Derek Bodner’s Blog

A few weeks ago gmail began rolling out IMAP support. As I previously mentioned, this was a show stopper for me. I previously signed up for hosted gmail to host my personal domain on, changed my MX records to point to gmail, but then forwarded a copy to my personal server so I could still read/respond/organize via an IMAP client. I basically used gmail as a spam filter and backup, and the the IMAP server as my primary. Now with gmail offering IMAP, I’ve now completely eliminated my server, and use gmail exclusively. That’s not to say there aren’t still a few problems I have, but they’re relatively minor.

In my perfect world, webmail is still a secondary way of checking/sending mail for me. I prefer to use a client, for a number of reasons. I have about 5 different e-mail accounts I use daily, all forwarded to the same location. Using a mail client, I can specify a different SMTP server for each identity, and send through the appropriate place. I also just like the notification/reading/responding to be done via a mail client. It just seems more natural, flexible, and configurable. Being able to chose the right client that fits me and customize it to my hearts content definitely has its appeal. With gmail, while they’re great at rolling out new features, you’re at the whims of the developers. For me, there’s a clear delineation of what I want in a desktop client, and what I want to do in a webmail client. I want to be notified, read the email, respond to the email, and archive it on a desktop client. I think thunderbird configured how I want it does a better job of that than gmail’s web interface does. I want to search my email, and be able to quickly access it and read it while on the road where I don’t have an email client configured from a webmail client. Now I can do both without having to sacrifice either. Me happy.

The webmail’s definitely a considerable upgrade over Horde/squirrelmail/every other free webmail client I’ve used on my servers. Not having to maintain the server and getting a ton of space is a nice bonus as well, and gmail’s take on threaded email is great when going over converstations. gmail’s search function is another tremendous tool that’s something I didn’t have before I used hosted gmail. I also really like how google integrated IMAP. Mail sent from your IMAP client gets placed in [Imap]/Sent (but still shows up in your gmail sent items). Mail deleted from your desktop client doesn’t actually get deleted, but gets ‘archived’, aka its Inbox label removed. Labels show up as folders, with Utilities/Bills being showed as a Utilities parent folder, with Bills being a subfolder. gmail-specific folders (like all mail and starred) go under a gmail folder tree.

The archiving specifically had me worried about how they would implement it, and I must say I’m very happy with what they did. I don’t delete much email, so I like to ‘archive’ it, in the gmail way of thinking. If there wouldn’t be a way to archive something rather than delete it in your IMAP client, it would take away part of the benefit of gmail. Now I can either archive it (delete it), or delete it (move it to gmail/trash). I have the choice. This greatly benefits gmails filters, as now I can create a ‘family’ filter, and when I receive email from my family I can read it, respond to it, and archive it, without having to worry about filing it since it’s already filed. And for mail that I want to keep, but don’t have a specific need to file it? Archive it through your desktop client, and there’s always the ability to search for it when you need it.

With all that being said, there are still a few minor annoyances I have with gmail:

• filters definitely need some added features. Three I’d really like to see: 1) the ability to mark something as read (while simultaneously applying label(s)). 2) The ability to apply multiple labels (without having to create two different filters). 3) The ability to label something based on a contact group. i.e. if I have 20 people in my ‘family’ contact group, I should be able to create a filter that says if (from==Group:family)label family.
• The ability to truly send from multiple addresses. Oh, I know, it can be done now. But if I login to dbodner@domain1.com, and try to send an email from dbodner@domain2.com, google’s going to make the sender header field say that it’s from dbodner@domain1.com. Oh, I know it’s RFC compliant, but there needs to be a way around this. I currently have 2 domains I wanted to park on top of my main domain. Even on parked domains, it will always make the sender header from the primary domain. If I have domain2.com and domain3.com parked on top of domain1.com, I should be able to authenticate and send as dbodner@domain2.com. Instead, I have to setup domain2.com as it’s own hosted gmail domain, logout, login to dbodner@domain2.com, send the email through there, then logout of domain2.com. Furthermore, I have 5 domains that I use regularly. ALL of them are running off of gmail servers. If a domain is hosted at gmail, it should be possible I can authenticate as that user when trying to send an email. I’ll gladly supply credentials to send the mail. I just don’t want to have to logout to send as that user.
• I’d like a little more customization. For example, I’d like to be able to add different fields, like size of message, to be viewable when viewing a label/inbox. Or maybe be able to toggle whether to display the sender, or the senders address. Just little things. I’d like gmail’s web interface to be a little more configurable than it currently is, rather than having to rely on 3rd party hacks from greasemonkey. Having to install 6 different hacks in the greasemonkey firefox plugin to get gmail to behave like I want takes away from my reason to use webmail, which is to use as a desktop client replacement when I’m at a different computer that doesn’t have things setup.

Just having gmail for the searching itself while not having to lose my IMAP/desktop client makes me a happy camper.