Email and More
Email Options
Or Why Your iPhone Loves IMAP
Email is an essential part of life. Most of us use it without wondering much about how it works. There is a server that receives the email. Most hosting accounts (including HTN accounts) offer a web-based interface you can use to read your email from any device with a browser. And most of us also have an email client loaded on our computer where we do most of our email-related activity. Many people use Outlook. There are excellent free alternatives as well, such as Thunderbird, Eudora, and the Mac email client.
One of the basic options that gets set is whether your email server will use POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) for how the incoming messages are handled.
POP has long been the preferred method because it downloads the email messages from the server to the email-reading software (whatever you use) whenever you “open” your email so the messages are on your local machine and no longer on the server. This avoids filling up your server with email and puts all the messages on your own computer. Once you open/download your email, the messages are no longer on the server at all. This works really well for folks who use one computer device for their email. That used to describe most of the email-using public. But no more. Add to your desktop, laptop, netbook, and public-use terminals with browsers your email-capable cell phone or similar device and now the way you use (and therefore set up) email may well change.
The other choice, IMAP, has traditionally been for folks who travel a lot or who use both a laptop and a desktop and want to be able to read and access THE SAME messages from either machine. IMAP keeps the messages on the server. You can read, reply, etc. from any device that can access email and those messages are still available to you next time you connect. You can save messages to local folders (on your computer) but you don’t have to and wouldn’t want to if you want those messages available from other email-capable devices you use – like your cell phone. If your hosting account includes backups (and HTN accounts do), then you also have the assurance that your email is being backed up regularly. You may be using lots of server space for your email, but it is readily accessible from any machine.
Breaking Tradition
Traditions are easy to set and hard to break. To this day, I get nervous around 5 pm. That was supper time all my growing up years and I still think “supper time, need to be home” for a fleeting instant. Our college-age son is visibly startled every time he returns if we have moved furniture from where it “should be” while he was gone. Certain foods “have to be” eaten at certain holidays, like green bean casserole at Thanksgiving. Habits take on the emotion-evoking identity of tradition without our even noticing it – until that tradition is broken.
For eight years, HTN has had a tradition of sending holiday baskets to our largest customers. We broke that tradition in 2009, opting instead to send donations in honor of those customers to two organizations that do real work to help the hungry in our country. Those organizations are Operation Food Search and MAZON. Operation Food Search is a St. Louis-based food bank that has been distrbuting food free of charge, helping to feed the poor and hungry, since 1981. MAZON works nationally and, since 1985, has granted over $50 million to prevent and alleviate hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds.
We broke tradition because it did not feel right this year to continue as if things had not changed, as if the economy were not dreadful, as if we did not personally know folks who were hurting, as if we could not see the impact of a bad economy in our own neighborhood. There was something we could do and we did it, hopeful that those of our customers directly affected by the decision would understand.
Farmer Bert
Many of you have worked with Bert, our ssl guru, web site builder and customer support resource of many talents. I think you will agree that he is a treasure.
In February, Bert is moving from Texas to his farm in Tennessee where he will be fulfillng a life-long wish to work the land.
The HTN team will miss Bert’s cheerful presence more than we can say. And we completely support his decision. Following a dream is powerful stuff.
We will hire a replacement for this position. Bert’s shoes will be hard to fill.
Customer Site News
As promised, let’s look at some of the sites that HTN launched last month.
Calligraphy Etc. is using PDG Commerce 5 as the online store portion of their web site. They are also using the Profits Plus Dynamic Menus (styled to match their site) and the Profits Plus Sitemaps module. They will be implementing the Profits Plus Artwork Uploader for photo-related products in the near future. Press the Shop Now button in the header to enter the PDG Commerce portion. You will find gift ideas galore here, as well as party ware. Enjoy!
Fisherman’s Choice Pro Shop is using PDG Commerce 5. They had some unique problems that required custom solutions.
The left nav needed both more precision than available with the built-in hierarchical menu using categories and explicit control over ordering the elements, which ruled out the Profits Plus solution. The queries for the results for each menu option draw on many fields in the product, including category and user defined fields. Further, the site wanted a way within each results page to further drill down by manufacturer – and that list of manufacturers had to represent only those with products in that results page tree. For example, under Hard Baits select Crankbaits. You will see a long list of hotlinks of manufacturer names at the top of the page. These are manufacturers with products in the Crankbaits search results. If you select a manufacturer link, you will see only their Crankbaits products. You might also notice breadcrumbs on these custom results pages. These were built specifically from information embedded in the search since the custom results page could not use standard PDG breadcrumbs.
The other problem requiring a custom solution centered on style items. This site uses a lot of style items. The prices of some items within a style item vary. Standard behavior is to display one price for the style item on the search results page. The site wanted the range of prices to show on the search results display when differing prices were present in the items attached to a style item rather than a single price that would be wrong for some of the items. HTN built the search results page to do that extra lookup and to format any instance of multiple prices as a range to display as the price. For example, select Blade Baits. Two of the results have a single price listed. The third has a range. If you select that style item with the price range, you will see the prices of the individual items vary. You will find similar examples throughout the BAITS section, particularly under Hard Baits.
If you are a fishing enthusiast, you will definitely want to give this site a visit.
New Phone System
HTN has put a new phone system in place. Our phone numbers remain unchanged (866-436-7638 (toll-free) or 636-447-3030). You will hear different messages when you call us, and different music when you are on hold. But the same folks are here to answer questions. You have a new option of marking a voice message urgent so that it gets the same after-hours urgent tech support treatment you get now.
We trust that the switchover is unremarkable and that the learning curve for our own staff is over well before you read this.
HTN Is Hiring
We are looking for an energetic person to join our team primarily as a customer support resource and web site builder. See Farmer Bert story for why.