write though, it’s not ready. It suppose to have more gauge to show the remaining disk space. But it doesn’t appear to be ready at all.

More to come

Well, I’ve shown you the Contacts, the Calendar and the Today page. I haven’t shown you guys the mail, have I? I’ll get the images posted up to show how Mail looks like.

I made a couple of changes to my blog.

The new anti-spam tool - Akismet

(Akismet caught my spam!)

Firstly, I am most happy with Akismet. It is amazing. You won’t understand the joy of clicking the ‘Delete all’ button on that image above. I smiled after I clicked and waited like a little kid longing to play the new toy when queueing for purchase at the cashier. The feeling is just amazing.

The set up isn’t hard. All you need to do is to upload the plugin and enter the WordPress.com API key. And you’re on. Actually, the WordPress.com API is the hardest part. Read more about Akismet.

Finally upgraded to WordPress 1.5.2

I was lazy so it took long. The updating process is simple but as I have made some customizations here and there, I was kinda lazy to check through the PHP files to see what changes I made. Anyway, it is up. I don’t see significant changes. But I do note that there is improved administering interface for adding pages. I can finally click on ‘Save and Continue Editing’ in pages.

(An ajax web poll. It looks pretty good already so I didn’t make any changes to the looks.)

Added a web poll

Currently, it reads something like - Do you like polls. I know it sounds dumb. It is dumb. Do sound out if you have any suggestions for the web polls.

A good thing to point out is that the web poll support Ajax. The specifications of an Ajax application is that it updates the servers through JavaScript silently. You can read about the technical specifications at Wikipedia.

I chose Jalenack’s Democracy poll and it’s been working quite well except for the fact that no one responded to my polls.

That’s all

I think that’s all for updates. See you! I’m going to camp again.

Gmail’s getting out of the beta stage and going live on April 1st! At least to some Google watchers (you know, as in bird watchers and Google watchers).

Gmail is the first web email service that offers 1GB of web space to store all your junks and attachment. I use it all the time. It is quite reliable. There are a couple of times my mails get gobbled up without warning as I send some Visual Basic .NET files over, but asides that, it’s no problem.

I wouldn’t recommend people to use it for their work if you trade source codes often though.

I just hope this isn’t an April Fools’ joke. April 1st has some more important event for me though.

In the meantime, if you can’t wait for a Gmail account, I can always invite you!

[via Jess' Blog]