Articles Building A Blog For Your WebsiteFree Web HostingWhat is the Best Website Hosting for Me?Cheap Website Hosting in a RecessionMicrosoft Web Hosting for MSSQL

PHP Hosting for MySQL

Web Based Email Clients

Web-based email clients enable you to access POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) account from any part of the world. In fact, most of the web hosting companies provides IMAP server as a part of the web hosting package. You can simply access this mail by using any web browser.

One of the major advantages of web-based email clients is that as a user you can access your inbox from any computer, which has Internet connection. However, with such mail servers you cannot access your older messages without an Internet connection. There are several web hosting service providers that offer customized email software packages to business organizations.

These types of webmail packages enable the organizations to provide email through their websites for their associates. Some of the web hosting companies offer open source software such as RoundCube and SquirrelMail, whereas others provides closed source software including Alt-N Technologies' WorldClient module for MDaemon, Outlook Web Access module for Microsoft Exchange and Atmail.

On the other hand, there are some web hosting companies that offer certain programs which can stimulate your web browser to access webmail as if the programs were stored in an IMAP or POP3 account. However, as there is no standard user interface, these programs are liable to changes.

Some of the web hosting service providers offer email software like Mail2web, which enables you to access to other’s email servers. However, this is only applicable when the mail server does not offer a web interface or if an alternative interface is permitted.

The following are some of the popular web based email clients that your web hosting company may provide. You can install these email software either on your local machine along with a web server running or on your web host.

• RoundCube Webmail: It is a browser based multilingual IMAP client that comes with an application like user interface (AJAX). The web hosting company that offers this type of web based email clients also provides full functionality including folder manipulation, MIME support, message filters and address book. This webmail package requires MySQL database and is written in PHP. The user interface of RoundCube Webmail is completely skinnable and uses CSS 2 and XHTML.
• NeoMail: A number of web hosting companies are now using this icon based webmail client. This is very user friendly software and includes a useful feature with the help of which you can import your address book in CSV format from Netscape Mail or from Outlook Express.
• SquirrelMail: There are several web hosting service providers that offer this standards based webmail package. It is written in PHP4 and includes a number of features. For the SMTP and IMAP protocols, this software includes built-in PHP support. It also provides maximum compatibility across browsers as all the pages are rendered in HTML 4.0. Moreover, it is very easy to install and configure SquirrelMail.
• Horde IMP: This web based email client is included within the Horde framework and is provided by a number of web hosting service providers. In fact, IMP is a set of PHP scripts with the help of which you can execute an IMAP based webmail system. In case the server of your web hosting company supports IMAP, you can conveniently access your mailbox from any part of the world by installing IMP.