This series is dedicated to specific e-mail providers on the internet. In this installment, the service provider concentrated on will be Yahoo! Mail.
Yahoo! Mail is one of the oldest free e-mail providers on the internet. It was originally launched on October 8 1997, and to date has one of the largest userbases in the world.
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Covering the basics
New unread mail count – This is in the title bar so you can see how many new unread messages you have at any time. Look at the very top left of the browser window itself (above the address bar) and you’ll see it. This means that even when the window is minimized to the taskbar you can still see the count.
Check Mail – Located under the Yahoo! MAIL logo at top left. This is actually more useful than most people give credit for because many webmail providers have no such button whatsoever.
Getting to your inbox – You have two ways of doing this. Either click the inbox icon on the left sidebar or clicking the inbox tab next to the home tab. If the tab isn’t there, clicking the inbox icon on the left sidebar will make it appear. Tip: Mind your tabs because it’s a fast way to get back and forth between the inbox and other messages.
Composing a new e-mail – This is done by clicking the button labeled “New” next to the “Check Mail” button. Note that when you compose a new e-mail a new tab appears, allowing you to switch between the new e-mail and the inbox at whim without having to save a draft.
What you can do when composing a new e-mail
Composing an e-mail is simple enough. Type in the address of the recipient, enter in a subject line, type your mail and click the “Send” button.
However there’s much more you can do here to make your mail more usable.
To:, Cc: and Subject are all clickable
On click of To:, you can select a contact just by clicking from the list that appears.
On click of Cc:, same thing.
On click of Subject, this is a fun little option Yahoo! has put in their mail. The system will fabricate a funny random subject line if you can’t think of one to put in there for whatever reason. Clicking Subject again will show a different subject line each time.
Show BCC on the right is clickable
If you wanted to know where the Bcc (Blind Carbon Copy) field is in Yahoo! Mail, that’s where it is. On click it will appear. Click again it will disappear.
Rich Text / Plain Text is clickable
On the far right side after the Subject field is a link that will either state Rich Text or Plain Text. The difference between the two is that Rich Text allows for font sizes, bold/italic/underline, colors, emoticons and so on. Plain Text is just as it sounds – plain with no formatting options.
What’s “Stationary”?
To enable an e-mail with stationary, it must be in Rich Text and the Stationary sidebar must be visible. If you do not see the Stationary sidebar, enable Rich Text first and click the “Stationary” button at right and you’ll see it.
From here you can style your mail with the choices Yahoo! provides you. In the screen shot above I’ve chosen “Fantasy City”. This makes my e-mail have a city scene with a black background and white text.
Important note: Some of the recipients you send mail to may not be able to view Stationary-enabled e-mails correctly. However if the person you’re sending to has a Yahoo! account like you do, it’s 100% guaranteed to work.
Next up, Drafts, Attachments, Options and more.
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