Points of view
Overall , the beta edition clearly signify a major shift in pattern : instead of an port based on Apple ’s Mail customer for Mac OS X we get one that ’s styled after the iPhone and iPad Mail apps . For example , the new card - bar push button , which were previously little capsules that suggest the background client , now use the same simple image as the iPad version of Mail .
The new Compact view of MobileMe ’s Webmail is clearly enliven by Mail on the iPad .
Apple has also add a brace of new interfaces to compliment the original Mac Mail - style purview — now knight “ Classic”—which featured a left - hand pane of mailbox and folders and a horizontal split pane with the message list above and a preview panel below .
The new Compact view of MobileMe’s Webmail is clearly inspired by Mail on the iPad.
There ’s also now a thick view , which looks jolly similar to the landscape painting view of the iPad ’s Mail app : a subject matter lean resides in the left - hand pane with a preview pane on the right field . The Widescreen modality looks like the thick mode with the accession of a column for your mailboxes and folders . you may quickly toggle back and onward among all three views using a Switch View menu that lives at the top of the message tilt .
That niggling bar also now contains a “ Sort by ” bill of fare , supercede the previous column - base attack , à la Mac Mail . you may choose from Date , From , Subject , Unread , or Flagged in either ascending or fall order .
One wholly new feature is the Archive button , which will automatically move select messages into a new top - level Archive folder . Google ’s Gmail has lark about this functionality for quite some metre , and this is clearly a casing of Apple playing arrest - up to its competition . It ought to be ready to hand for those that pride themselves on keep a neat and tidy inbox .
Literature and composition
Composing messages has also gotten an overhaul , with the plus of a new formatting toolbar , which sports controls for font facial expression , font size , font color , bluff , italics , underscore , alignment , lean , indenting , and hyperlink .
The 14 font faces verge from the classic ( Helvetica , Palatino ) to the cheesy ( Comic Sans MS , Marker Felt , Papyrus ) , and the sizes range from 10 - degree to 36 - detail . The hyperlink tool lets you sum up inline hyperlinks , prompting you for link textual matter and a universal resource locator .
One nicety that will aid out in the compose windowpane is the addition of a number of keyboard cutoff : you’re able to habituate the standard Mac key combos for bolding , italicizing , and underlining text or for saving , untying , redoing , and even printing . shortcut are also usable in other parting of the port ( Apple’sFAQ on the Webmail betahas a listing ) , but regrettably , there are a match of spot where your muscle memory for the Mac version of Mail might get you into trouble . For model , Mail ’s shortcut for send message , bidding - work shift - D , is already used in Safari for adding a bookmarker to the Bookmark Menu and command - R will refresh the web browser app instead of reply .
The addition of server-side filtering rules are welcome, if limited.
Playing by the rules
The addition of server - side filtering rules are welcome , if limited .
Another Modern feature in MobileMe ’s Webmail node is the hanker - for gain of server - side filtering rule . Because these rules do n’t depend on any special client , it means that the action get performed before the messages make it to the inbox on your Mac , iPhone , or iPad . So if you want to make certain that messages from a certain sender always get sink in into a finical folder , you wo n’t have to depend on launch Mail on your Mac to make certain that happens .
regrettably , at the moment the rules are nowhere near as racy as those in the Mac translation of Mail . you may only add three type of rules : move messages to a folder , move messages to the trumpery , and forward messages to an vitamin E - postal service reference . In each case , you’re able to found it on one of four different criteria : who the substance is from , who it ’s call to , who ’s CC’ed , and the subject . you could also drag and neglect rule to put in which purchase order they get apply .
The big picture
Apple also take that it has modernise the speed and functioning of the new MobileMe Webmail , and it does seem snappy . You no longer have to page through your content list in clod ; you just scroll the list , and it loads the details as you go .
MobileMe so often seems like one of Apple ’s draw a blank product that any move or improvement is welcome . On the whole , the beta variation of the Webmail client is forebode , and — if nothing else — wee us eagerly anticipate similar sweetening to the respite of the MobileMe vane tool .
