Sonic's Webmail is a very useful service. It can even serve as a primary email "app" when you are aware of a few quirks (such as long search times when including the message Body). Having used webmail extensively for many years, I have noticed a few minor interface issues. None of these break functionality, but they do make the end user experience a little more difficult. I have identified each as a "fix" or "new feature". Please note that everything below is related to using Webmail via desktop browser.
1. Group email:
1a. Visual indicator of group email: (new feature)
When viewing an email, it is very difficult to know if there are multiple recipients. The "Reply All" button is always available, so that does not help. You must expand the full message headers (small triangle at top, right corner below the "Open in new window" button) and then scroll until you see the To/CC lines to determine if there are multiple recipients. The message headers are often in different places with the most important ones (Date/From/To/CC/Subject) usually somewhere in the middle of numerous X-Spam, and routing lines.
Webmail could benefit from a visual indicator/icon that an email with multiple recipients or one that does not have an addressee in the To: field.
1b. Viewing all recipients in a group email: (fix?)
The webmail UI displays only the sender in a group email by default. To see the full list of recipients you must click the tiny triangle in the top, right corner (just below the "open in new window" button) to expand the headers box. Unfortunately, you must then always scroll down and manually scan for the Date/From/To/CC/Subject lines past many X-Spam and routing headers. This issue seems to be caused by the order of mail headers.
If the primary headers appeared first, and THEN all the X-Spam and routing headers, it would be a one-click process to view the most needed headers (ie. To/CC/Date/Subject/ReturnPath or ReplyTo). Alternatively, the expanded header control (small triangle) could show these primary headers in fixed lines (just as From: and Date: currently do) and the full headers would just be pushed farther down, or perhaps have its own control (small triangle), making this a 2-stage reveal for headers.
2. Search Status: (cosmetic fix)
When searching within Webmail, if you include the Body in your search the resulting time can take much longer than simply searching headers. Time can also increase with larger mailboxes, or the more mailboxes you include in your search. While there is a notation within the Search pop-up interface (top, right corner of Webmail), it would be helpful to modify the "Searching ..." pop-up (lower, right corner) to add a note about longer search times. This would provide a persistent reminder to those less-familiar with using Search as to why it might appear nothing is happening.
3. Webmail Filters:
https://webmail.sonic.net/?_task=settin ... in.filters
3a. Filters cannot be added from main Mail view: (new feature)
It would be helpful if there were a quick Filter option when viewing email, much like you can add a Contact (from the icon next to the sender's address). The Filter creation process would be more efficient than the current 6+ steps (Copy email address, open Settings, select Filters, paste address, change variables, Save). This could be added to the "... More" button in addition to or in lieu of a new icon in the email header.
3b. Filters screen may hide the "Save" button: (layout fix)
In desktop browsers, under certain circumstances the black "Save" button in Filters becomes partially or completely hidden under the lower half of that panel (blue area where existing Filters are listed). I have seen this myself on multiple occasions as well as by other Sonic customers who asked me for help.
This can be affected by the browser's Zoom setting, screen size, resolution or other dynamic elements. For example, on a screen with 1440 x 900 resolution, at 100% zoom Firefox clips the lower half of the "Save" button. No scroll option is present for that cell/panel. Other zoom settings may also obstruct or even hide "Save" (which I have seen).
Could this be fixed by defining extra space at the bottom of the Filter creation panel to allow for the "Save" button?
3c. Existing Filters are stuck in the order they were added: (new feature)
This is the lowest priority item on the list... It would be helpful if the Filters order could be rearranged, perhaps alphabetical, by domain or with buttons for "move up" and "move down. This is NOT a significant issue, but as filters stack up over time it becomes more challenging to manage.
4. Graymail from mailbox: (new feature--link to existing Graymail feature?)
Graymail/Spam is normally handled prior to being dropped into a user's mailbox by SpamAssassin, etc. However, it would be very useful to have direct access to the Welcomelist (whitelist) and Blocklist (blacklist) features from the mailbox. So this would mean the ability to add a sender's email address to the Welcomelist or Blocklist directly from the mailbox, similar to the Add Contact function.
The "Graymail" folder within the mailbox does not appear to be very useful.
Thank you for reading this. Hopefully these tweaks can be done in a future update. I believe they will help make some webmail features easier to use. However, nothing here is critical or breaks functionality (except occasionally the Filters "Save" button).
1. Group email:
1a. Visual indicator of group email: (new feature)
When viewing an email, it is very difficult to know if there are multiple recipients. The "Reply All" button is always available, so that does not help. You must expand the full message headers (small triangle at top, right corner below the "Open in new window" button) and then scroll until you see the To/CC lines to determine if there are multiple recipients. The message headers are often in different places with the most important ones (Date/From/To/CC/Subject) usually somewhere in the middle of numerous X-Spam, and routing lines.
Webmail could benefit from a visual indicator/icon that an email with multiple recipients or one that does not have an addressee in the To: field.
1b. Viewing all recipients in a group email: (fix?)
The webmail UI displays only the sender in a group email by default. To see the full list of recipients you must click the tiny triangle in the top, right corner (just below the "open in new window" button) to expand the headers box. Unfortunately, you must then always scroll down and manually scan for the Date/From/To/CC/Subject lines past many X-Spam and routing headers. This issue seems to be caused by the order of mail headers.
If the primary headers appeared first, and THEN all the X-Spam and routing headers, it would be a one-click process to view the most needed headers (ie. To/CC/Date/Subject/ReturnPath or ReplyTo). Alternatively, the expanded header control (small triangle) could show these primary headers in fixed lines (just as From: and Date: currently do) and the full headers would just be pushed farther down, or perhaps have its own control (small triangle), making this a 2-stage reveal for headers.
2. Search Status: (cosmetic fix)
When searching within Webmail, if you include the Body in your search the resulting time can take much longer than simply searching headers. Time can also increase with larger mailboxes, or the more mailboxes you include in your search. While there is a notation within the Search pop-up interface (top, right corner of Webmail), it would be helpful to modify the "Searching ..." pop-up (lower, right corner) to add a note about longer search times. This would provide a persistent reminder to those less-familiar with using Search as to why it might appear nothing is happening.
3. Webmail Filters:
https://webmail.sonic.net/?_task=settin ... in.filters
3a. Filters cannot be added from main Mail view: (new feature)
It would be helpful if there were a quick Filter option when viewing email, much like you can add a Contact (from the icon next to the sender's address). The Filter creation process would be more efficient than the current 6+ steps (Copy email address, open Settings, select Filters, paste address, change variables, Save). This could be added to the "... More" button in addition to or in lieu of a new icon in the email header.
3b. Filters screen may hide the "Save" button: (layout fix)
In desktop browsers, under certain circumstances the black "Save" button in Filters becomes partially or completely hidden under the lower half of that panel (blue area where existing Filters are listed). I have seen this myself on multiple occasions as well as by other Sonic customers who asked me for help.
This can be affected by the browser's Zoom setting, screen size, resolution or other dynamic elements. For example, on a screen with 1440 x 900 resolution, at 100% zoom Firefox clips the lower half of the "Save" button. No scroll option is present for that cell/panel. Other zoom settings may also obstruct or even hide "Save" (which I have seen).
Could this be fixed by defining extra space at the bottom of the Filter creation panel to allow for the "Save" button?
3c. Existing Filters are stuck in the order they were added: (new feature)
This is the lowest priority item on the list... It would be helpful if the Filters order could be rearranged, perhaps alphabetical, by domain or with buttons for "move up" and "move down. This is NOT a significant issue, but as filters stack up over time it becomes more challenging to manage.
4. Graymail from mailbox: (new feature--link to existing Graymail feature?)
Graymail/Spam is normally handled prior to being dropped into a user's mailbox by SpamAssassin, etc. However, it would be very useful to have direct access to the Welcomelist (whitelist) and Blocklist (blacklist) features from the mailbox. So this would mean the ability to add a sender's email address to the Welcomelist or Blocklist directly from the mailbox, similar to the Add Contact function.
The "Graymail" folder within the mailbox does not appear to be very useful.
Thank you for reading this. Hopefully these tweaks can be done in a future update. I believe they will help make some webmail features easier to use. However, nothing here is critical or breaks functionality (except occasionally the Filters "Save" button).
Statistics: Posted by macguyver — Thu Dec 26, 2024 10:24 pm