1<HTML> 2<HEAD> 3 <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> 4 <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Mozilla/4.04 [en] (Win95; I) [Netscape]"> 5 <TITLE>Email Basics</TITLE> 6</HEAD> 7<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF"> 8<table border=0 width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" > 9 <tr> 10 <td><img src="../images/bull35.jpg" hspace=5 border=0 height=35 width=35></td> 11 <td><font size=-1>This material has been developed to accompany "<a href="http://www.fbeedle.com/26-0.html">Searching 12 and Researching on the Internet & the World Wide Web.</a>" ISBN 1-887902-26-0, 13 and "<u>The Information Specialist's Guide to Searching and Researching 14 on the Internet & the World Wide Web</u>." <a href="http://people.umw.edu/~ernie">Ernest 15 Ackermann</a> & <a href="http://people.umw.edu/~khartman">Karen 16 Hartman</a>. ISBN 1-887902-23-17, Published by <a href="http://www.fbeedle.com/">Franklin, 17 Beedle & Associates</a>. ©1998</font></td> 18 <td><a href="http://www.webliminal.com/getbooks.html" BORDER="0"><img src="http://www.webliminal.com/howto.gif"></a> 19 </td> 20 </tr> 21</table> 22<p> 23<B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+3>Email Basics</FONT></FONT></B> 24 25<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Electronic mail, or email, lets you 26communicate with other people on the Internet. Email is one of the basic 27Internet services, and by far the most popular. You can use it for any 28type of conversation; it's a way to keep in touch with friends, get information, 29start relationships, or express your opinion. Much of the time you'll be 30exchanging messages in plain text form (like the words on this page), but 31you can also exchange files in other formats such as spreadsheets, files 32for word processors, images, or programs. You can use email to join discussion 33groups and access other Internet services, but you can get to those other 34services using your Web browser as well. You can send messages to anyone 35with an Internet address, and likewise, you can receive email from anywhere 36on the Internet. With over 30 million people having some sort of connection 37to the Internet, you've got the opportunity to communicate with people 38nearby and around the world in a relatively quick and efficient manner.</FONT></FONT> 39 40<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You use a mail program on your computer 41to compose, send, and read email. Once you compose (write) a message, it's 42sent in electronic form, usually passing through several other sites on 43the Internet. Email is held at its destination until the person to whom 44it's addressed reads it, saves it in a file, or deletes it. The recipient 45does not have to be logged in or using a computer for the email to be delivered. 46When she does use her computer and checks for email, it will be delivered 47to her.</FONT></FONT> 48 49<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Email is a very convenient way to communicate 50with people; it's personal, and it seems everybody likes to get mail. Because 51email is used so often, it's worth spending some time to learn about how 52it works and its capabilities.</FONT></FONT> 53 54<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Here we focus on the basics of email. 55Some folks use Netscape Mail for email and some use other email programs, 56such as Eudora, cc:Mail, or Pine. Most email programs come with good online 57help.</FONT></FONT> 58 59<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>If you're using Netscape mail that's 60part of Netscape Communicator then getting help is straightforward.</FONT></FONT> 61<BLOCKQUOTE> 62<UL> 63<LI> 64<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Start Netscape</FONT></FONT></LI> 65 66<LI> 67<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Click on <B><U>H</U>elp</B> in the menu 68bar.</FONT></FONT></LI> 69 70<LI> 71<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Click on Help Contents</FONT></FONT></LI> 72 73<LI> 74<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Click on Sending and Receiving Email</FONT></FONT></LI> 75</UL> 76</BLOCKQUOTE> 77<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Regardless of which you use, you'll have 78to understand many of the following topics:</FONT></FONT> 79<UL> 80<UL> 81<LI> 82<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>How Email Works</FONT></FONT></LI> 83 84<LI> 85<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Advantages and Limitations of Email</FONT></FONT></LI> 86 87<LI> 88<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Understanding Internet Email Addresses</FONT></FONT></LI> 89 90<LI> 91<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Dissecting a Piece of Email-Headers, Message, 92Signature</FONT></FONT></LI> 93 94<LI> 95<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Finding Someone's Internet Email Address</FONT></FONT></LI> 96 97<LI> 98<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Sending Email from the Internet to Other 99Networks</FONT></FONT></LI> 100 101<LI> 102<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Email Etiquette</FONT></FONT></LI> 103 104<LI> 105<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Working with Nontext Files</FONT></FONT></LI> 106 107<LI> 108<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Other Email Resources</FONT></FONT></LI> 109 110<LI> 111<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Working with Netscape Mail</FONT></FONT></LI> 112 113<UL> 114<LI> 115<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>We'll demonstrate using email by working 116with the email system that comes with Netscape Navigator. Most email programs 117operate in basically the same way.</FONT></FONT></LI> 118</UL> 119</UL> 120</UL> 121<B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>How Email Works</FONT></FONT></B> 122 123<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Electronic mail lets you send and receive 124messages in electronic form. The person you communicate with could be any 125other user on the Internet, someone using the same computer system as you, 126or someone on a computer system thousands of miles away. The email is transmitted 127between computer systems, which exchange messages or pass them on to other
128sites according to certain Internet protocols or rules for exchanging email. 129You don't need to be concerned with many of the details; that's the computer's 130job. But you ought to know a little</FONT><B><FONT SIZE=+1> </FONT></B><FONT SIZE=-1>bit 131about the way email works.</FONT></FONT> 132 133<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Sending email is similar to sending 134something by a postal service. If you're sending a letter or a package 135to someone, you follow these steps:</FONT></FONT> 136<OL> 137<LI> 138<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Write the letter or make up the package.</FONT></FONT></LI> 139 140<LI> 141<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Address it.</FONT></FONT></LI> 142 143<LI> 144<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Put on the proper postage or pay the charges 145to send it.</FONT></FONT></LI> 146 147<LI> 148<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Drop it off somewhere so it can be sent 149on its way and eventually delivered.</FONT></FONT></LI> 150</OL> 151<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You don't care much about which methods 152are used to deliver it or what route it takes. You prepare what you want 153to send, address it, and hand it to the postal service or delivery company. 154You expect them to take care of the details of delivering the letter or 155package. With email you follow similar steps:</FONT></FONT> 156<OL> 157<LI> 158<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Start an email program.</FONT></FONT></LI> 159 160<LI> 161<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Give the address of where to send the 162email.</FONT></FONT></LI> 163 164<LI> 165<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Compose a message using that email program.</FONT></FONT></LI> 166 167<LI> 168<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Give a command to send the message.</FONT></FONT></LI> 169</OL> 170<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You've probably noticed that we've left 171out the part about adding postage and paying charges. Individual users 172don't pay a per message fee for email in many organizations-schools and 173companies-that have Internet access.</FONT></FONT> 174 175<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You use an email program to address, 176compose, and send the message. Email programs are called mail user agents 177because they act on the user's behalf. The user agent lets you prepare 178and send messages and also work with the mail you've received. The email 179program acts as a go-between with you and computer systems, and the computer 180systems handle the details of delivering and receiving mail. Once again, 181you don't have anything to do with how the mail is delivered.</FONT></FONT> 182 183<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Messages are sent from one site to 184another on the Internet in this way. When you compose your message, it's 185all in one piece, but when it's sent out to the Internet, it's divided 186into several pieces called packets. The number of packets depends on the 187size of the message. Each of the packets contains, among other things:</FONT></FONT> 188<BLOCKQUOTE> 189<UL> 190<LI> 191<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The email address of the person who sent 192the mail, the sender.</FONT></FONT></LI> 193 194<LI> 195<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The email address of the person to receive 196the mail, the recipient.</FONT></FONT></LI> 197 198<LI> 199<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Between 1 and 1500 characters of the message.</FONT></FONT></LI> 200</UL> 201</BLOCKQUOTE> 202<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The packets are sent to the destination, 203passing through several Internet sites. Thousands of networks and millions 204of computers make up the Internet, and packets are passed from system to 205system. Each site accepts the packets addressed to it, but passes on the 206messages destined for another address. The packets can travel or arrive 207at their destination in any order, and they don't all have to take the 208same path. When you communicate with a remote site, you may think you have 209direct connection, but that's usually not the case. At the destination, 210the packets are collected and put in order, so the email appears to be 211in the same form it was sent. If there are errors in the packets or if 212some are lost, the destination sends a request back to the source asking 213for the message to be resent. All of this takes place according to SMTP, 214Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, the protocol the Internet uses to transport 215message between computer systems. SMTP uses TCP, Transmission Control Protocol, 216which provides a reliable means of communication.</FONT></FONT> 217<P> 218<CENTER> 219<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=5 COLS=1 WIDTH="78%" BGCOLOR="#D9CFB3" > 220<TR> 221<TD><FONT FACE="GillSans">To put it all in a nutshell:</FONT> </TD> 222</TR> 223<TR> 224<TD> 225<UL><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>A message sent by email is divided 226into packets, and the packets are sent (possibly by different paths and 227passing through different sites) to the destination, where they are reassembled 228into the original message</FONT></FONT></UL> 229<p> 230</TD> 231</TR> 232</TABLE>
232 233</center> 234<p> 235<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>When you use Netscape on a personal computer 236that's using MS-Windows or if you're using a Macintosh, your computer isn't 237turned on all the time, so there has to be another computer system (one 238that's usually in fine running condition), called an email server, able 239to receive your mail at any time. In this case, that other system-perhaps 240the one at your Internet service provider or computer center-holds the 241email addressed to you until you start Netscape on your system and check 242to see if you've received any new email. Your computer sends email to the 243email server by SMTP, and the server system exchanges email with the rest 244of the Internet. When you check to see if there's any new email, another 245protocol, Post Office Protocol (POP), is used.</FONT></FONT> 246 247<P><FONT FACE="GillSans">How Email is Exchanged between Computer Systems</FONT> 248 249<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Once a message is sent, it's put out 250on the Internet and usually delivered in a short time-minutes or seconds. 251But a few things could cause problems:</FONT></FONT> 252<BLOCKQUOTE> 253<UL> 254<LI> 255<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>There are delays. The computer system 256at the destination might not be accepting messages because it's down (not 257working) or too busy doing other things, or there is no path on the Internet 258to the destination-which usually means that some computer system or network 259is temporarily unavailable. If a message is delayed, the program handling 260mail will try to send it at another time.</FONT></FONT></LI> 261 262<LI> 263<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The mail can't be delivered to the remote 264site. The system at the destination could be down for several days, or 265perhaps the address is wrong. Most programs handling email try to deliver 266a message for at least three days. If it can't be delivered at the end 267of that time, you'll probably receive email notifying you of the problem. 268If you type an address that doesn't exist, you'll be notified about that 269as well-usually pretty quickly.</FONT></FONT></LI> 270 271<LI> 272<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The mail is delivered to the remote site 273but can't be delivered to the recipient. The local part of the address 274might be wrong; you'll get email back about that. The recipient might have 275no more space left in his mailbox; either a disk is full or a quota (set 276by the system administrator) was exceeded. In this case you, the sender, 277may not be notified. After all, the mail was delivered to the remote site 278and the address is correct.</FONT></FONT></LI> 279 280<LI> 281<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Other problems. The person to whom you 282sent the message doesn't check to see if there is any email, doesn't read 283the email you sent, or accidentally deletes it. You may never know if any 284of these things happens. The most you can expect from an email system is 285for it to notify the sender if there is some reason why the recipient could 286not receive the email.</FONT></FONT></LI> 287</UL> 288</BLOCKQUOTE> 289<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>When you read your email, once again you 290use a program (a mail user agent) that helps you work with the messages 291you have waiting for you. On many systems you're told if you have email 292when you log in, you access the system you use to contact the Internet 293or start your system. The email messages can arrive at any time. They're 294added to a file, your mailbox or Inbox, which is part of a directory that 295holds all the email for the system. The packets making up an email message 296arrive at the email server, they're assembled, and then added to your mailbox. 297It holds all the messages on the server addressed to you, and only you 298can read your mail. If for some reason your mailbox gets scrambled, corrupted, 299or is changed so you can't read your mail, get in touch with the system 300administrator or call your Internet service provider. On many systems, 301all the users share the space allocated for the directory that holds email. 302Usually there's enough space to hold a lot of messages, but it's important 303that you delete old email messages and messages you've read so there is 304space to hold everybody's email.</FONT></FONT> 305 306<P><B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Advantages and Limitations of 307Email</FONT></FONT></B> 308 309<P><FONT FACE="GillSans">Advantages</FONT> 310 311<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Email has a number of advantages over 312some other forms of communication. It's quick, convenient, and non intrusive.</FONT></FONT> 313<BLOCKQUOTE> 314<UL> 315<LI> 316<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You can communicate quickly with anyone 317on the Internet. Email usually reaches its destination in a matter of minutes 318or seconds.</FONT></FONT></LI> 319 320<LI> 321<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The cost of communication has nothing 322to do with distance, and in many cases, the cost doesn't depend on the 323size of the message. The cost is based on the number of messages, not where 324they're sent.</FONT></FONT></LI> 325 326<LI> 327<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You can send letters, notes, files, data, 328or reports all using the same techniques. Once you learn how to use your 329email program, everything is sent the same way.</FONT></FONT></LI> 330 331<LI> 332<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You don't have to worry about interrupting 333someone when you send email. The email is sent and delivered by one computer 334system communicating with the Internet. Although it is put into someone's 335mailbox, the recipient isn't interrupted by the arrival of email.</FONT></FONT></LI> 336 337<LI> 338<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You can deal with your email at a convenient
339time. You don't have to be interrupted when email arrives, and you can 340read it or work with it when you have the time. Also, you can send it at 341a convenient time. It doesn't have to be written or sent at a time when 342you know the recipient will be available.</FONT></FONT></LI> 343 344<LI> 345<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You don't have to play phone tag or make 346an appointment to communicate with someone. Once again, the email is sent 347when it's convenient for you, and it can arrive even when the recipient 348isn't using her computer.</FONT></FONT></LI> 349 350<LI> 351<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You don't have to be shy about using email 352to communicate with anyone. Email isn't anonymous-each message carries 353the return address of the sender-but you can write to anyone with an Internet 354address. All the messages appear the same to the person who gets the email. 355The messages are generally judged on what's in them, not where they're 356from.</FONT></FONT></LI> 357</UL> 358</BLOCKQUOTE> 359<FONT FACE="GillSans">Limitations</FONT> 360<BLOCKQUOTE> 361<UL> 362<LI> 363<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Email isn't necessarily private. Since 364messages are passed from one system to another, and sometimes through several 365systems or networks, there are many opportunities for someone to intercept 366or read email. Many types of computer systems have protections built in 367to stop users from reading others' email, but it's still possible for a 368system administrator to read the email on a system or for someone to bypass 369the security of a computer system. This is discussed in more detail in 370Chapter 9.</FONT></FONT></LI> 371 372<LI> 373<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>It's difficult to express emotion using 374email. The recipient doesn't have the benefit of seeing your facial expressions 375or hearing your voice. You have to be careful with humor or sarcasm, since 376it's easy for someone to take your message the wrong way and interpret 377your words in a manner different from how you mean them.</FONT></FONT></LI> 378 379<LI> 380<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You can receive too much email, and you 381have to take the time to deal with it. You'll probably have some limit 382on the amount of space your email can take up on the computer system you 383use. If you join a discussion group (as described later in this chapter), 384it's possible that you'll be flooded with messages that may be of little 385value or even offensive, since you can receive "junk" email in the same 386way you receive other types of junk mail. Some people see email as an inexpensive 387way to market products or advertise. In any of these cases, you may have 388to take active steps to delete the email you receive and try to stop it 389from being sent to you in the first place.</FONT></FONT></LI> 390 391<LI> 392<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>It's possible to forge email. This is 393not common, but it is possible to forge the address of the sender. You 394may want to take steps to confirm the source of some email you receive.</FONT></FONT></LI> 395 396<LI> 397<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Some email systems can send or receive 398text files only. Even though you can send and receive images, programs, 399files produced by word processing programs, or multimedia messages, some 400folks may not be able to properly view your message.</FONT></FONT></LI> 401</UL> 402</BLOCKQUOTE> 403<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Although there are some drawbacks to using 404email, it's still an effective and popular way to communicate.</FONT></FONT> 405 406<P><B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Understanding Internet Email 407Addresses</FONT></FONT></B> 408 409<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>An email address on the Internet usually 410has the form:</FONT></FONT> 411 412<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>local-address@domain-name</FONT></FONT> 413 414<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The local-address part is often the 415user's log-in name, the name you give to get in touch with your Internet 416server. That's followed by the character @, called the at sign. To its 417right is the domain name of the computer system that handles the email 418for the user. Sometimes the domain-name portion is the name of a specific 419computer such as oregano.mwc.edu. It could be more general, such as mwc.edu, 420and in this case the systems at the site mwc.edu handle delivering mail 421to the appropriate computer. The portions or fields making up the domain 422name are separated by periods (the periods are called dots).</FONT></FONT> 423 424<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Here are two examples:</FONT></FONT> 425 426<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>[email protected]</FONT></FONT> 427 428<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>If you were going to tell someone the 429address, you would say ernie at oregano dot mwc dot edu. (Ernie and oregano 430are pronounced as a word, but mwc [em double-u see] and edu [e dee you] 431are pronounced as individual letters.)</FONT></FONT> 432 433<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>[email protected]</FONT></FONT> 434 435<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>When you know someone's email address, 436you have an idea of their log-in name and the name of the Internet site 437they use. You should be able to send email to postmaster at any Internet 438site. That's the address to use if you have questions about email to or 439from a specific host or site or general questions about a site. However, 440you may not get a quick response, since the person designated as postmaster 441usually has lots of other duties.</FONT></FONT> 442 443<P><B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Dissecting Email-Headers, Message 444Body, Signature</FONT></FONT></B> 445 446<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>One piece of email has three main parts:</FONT></FONT> 447<OL> 448<LI> 449<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Headers</FONT></FONT></LI> 450 451<LI> 452<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Message body</FONT></FONT></LI> 453 454<LI> 455<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Signature</FONT></FONT></LI> 456</OL> 457<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The headers are pieces of information 458that tell you and the email system several important things about a piece 459of email. Each header has a specific name and a specific purpose. You'll 460see some, but not necessarily all the headers each time you read a piece 461of email. They're all generated and put in the proper form by the email 462program you use, some with information from you, such as the address of 463the recipient, and some done automatically, such as the date.</FONT></FONT> 464 465<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>When you read an email message, you're 466likely to see these headers. Here is a list of the most common headers.</FONT></FONT> 467<UL> 468<LI> 469<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Subject: The subject of the email</FONT></FONT></LI> 470 471<LI> 472<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Date: When the email was sent</FONT></FONT></LI> 473 474<LI> 475<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>From: The email address of the sender</FONT></FONT></LI> 476 477<LI> 478<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>To: The email address of the recipient</FONT></FONT></LI> 479</UL> 480<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The message body is the content of the 481email - what you send and what you receive. When you're sending email to 482a computer system where your message will be interpreted by a computer 483program, you'll be given instructions to use specific words or phrases 484in the message body. One time you might have to follow instructions like
485this when you subscribe to a discussion group. Here's an example:</FONT></FONT> 486<BR> 487<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 COLS=1 WIDTH="90%" BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" > 488<TR> 489<TD><FONT FACE="Courier New"><FONT SIZE=-1>TO SUBSCRIBE (UNSUBSCRIBE): 490Send email message to:</FONT></FONT> </TD> 491</TR> 492 493<TR> 494<TD><FONT FACE="Courier New"><FONT SIZE=-1>[email protected]</FONT></FONT> </TD> 495</TR> 496 497<TR> 498<TD><FONT FACE="Courier New"><FONT SIZE=-1>The body of the message should 499read: Subscribe (unsubscribe) test-listproc your name</FONT></FONT> </TD> 500</TR> 501</TABLE> 502<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The signature, which is optional, isn't 503a signed name but a sequence of lines, usually giving some information 504about the person who sent the email. It is made up of anything the user 505wants to include. Usually a signature has the full name of the sender and 506some information about how to contact the person by email, phone, or fax. 507Some signatures also contain a favorite quotation or some graphics created 508by typing characters from the keyboard. Make sure it's not too long. The 509longer it is, the more bytes or characters have to be sent, and so the 510more traffic to be carried on the Internet. It's fun to be creative and 511come up with a clever signature, but try to limit it to five lines.</FONT></FONT> 512 513<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Here's what I have in my 514signature file</FONT></FONT> 515<BR> 516<TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=2 COLS=2 WIDTH="83%" BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" > 517<TR> 518<TD nowrap><TT>--</TT></TD> 519 520<TD></TD> 521</TR> 522 523<TR> 524<TD nowrap><TT>Ernest Ackermann</TT></TD> 525 526<TD nowrap><TT>URL http://www.webliminal.com</TT> </TD> 527</TR> 528 529<TR> 530<TD nowrap><TT>Department of Computer Science</TT></TD> 531 532<TD nowrap><TT>Mary Washington College</TT> </TD> 533</TR> 534 535<TR> 536<TD nowrap><TT>Fredericksburg, VA 22401-5358</TT></TD> 537 538<TD nowrap><TT>VOICE 540 - 654 - 1320</TT></TD> 539</TR> 540 541<TR> 542<TD nowrap><TT>[email protected] </TT></TD> 543 544<TD nowrap><TT>FAX 540 - 654 - 1068</TT></TD> 545</TR> 546</TABLE>
546 547 <TT> </TT> 548<BR><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>You don't have to type in the signature 549each time. Email programs will automatically append the contents of a specified 550file to each outgoing message. The name of the file depends on the program 551you're using for email. Some common names are signature, sig, or signature.txt 552on computers that use Microsoft Windows as the operating system. On Unix 553systems the name .sig or .signature is often used. Most email programs 554allow you to specify what file to use as a signature, but you should check 555with a local expert about the precise name of the signature file. With 556Netscape, you set the name and location of the signature file by clicking 557on <B><U>E</U>dit </B>in the menu bar, selecting Preferences, and then 558clicking on Mail & Groups, and then selecting Identity.</FONT></FONT> 559 560<P><B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Finding Someone's Internet Email 561Address</FONT></FONT></B> 562 563<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Once you get the bug of communicating 564by email, you'll probably start to wonder about the email addresses of 565your friends, and there may be other times you'll want to know someone's 566email address. Some methods and services exist to help find email addresses, 567but none of them are guaranteed to produce satisfactory results every time. 568In Chapter 10 we cover using several of the Internet services for finding 569email addresses.</FONT></FONT> 570 571<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The problem with finding someone's 572email address is that there is no central directory. If you were looking 573for someone's phone number, you'd either look in a phone book or call an 574information service. That approach usually works; everyone with a phone 575number usually receives a bill to pay for phone services, and even though 576there are lots of phone companies, each has up-to-date and readily available 577records. The situation on the Internet is much different. Many users don't 578pay any direct fees, and there isn't any central agency that registers 579each user. Users are added and deleted by individual Internet sites; the 580decisions are made locally. It might be advantageous to have a directory 581of all Internet users and their email addresses, but such a directory just 582doesn't exist.</FONT></FONT> 583 584<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Here are a few ways to find someone's 585email address:</FONT></FONT> 586<BLOCKQUOTE> 587<UL> 588<LI> 589<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Ask! Call or write to ask for an email 590address. This is usually the easiest method.</FONT></FONT></LI> 591 592<LI> 593<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Check for an email address on a resume, 594business card, stationery, or a Web page.</FONT></FONT></LI> 595 596<LI> 597<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Look at the return address in the From:, 598Return-Path:, or Reply-To: email headers.</FONT></FONT></LI> 599 600<LI> 601<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Send email to postmaster@domain-name. 602The person designated as postmaster will get back to you when she has time.</FONT></FONT></LI> 603 604<LI> 605<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Consult some directories for collections 606or lists of email addresses or Web pages that were mentioned in Chapter 60710.</FONT></FONT></LI> 608 609<LI> 610<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Read and use FAQ: How to Find People's 611Email Addresses, <A HREF="http://www.qucis.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/finding.html">http://www.qucis.queensu.ca/FAQs/email/finding.html</A>, 612maintained by David Alex Lamb ([email protected]). Contains lots 613of resources and tips for finding email addresses.</FONT></FONT></LI> 614 615<LI> 616<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Usenet-addresses A database of the email 617addresses of people who've posted messages to Usenet (Usenet is discussed 618in Chapter 5) is maintained by a computer system at rtfm.mit.edu. You search 619the database by sending email to [email protected] with send usenet-addresses/name 620in the body of the message. For name substitute one or more words separated 621by spaces to represent the name of the person whose email address you are 622seeking. (For example, try the message send usenet-address/ernest ackermann.) 623You will get a reply by email. How long you have to wait, an hour or two 624or longer, depends on the load on the system at rtfm.mit.edu.</FONT></FONT></LI> 625 626<LI> 627<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Netscape email has a built in directory 628option to let you search the white-pages services on the Web.</FONT></FONT></LI> 629</UL> 630</BLOCKQUOTE> 631<B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Email Etiquette</FONT></FONT></B> 632 633<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Writing to someone through email is 634communicating with another person. You need to remember that the recipient 635will read it without the benefit of being with you and seeing your expressions 636or getting your immediate and considerate reactions. You need to say what 637you mean in a clear, direct, and thoughtful way. Here is a list of rules 638you should follow when writing email:</FONT></FONT> 639<BLOCKQUOTE> 640<UL> 641<LI> 642<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Choose the subject heading carefully. 643Make it brief, descriptive, and to the point. In many cases, it's the first 644thing that will get a reader's attention or make the reader ignore your 645message.</FONT></FONT></LI> 646 647<LI> 648<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Be careful about spelling and punctuation. 649Try to follow the same rules you'd use if you were writing a letter or 650a memo. If you want to state something strongly, surround it with asterisks 651(*) or write it in uppercase, but don't take this too far. Some folks equate 652items in uppercase letters with shouting.</FONT></FONT></LI> 653 654<LI> 655<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Make your message as short as possible, 656but don't make it cryptic or unclear. Lots of users have to deal with disk 657quotas that limit the amount of email they can receive. Keep the body of
658the message succinct. Limit a message to one or two screens.</FONT></FONT></LI> 659 660<LI> 661<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>It's a good idea to include parts-but 662not all-of an original message when you are writing a reply. Include only 663the portions pertinent to your reply. Many email programs allow you to 664annotate or include your remarks within the body of a message you've received. 665If you can't do that, summarize the original message and write a reply.</FONT></FONT></LI> 666 667<LI> 668<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Check the address when you compose a message 669or reply to a message you've received. Be sure it's going to the person(s) 670who ought to receive it. If the original message was sent to a group of 671people, such as a mailing list or discussion group, be sure of the address 672you use so the reply goes to an individual or the entire group as necessary. 673It's embarrassing when email is sent to a group but is meant for an individual.</FONT></FONT></LI> 674 675<LI> 676<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Be careful when using humor and sarcasm. 677The person reading the mail may misinterpret your remarks, and you won't 678be around to immediately clear up a misunderstanding.</FONT></FONT></LI> 679 680<LI> 681<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Don't assume the email is private. It's 682easy to forward email, so the message you send could be shared with others.</FONT></FONT></LI> 683 684<LI> 685<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Take some time to consider what you will 686write. You can never be sure where the email you write will end up. Also, 687if someone writes something that upsets you, don't react immediately. Perhaps 688you've misinterpreted the original message. You'll find you can usually 689give a better response if you take some time to think about it.</FONT></FONT></LI> 690 691<LI> 692<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Include a signature with all your email. 693This ought to include your full name and some information about how to 694contact you by telephone or your mail address. Try to keep the signature 695to four or five lines.</FONT></FONT></LI> 696</UL> 697</BLOCKQUOTE> 698<B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Working with Nontext Files</FONT></FONT></B> 699 700<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>All mail systems can send and receive 701text (also called ASCII) files-ones that contain only plain characters. 702In fact, some are designed to do only that. Other types of information 703such as images, sound, video, programs in the machine language of a computer, 704spreadsheets, compressed files, or files produced by a word processing 705program can't be sent or read unless the email program uses some scheme 706to handle these types of files. On most email systems these nontext files 707are treated as <B>attachments. </B> When you're ready to add an attachment, 708look for an icon in the toolbar or an item in the menu title attachments. 709Click on it and then give the name of the file to attach. When you're reading 710email, most email systems represent the attachment as a special icon or 711some other format. Click on it to view the attachment. if you can't view 712it in the email program then you'll save it to a file and use another 713program to view it.</FONT></FONT> 714 715<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>In general terms, before a nontext 716file is sent it has to be encoded into a form the email program can deal 717with. In order to read, view, or hear this encoded file, it has to be decoded 718into its original format. Many email programs, including the one with Netscape, 719can deal with messages encoded in Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions 720(MIME). MIME is becoming the standard way to work with nontext files as 721part of email or Usenet articles. But there are other programs or formats 722for encoding and decoding. BinHex has been used on Macintosh systems and 723with older versions of Eudora, a popular email program. The most common 724programs for this purpose on Unix systems (and many DOS systems) have been 725uuencode and uudecode.</FONT></FONT> 726 727<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>When you view a message that's in uuencode 728or MIME format through the Netscape mailer, the attached encoded file is 729either displayed in original form or the mail program gives you the option 730of saving the encoded information in a file. In the later case, it will 731be decoded and saved in its original format.</FONT></FONT> 732 733<P><B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Other Email Resources</FONT></FONT></B> 734 735<P><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><FONT SIZE=-1>Here's a brief list of some 736other resources on the Web that may help you work with and understand email.</FONT></FONT> 737<BR> 738<TABLE BORDER COLS=2 WIDTH="100%" > 739<TR> 740<TD><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><FONT SIZE=-1>"A Beginner's Guide to Effective 741Email"</FONT></FONT></TD> 742 743<TD><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><A HREF="http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.top.html">http://www.webfoot.com/advice/email.top.html</A></FONT> </TD> 744</TR> 745 746<TR> 747<TD><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><FONT SIZE=-1>" E-Mail Web Resources" </FONT></FONT></TD> 748 749<TD><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><FONT SIZE=-1><A HREF="http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/cyrus/email/email.html">http://andrew2.andrew.cmu.edu/cyrus/email/email.html</A></FONT></FONT> </TD> 750</TR> 751 752<TR> 753<TD><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><FONT SIZE=-1>"Mary Houten-Kemp's Everything 754E-mail" </FONT></FONT></TD> 755 756<TD><FONT FACE="TimesNewRomanPS"><A HREF="http://everythingemail.net/">http://everythingemail.net/</A></FONT> </TD> 757</TR> 758</TABLE>
758 759 760<BLOCKQUOTE> 761<BLOCKQUOTE> 762<BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE> 763</BLOCKQUOTE> 764</BLOCKQUOTE> 765<B><FONT FACE="GillSans"><FONT SIZE=+1>Working with Netscape Mail</FONT></FONT></B> 766 767<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>In this section we'll go over some 768of the basics of using the email program that's included with Netscape Communicator. 769It's similar to other popular e-mail programs such as Eudora or cc:Mail. 770You'll find that the commands and procedures for using the Netscape Mail 771program is similar, as those used with other email programs.</FONT></FONT> 772 773<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>To start Netscape email or 774open your <B>inbox</B>, click on the mailbox icon in the docking bar. The 775docking bar is shown here with a green arrow pointing to the mailbox. The 776green arrow indicates that new mail has arrived.</FONT></FONT> 777<CENTER><IMG SRC="email1.jpg" HEIGHT=22 WIDTH=155></CENTER> 778 779 780<P><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Clicking on the mailbox icon 781opens the Netscape Mail window, whether new mail is available or not.</FONT></FONT> 782<CENTER><IMG SRC="email2.jpg" HEIGHT=431 WIDTH=500></CENTER> 783 784<CENTER> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Netscape Mail Window</FONT></FONT></CENTER> 785 786 787<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>As in other Netscape windows, there 788is a Menu Bar with pull-down menus and a Toolbar with icons. The top portion 789of the window holds a list of the messages in the current folder. The bottom 790frame holds the current message, the one highlighted in the upper frame. 791Use the Tab key to move between the frame holding the list of messages 792to the one holding the current message. in either frame you can use scroll 793bars and arrow keys to move through the frame. To display a specific message, 794click on it in the list of messages. You can see from the figure above 795that Netscape Mail can display images and text as part of a message.</FONT></FONT> 796 797<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Once a message is open for reading 798you can print it, file it in another folder, or delete it, by clicking 799on the corresponding icon in the toolbar. You send a reply to the person 800who sent it to you by clicking on the icon labeled Reply, or forward the 801message to another Internet address by clicking on the icon Forward.</FONT></FONT> 802<FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>You click on the icon Get Msg 803to get other messages that have arrived since you last checked for mail, 804and click on New Msg to send a new message.</FONT></FONT> 805 806<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The figure below shows a window you'd 807use to compose a message. It too has a Menu Bar and a Toolbar. Once 808the window (called the Message Composition Window) is active, you can compose 809or write a message. Position the cursor in the bottom frame with the mouse 810and start typing. Fill in the address (To) and Subject, and and click on 811the Send icon when you're ready.The other icons let you <B>quote</B> from 812the current email message, check for <B>addresses</B> in the address book, 813<B>attach</B> a nontext file, check the <B>spelling</B>, <B>save</B> 814the message in a folder, and encrypt or apply other <B>security</B> measures 815to the message.</FONT></FONT> 816<CENTER><IMG SRC="email3.jpg" HEIGHT=456 WIDTH=523></CENTER> 817 818<CENTER> <FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1> Netscape Window for Composing 819an Email Message</FONT></FONT></CENTER> 820 821 822<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The commands you can use at any stage 823are available through the menus and icons. Online help is always available 824by clicking on Help in the Menu Bar. There are lots of other options and 825features to use; we're only mentioning the basic ones here. To get more 826information or help anytime, click on <B><U>H</U>elp</B> in the menu bar 827and select Help Contents. Select <B>Sending and receiving email</B> form 828the window that appears on the screen.</FONT></FONT> 829 830<P><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Before you can receive or send e-mail 831some preferences need to be set. They're crucial in the sense that you 832won't be able to send or receive mail unless these are set properly. They 833are</FONT></FONT> 834<UL> 835<LI> 836<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Identity -- your name, email address, 837signature file</FONT></FONT></LI> 838 839<LI> 840<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Mail Server - the Internet names or addresses 841of the SMTP server and the POP server.</FONT></FONT></LI> 842</UL> 843<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>
843To set these preferences click on <B><U>E</U>dit</B> 844in the menu bar and select Preferences. Select the category Mail & 845Groups.</FONT></FONT> 846<UL> 847<LI> 848<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Click on Identity to set the necessary 849preferences so you can send email. They are labeled and set as follows:</FONT></FONT></LI> 850</UL> 851 852<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=3 WIDTH="73%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" > 853<TR VALIGN=TOP> 854<TD WIDTH="30%"><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Your name: </FONT></FONT></TD> 855 856<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Type your name and press 857Enter. You can type any name here, it's the name folks will see when they 858receive mail from you.</FONT></FONT></TD> 859</TR> 860 861<TR VALIGN=TOP> 862<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Email address</FONT></FONT></TD> 863 864<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>This is the address that 865will be filled in in the From: header on messages you send.</FONT></FONT></TD> 866</TR> 867 868<TR VALIGN=TOP> 869<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Reply-to address</FONT></FONT></TD> 870 871<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>The address used when folks 872reply to your email. You only need to set this if this is different from 873email address.</FONT></FONT></TD> 874</TR> 875 876<TR VALIGN=TOP> 877<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Organization</FONT></FONT></TD> 878 879<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Type the name of your organization, 880school, or business</FONT></FONT></TD> 881</TR> 882 883<TR VALIGN=TOP> 884<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Signature </FONT></FONT></TD> 885 886<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Type the location of your 887signature file or use the Browse button to select the file. It's not necessary 888to set this before ending email.</FONT></FONT></TD> 889</TR> 890</TABLE>
890</CENTER> 891 892<UL><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Other options may be set in this category. 893Click on the Help button for more information.</FONT></FONT> 894<BR> 895<LI> 896<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Click on Mail Server to set the necessary 897preferences for sending and receiving email. Most of this information will 898have to come form your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or the folks who 899administer the computer systems in your organizations. The preference are 900labeled and set as follows:</FONT></FONT></LI> 901 902<DIV ALIGN=right> </DIV> 903 904<CENTER><TABLE BORDER=0 CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=3 WIDTH="73%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFCC" > 905<TR VALIGN=TOP> 906<TD WIDTH="30%"><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Mail server 907use name:</FONT></FONT></TD> 908 909<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>You'll have to supply a 910user name when you contact the computer system that holds your email as 911it arrives form the Internet. </FONT></FONT></TD> 912</TR> 913 914<TR VALIGN=TOP> 915<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Outgoing mail (SMTP) server:</FONT></FONT></TD> 916 917<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Electronic mail is sent 918according to a protocol named Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP). When 919you send a message from your PC it will be transmitted to another system 920that uses SMTP to pass the message to the Internet. You type the Internet 921domain name or IP address of that system here.</FONT></FONT></TD> 922</TR> 923 924<TR VALIGN=TOP> 925<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Incoming mail server:</FONT></FONT></TD> 926 927<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Mail is received from the 928Internet by a computer that's always running; one that's provided by your 929ISP or organization. You type the Internet domain name or IP address of 930that system here.</FONT></FONT></TD> 931</TR> 932 933<TR VALIGN=TOP> 934<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>Mail Server Type</FONT></FONT></TD> 935 936<TD><FONT FACE="Arial,Helvetica"><FONT SIZE=-1>There are two choices here, 937POP3 or IMAP. Select the one your ISP or organization uses. In either case 938you can choose to leave the messages on the server after you've retrieved 939them to your PC or not. </FONT></FONT></TD> 940</TR> 941</TABLE>
941</CENTER> 942 943<UL><FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>Other options may be set in this category. 944Click on the Help button for more information.</FONT></FONT></UL> 945</UL> 946<FONT FACE="Arial"><FONT SIZE=-1>The email program for Netscape Navigator 947was discussed in this chapter. It's a full-featured email program. You 948need to set some preferences before using it. Messages can be saved into 949folders, and can include text and other types (images, sound, programs, 950spreadsheets, word-processed documents, Web pages, etc.) of items as part 951of the message or as attachments. The program includes an address book. 952Reading and managing email is carried on the Netscape mail window, and 953you compose email in a message composition window. Online help is available.</FONT></FONT> 954 955<P> 956<HR>This material has been developed to accompany the book <U>Searching 957and Researching on the Internet and World Wide Web</U>, ISBN 1-887902-26-0, 958by <A HREF="http://www.webliminal.com">Ernest Ackermann</A> and <A HREF="http://people.umw.edu/~khartman">Karen 959Hartman</A>, published by <A HREF="http://www.fbeedle.com">Franklin, Beedle 960and Associates, Incorporated</A>. 961<hr> 962<table> 963<tr> 964<td> Updated</td> 965<td> 966Friday, November 13, 1998</td> 967<tr> 968<td>URL</td> 969<td>bemail.htm</td> 970</tr> 971<td>Author</td> 972<td><a href="mailto:[email protected]">Ernest Ackermann</a></td> 973</tr> 974</table> 975</BODY> 976</HTML>
Line numbers count LF bytes from the start of the resource, as the search results do. Vendor segments are library code the classifier recognised; they are stored but not indexed. Bytes are shown as Latin1 characters, one per byte.