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What is Webmail?

Webmail is a common type of email service. In certain manners, webmail is a interface that allows the access of email over the internet, through an oridanry web browser. The Webmail interface effectively becomes the Mail Client.

However, it is common to use the term "Webmail" as a mail account that is accessed through such an interface.

Here I will review the major webmail services, and look at what sort of features and gizmos come with these services.

The Biggies

The following four are the big services. You'll notice that they are all run by large corporations that offer web search, instant messaging, custom feeds/"My" Page, and a whole lot more.

Gmail

Gmail (or Google Mail in Europe) is a webmail service provided by Google.

Gmail was the first free (but still invitation-only) service to offer 1 GB of storage for email, something that quickly caused other services to up their storage space. However, Gmail was, and still is, invitation-based. In order to get Gmail, you must either send an SMS message from your cellular telephone, or get an invitation from a friend. This may be stupid, but it's useful for Google, because they get a valid email addresses or phone numbers for their subscribers, and that way they can prevent spammers from signing up for a large number of account.

Interface: Gmail's interface is very sleek and clean. There is little extraneous distractions on the page. This follows Google's philosophy of simplicity.

The Gmail interface follows a fairly new idea for web design, which is usually referred to as AJAX. When you click on a link to go between messages or mailboxes, the whole page doesn't reload. Instead, a Javascript fetches only the new content and alters the interface accordingly. As a result, the interface is much faster (than conventional webmail interfaces like Hotmail). Unfortunately, as with most AJAX type web applications, hitting the back button doesn't take you to the previous page.

Google Talk: AOL, MSN and Yahoo all have instant messaging in addition to their webmail services. Google is also competing in this area, with their Jabber-based Google Talk. One of GTalk's quirks is the ability to chat from withing the web browser and Gmail (Using IE or Firefox). Gmail also stores chat history as a mailbox, allowing both Email and IM correspondence to be stored in once central location.

Ads: Like almost all free services, Gmail includes ads. However, Google's ads are much better in a few ways. They display to the right of the message, and they're really quite unobtrusive. They are also targeted, usually quite related to the message. I was in Estonia over my summer holidays, and the sidebar was filled with adsense-like ads for "Hotels in Tallinn." Discussion about webservers often bring up ads for web hosting and scripts, and school discussion often brings up teaching lesson plans or help-type websites. Although this method is creepy, the ads are a lot less obtrusive then bright images for services I don't even want.

Overall: Gmail is truly a very good service. There are some disadvantages, including the lack of IMAP support, but overall, Gmail packs a variety of features in an easy-to-use package.

AIM Mail

The AIM network is most popular as an IM service. Recently, AOL / AIM announced their new 2 GB mail service. It is available AIM (free), AOL, and Compuserve members (with AOL subscribers getting unlimited storage)

Interface: AIM Mail's interface is clean and pleasing to the eye. Like Gmail, AIM Mail is AJAX-based (and also shares the back-button annoyance). It provides easy access to various AIM features.

Overall: AIM mail is a great service. The decent storage space and IMAP access make it a great for people on-the-road, whether they want to access it through their mail client or through a web browser, AIM mail may be the way to go.

Hotmail

Hotmail is a very popular webmail service. Unfortunately, it is currently fairly limited compared to services offered by AOL and Google.

Interface: Hotmail's interface is cluttered and outdated. Ads appear almost everywhere. Many parts of the interface are Internet Explorer-only. Overall, Hotmail's interface needs improvements in ease of use and design.

Mail Client Access: Unlike Gmail and AIM Mail, Hotmail does not offer a standard way to connect from a mail client. However, there is a WebDav-based protocol which allowed users to access their hotmail through a mail client. Microsoft stopped this service in September of 2004, preventing all new users from accessing their mailboxes this way. Existing users were supposed to have their access halted in April 2005, but due to the large reliance of this feature, existing users can still access their mailboxes this way. All users, new or old, can get this access through subscription, and some services exist which parse the HTML used by hotmail and turn it into POP, thus allowing free access to everyone.

Overall: Hotmail is a solid product, but definitely needs improvements. Microsoft's next-generation webmail service, Windows Live Mail, should bring many welcomed improvements, but until then, I recommend searching for another product with more storage and better features.

Yahoo! Mail

Yahoo! also offers webmail. Like Hotmail, Yahoo! is working on a new webmail system, which they acquired from Oddpost. this new system functions very much like a desktop client, supporting drag & drop and keyboard shortcuts, all in a nice AJAX package. (the screenshot to the left is of their current mail; access to the beta interface requires making a request and waiting)

Interface: It makes sense that Yahoo! is replacing their current webmail system. Y! Mail's current interface is cluttered and slow (it still uses HTML, no fancy AJAX in the current version)

Overall: Yahoo's mail works okay, and the new version looks promising, but the modest (1 GB) storage space and lack of free client access make it a poor choice compared to AIM Mail and Gmail.

Other free webmail providers

There are many other free webmail serives. Few have as much storage space as the large companies provide, but some do offer competitive features.

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