Webmail Client

rgutery · Post by **rgutery** » 2010-04-18 01:54

I was wondering if someone had a strong recommendation for a Webmail client that works well with hMailServer. We would be looking at some form of Calendaring, Contact, Folder/Mailbox management (create/delete/move etc). Skin selection would be nice and it should have no problem with Clamwin 0.96 running.

System Errata: Win2K (legacy support for a TS app), Win2K3, both running hMailServer, Sql2K and Sqk2K5. More than sufficient ram, disk and processing power on each machine to support pretty much anything.

We've been looking at these one:

1) Thunderbird 3.04,
2) Open WebMail,
3) AtMail PHP Webmail client,
and a few others.

What we don't want to get into is installing one, then removing, installing another and so on. The garbage that would be left behind would be rediculous.

Before we started, we would ghost and true image the systems so we would always have a way to get back to home base. But we're suspecting that some of the folks here have actaul installation and usage experience.

Any pointers would be appreciated.

Slug · Post by **Slug** » 2010-04-18 06:06

I think you only have 2 options with all those requirements (unless you are willing to pay)

http://squirrelmail.org/

I have used squirrel mail before, works ok, just so ugly ... But since you said you are will to skin ten this is not an issue.

The other option is

http://www.horde.org/

I havent used this but others here have.

Michael

dzekas · Post by **dzekas** » 2010-04-19 10:08

Slug wrote: I have used squirrel mail before, works ok, just so ugly ... But since you said you are will to skin ten this is not an issue.

Want to go personal. Never call some software ugly. Roundcube can get bad review too.

Slug wrote: The other option is

http://www.horde.org/

I havent used this but others here have.

Main problem is calendaring. It is unclear what kind of portability and functionality user needs. All other features are basic ones, but skinning part might depend on amount of skinning user needs. Thunderbird 3.0.4 is not webmail client.

^DooM^ · Post by **^DooM^** » 2010-04-19 10:11

I knew you would pick up on that. I don't think Slug meant anything by it, just it's not his personal preference, He like a lot of others prefer EyeCandy over functionality in todays rich media market.

Caspar · Post by **Caspar** » 2010-04-19 10:41

For free webmail you can also look into Afterlogic Lite it looks good for that.

Slug · Post by **Slug** » 2010-04-19 13:56

dzekas wrote:
Slug wrote: I have used squirrel mail before, works ok, just so ugly ... But since you said you are will to skin ten this is not an issue.
Want to go personal. Never call some software ugly. Roundcube can get bad review too.

Sorry dzekas, it really is ugly. I know you have a soft spot for it, and it does work. But I don't understand that a webmail client like squirrel mail with the developer network that it has, can even think leaving squirrel mail looking like it was developed back in the 80's is a good idea. You will also notice that I said with skinning it should not be an issue.

As for Roundcube, I did not offer this up as it would not do the required job. So I'm not so one eyed on this matter.

Regards
Michael

dzekas · Post by **dzekas** » 2010-04-19 14:35

Slug wrote:
dzekas wrote:
Slug wrote: I have used squirrel mail before, works ok, just so ugly ... But since you said you are will to skin ten this is not an issue.
Want to go personal. Never call some software ugly. Roundcube can get bad review too.
Sorry dzekas, it really is ugly. I know you have a soft spot for it, and it does work. But I don't understand that a webmail client like squirrel mail with the developer network that it has, can even think leaving squirrel mail looking like it was developed back in the 80's is a good idea. You will also notice that I said with skinning it should not be an issue.

SquirrelMail does not have developer network and developers who code for SquirrelMail are not graphic designers. It was started before AJAX frenzy and rewriting to AJAX is not an option. Rewrite requires knowledge of completely different scripting language. People, who skin SquirrelMail, don't contribute back to SquirrelMail. They create own products, sell them and give back only when they are forced to. Their only "contribution" might be the push to add code modifications that allow them to continue selling their products without any further contributions. Those skins provide only limited customizations, break existing code and SquirrelMail frames might be difficult to "skin", if user wants integration with other website.

"ugly" is personal opinion. cow can look ugly to you, but I don't think that you can tell that to bull during mating season.

"plain", "outdated look", "simple", "lack of eye candy", "focused on features instead of looks". I would not argue about these, but I do flame out on 'ugly'. I have selected SquirrelMail after trying couple of other packages in 2001 and same software remained my primary email client for 10 years. It is not ugly.

Slug · Post by **Slug** » 2010-04-19 14:41

dzekas wrote: "ugly" is personal opinion. cow can look ugly to you, but I don't think that you can tell that to bull during mating season.

I'm not sure the bull would not find the cow ugly, during mating season he is only interested in one part of the cow. The rest is just padding

It is not ugly.

Ok if it makes you feel better I will refrain from calling it ugly, Ill stick with outdated.

Regards
Michael

bescher · Post by **bescher** » 2010-04-20 09:58

There is also nutsmail which is a deravative of Squirrel. The good thing is that it comes in different flavors
the bad thing is that it will cost a little bit of money and some of the templates are not ugly

^DooM^ · Post by **^DooM^** » 2010-04-20 10:03

Nutsmail stole Squirrelmail altered it which is under GPL then proceeded to sell it. Now they slightly get around that by selling only the skin but it's still a grey area where GPL is concerned. Steer clear of it if you respect what open source is all about.

Caspar · Post by **Caspar** » 2010-04-21 10:25

Like i told you before, you can always use Afterlogic, it looks better (in my opinion) and its a more modern look then Squirrel. it only needs an database behind it where it store's its information. (afterlogic is a sort of web based full e-mail client. It stores its mails in the databse, and only connects to the server when you ask to).

If you want with an callendar, you can have one for free, for 5 users. if you want more users including the calendar function, you need to pay.

if you want to test it, ask me and ill set up an account on my own server if you like to to.

AdrianK_IT · Post by **AdrianK_IT** » 2010-09-04 17:59

I agree with Caspar that Afterlogic Webmail Lite is worth a look. I installed it after a few false starts with other options; it does the job.
That being said, it's used basically as a personal webmail interface, for accessing emails when away from home; decided it was better not to entrust credentials to the various 'mail2web' type services that had previously been used. Ie, it's not supporting many users/functions in my installation, but works fine in that limited role.

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