By: James Koole on November 27th, 2012
Posted in: OpenSRS Services
Tags: OpenSRS Email Service, Webmail
Comments: 0

It’s been about three weeks since all users of OpenSRS Email Service were moved to the latest version of our webmail application.

Since the switchover, we’ve heard some great feedback from you and your customers. We know from experience that users are generally resistant to change, so we always go into these webmail upgrades with a bit of trepidation. Forcing change on people who might not immediately see the benefit can result in some unpleasant feelings for the users, and often has an impact on you and your support staff as users are supported through the change.

As hard as change can be, we knew that webmail was getting a bit long in the tooth and the new version brings some ease-of-use features and other changes that we feel makes it worth the effort.

Thanks for the great feedback

As mentioned, we’ve received great feedback over the last few months when the new webmail was first made available to users. Now that we have many more people using webmail as the default, we’ve identified a few bugs that weren’t exposed in the months of limited release and by our extensive internal testing. Some of the minor bugs (small visual or usability issues) have already been fixed.

We’ve also learned about some bigger issues including things like a printing bug that was discovered in certain situations when using IE8, some problems with Scandinavian language display, and a visual issue with the Address Book when performing certain tasks. Additionally, we’ve identified some performance and speed issues in certain circumstances.

Our development and operations teams are working hard to fix these bugs and issues – fixes will be implemented in a matter of days in some cases, and over the next few weeks in other cases. Overall speed and performance is something that we are continually working to improve and we’ve made that a high priority in the near term.

Let us know what you think

Thanks again for the feedback – keep it coming! Drop by the Help & Support site and let us know what you or your users are seeing (good and bad), or get in touch with Support via email or phone.

By: OpenSRS Team on October 10th, 2012
Posted in: Announcements
Tags: OpenSRS Email Service, Webmail
Comments: 0

On Thursday, November 8, 2012, the new webmail application that has been in preview for the past few months will become the default webmail application for all users. The current webmail application will be unavailable after that date – all users will see the new webmail only.

If you haven’t spent any time with the new webmail, now would be a good time to familiarize yourself (and your support staff) with some of the new features and the new look and feel.

Your users have likely been checking out the new webmail which has been available to them as a preview since July. If you had disabled the preview mode through the Branding Tool, we strongly suggest that you enable it for your users so they can become familiar with the new webmail prior to the cutover.

New webmail features:

• New look and feel – we’ve updated the default theme to be more modern and useable. This includes a change to a tabbed interface for things like calendar, file storage and settings.
• Improved performance – we’ve done a lot of work around making webmail faster and more responsive. Users should notice an increase in overall speed, especially those on dial-up, wireless or slower broadband connections.

More complete release notes with details on everything that is new or updated can be found here.

If you have any questions or concerns about the switchover, or about the new webmail application, don’t hesitate to contact Reseller Support. You can also ask questions in the OpenSRS Forum.

By: OpenSRS Team on June 28th, 2012
Posted in: Announcements, OpenSRS Services
Tags: OpenSRS Email Service, Webmail
Comments: 3

Great news! On July 5th, 2012, we’re rolling out an updated version of our webmail application in a “preview mode” for all users of OpenSRS Email Service.

Starting that day, your users will be able to choose between the current interface, and the newly updated interface, through a “preview” toggle on the webmail login screen.

For the sake of any of your users who may fear change, the current webmail will remain the default – users who want to check out the new webmail will have to specifically click to choose the preview.

The “preview mode” is displayed by default on the login screen if you use the default webmail brand. Those using a custom brand can enable the preview through the Branding Tool in the Mail Administration Center.

In the Production Test Environment later today

Later today, we’ll roll out the update to the Production Test Environment (PTE) so you’ll have a chance to log in to an account in your Test account and see for yourself what the new webmail is like.

Take the opportunity over the next few weeks and months to get your support staff familiar with the interface prior to it being released as the default webmail application later this year.

What’s new!

You’re probably wondering what’s new in this version of webmail. Here are some highlights:

• Support for Google Chrome and Apple Safari in both the Standard and Basic interfaces
• Better settings handling across sessions for things like the preview pane and email header view
• New three-pane layout for the Personal Address Book
• Improved application responsiveness and speed

New default theme!

Webmail has also received a complete refresh of the default theme, moving to a much cleaner, far more readable interface. We’ve also moved to a tabbed interface, providing easier access to different areas of the application like Mail, Personal Address Book, Calendar, File Sharing and Settings.

The full list

We’ve posted a full list of what’s been updated, added and enhanced on our website along with known issues. View it here.

We’d love to get your feedback on the new webmail. Drop into the OpenSRS Forums and tell us what you think and give us a heads up on any bugs that you might find.