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Yahoo To Update Mail Service

tonyq writes "Yahoo! is beginning beta testing of a completely reworked UI for Yahoo! Mail that incorporates DHTML technologies. The web-based application resembles a desktop e-mail client. Features include message preview; drag-and-drop filing; the capability of quickly searching e-mail headers, body text and attachments; and the ability to view multiple e-mails at the same time in separate windows and scroll through all message headers in a folder rather than one page at a time. Other niceties are auto-complete, right-click menus and standard keyboard shortcuts. A user who got an early look has graciously posted screenshots. Yahoo is also taking signups on their what's new for Mail page."

23 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. It looks impressive by madstork2000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I saw the new interface when my cousin, who works for yahoo was visiting. He was borrowing a computer, and I looked up and saw what I thought was Outlook Express. I went over to tell him the virtues of Firefox, when I realized what I saw was really an impressive browser based mail client.

    This was back in early August, he said employees had been using it for a while, but it was hush-hush. He seemed pretty sheepish about it, and made me promise not to post on Slashdot, apparently yahoo wanted it under wraps for as long as possible.

    He did give me the dog and pony show, and I must say that it really is a pretty slick application. Though I did not get to really test it, just watched him walk through it.

    I own a small hosting company,and wanted to see what web-based mail clients were out there that I could use for my customers. Squirelmail and TWIG looked pretty ugly in comparison. Incidently I found an open source mail client that has a lot of similar functions: Round Cube I haveinstalled that and it is almost as impressive.

    Anyway, it is amzing how far web applications have come in such a short period.

    -MS2k

    1. Re:It looks impressive by pete-classic · · Score: 5, Funny
      Squirelmail [. . .] looked pretty ugly in comparison.


      Hey! Don't call my baby ugly!

      -Peter
      Former SquirrelMail "Head Nut"

      PS: It's spelled with StudlyCaps.
    2. Re:It looks impressive by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 5, Informative
      I lost you some where between "web-based mail" and "installed"
      He installed it on his web host, smart guy.
      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    3. Re:It looks impressive by uberchicken · · Score: 5, Funny

      > He seemed pretty sheepish about it, and made me promise not to post on Slashdot

      You're claiming some kind of twisted "first post" aren't you.

  2. Argh. by DrEldarion · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I hope this new interface is optional. Part of the reason I've been using Yahoo Mail for so long was BECAUSE of its very simple and straightforward interface. Taking that away removes yet another reason to stay with them instead of finally letting go.

  3. Invite by karvind · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does anyone have invites ? :)

  4. Still no encryption? by Catamaran · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I might switch back to yahoo from gmail if they ever allow me to log in encrypted and remain encrypted (I know that I can log in via https, but after that the connection reverts to unencrypted).

    --
    Test 1 2 3 4
    1. Re:Still no encryption? by temojen · · Score: 4, Informative

      If you want worthwhile encryption on your email, use a host based email client that supports GPG. If your email is open to the world as it flies between servers and sits in their caches and spools, it doesn't really matter if it's open to the world as it flies between you and your webmail host.

  5. yahoo's answer to gmail. by Brigadier · · Score: 4, Interesting



    I'm guessing this is Yahoo's answer to gmail. If so where is my 2Gig mail box.

    To be honest I think simplicity is paramount there is a reason I don't use outlook. I've found the gmail interface to be almost perfect for my personal back and forth e-mail.

    1. Re:yahoo's answer to gmail. by winkydink · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yahoo doesn't need an answer to Gmail. They have an order of magnitude more users (63.3 mln vs 5.4 mln).

      --

      "I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey

  6. Beta-test is US only by RonnyJ · · Score: 4, Informative
    Yahoo is also taking signups on their what's new for Mail page.

    Unfortunately for a great number of people (including me) who don't live in America, the page states 'The beta version is only available to Yahoo! Mail users in the U.S.'.

  7. ...and it takes 30 seconds to load the javascript by Serveert · · Score: 4, Funny

    in order to read your 14 character "buy viagra now" spam message.

    Get in line, folks.

    --
    2 years and no mod points. Join reddit. Because openness is good.
  8. Does it have Google-like labels? by jvj24601 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I use Yahoo for nearly everything (all family events in Calendar, saved Maps for soccer fields and restaurants, Weather, and Contacts/ToDo), but I switched to Gmail for email as soon as I could.

    I am so reliant on Labels - it just makes so much sense that any email can really be in more than one folder. (In fact, since being forced to use Outlook 2003 at work, I've forgone folders and used it’s Category feature which work remarkable similar to Gmail Labels to organize my work email - I can use Outlook's search to organize/search by Category).

    If Yahoo Mail were to offer anything like Labels, I’d switch back.

  9. Re:No plaintext protocols for login, please by Bogtha · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do any webmail services still use unencrypted http?

    Have you forgotten that typical emails will pass between a number of hosts unencrypted as it is being delivered? Where's the advantage in encrypting the last leg of the journey if none of the others are encrypted?

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  10. based on technology from oddpost.com by Dzimas · · Score: 4, Informative

    Yahoo bought out oddpost in 2004. If you'll remember, they were the first to put together a really slick DHTML-based email application. What you see here is a result of merging the technology Ethan and Ian had developed with Yahoo's infrastructure (plus a great deal more - tabs and other features that aren't part of oddpost). Glad to see a little dotrebound company like Oddpost make a mark!

  11. Re:Coral link by TopSpin · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unfortunately, the images are (not) being served from another server entirely; tivac.com, which is now also slashdotted... Here are the images linked through Coral.

    contacts.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    drag.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    nodrag.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    editcontact.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    message.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    resized.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    indent.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    centered.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    rightalign.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    addcontacts.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    colors.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    smilies.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    autocomplete.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    hyperlink.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    hyperlinkoptions.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    writing.png (long lines make slashcode happy)
    confirm.png (long lines make slashcode happy)

    --
    Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
  12. Re:No plaintext protocols for login, please by dragonman97 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Actually, I read a bunch of the YoSucker(..sf.net) source code awhile ago, and as far as I could tell, Yahoo! apparently did Javascript hashing (~MD5) of your password before sending it over HTTP, with some kind of session negotiation/salt done before the form submission page. I thought that was pretty damn cool. Personally, I always hit "Shift-tab, 'sec [enter]" in Firefox before ever logging into Yahoo! mail, but I think you stand a bit more of a chance with security on their site than others.

  13. Re:GPG by MasterOfMagic · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Hushmail service uses PGP and allows you to encrypt your messages with PGP and recieve PGP encrypted and signed messages. Be sure to pick a good passphrase!

  14. Autoconvert "Office" docs by mgkimsal2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Something I just blogged about (mostly just to make sure I didn't forget it!) was an idea for autoconverting docs via a mail system.

    Yahoo Mail already seems to do a bit of converting some MS Office docs into HTML for viewing in your browser. What I'm talking about is the next step: autoconvert between openoffice and ms office.

    I send someone an .SXW or .ODT file via Yahoo Mail. Y! converts the file int a .DOC file, then sends it to the recipient. They edit, send back, and it automatically converts it back to a .SXW or .ODT file (whatever my preference is).

    I know there would be a lot of bugs and things that wouldn't work right to start with, but leave it in beta for awhile (perhaps gmail should offer this then?). However, I think the long term good could outweigh the short term drawbacks. Yes, there's a privacy concern, but if you're really that concerned about the docs you shouldn't be using public mail systems in the first place, right?

  15. Re:No plaintext protocols for login, please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    because during the last leg of the journey is when people who know you personally are likely to interfere. for example, the network admin at your job may find out that you have been quitely trying to sue the corp, and your vulnerabilities were discussed with the lawyer over personal email. now, any other admin spying wouldnt care except for the fact that this is YOUR admin at your job.

  16. Re:SSL not needed for logins by ScriptedReplay · · Score: 4, Informative

    In fact, that's how Yahoo has been working since at least a long time: the server sends a challenge that the browser appends to the MD5 hash of the password and sends the MD5 hash of the combination back.

  17. Re:Compatibility? by Aimak · · Score: 5, Informative
    Because it can be clearly read from one of the given links:

    It works in both IE and Firefox (both the 1.0.x branch and 1.5 Beta).

  18. i only want one feature by adrianmonk · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I use my Yahoo! Mail that I've had since about 1998 on a daily basis, and I really only want one new feature: I want to be able to move to the next message in the list in well under a second.

    Preferably, now that I am sitting at a computer with a 1.25 MHz PowerPC processor and 1 GB of RAM, I'd like to be able to do this as fast as I used to be able to do on a SPARCstation 2 (which had a 40 MHz processor) equipped with a whopping 64 MB of RAM. Ten years ago, on that computer that was 1.5 orders of magnitude slower than the one I'm using now, I could go to the next message in about 0.1 seconds.

    Yes, I realize there are web servers and things (like the open Internet) involved here, but it should still be do-able. If need be, they could easily prefetch and cache messages in the browser's memory, so that when I hit the "next" button, it goes there right away. And I don't mind if unusually large messages don't load that quickly.

    It would also be nice to be able to jump from mailbox index to message body and back in a fraction of a second and vice versa, while I'm asking for things.