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MyMail is a "newsletter
manager". It allows you to collect E-Mails (through a forum)
or add them manually and then send out your Ezine or Newsletter to
everyone on your subscription list.
Testing
So far, it has been working great.
I am currently using it to manage The Cybernet Resources
Newsletter and it seems to be working perfectly. As for installation,
it was a breeze. All you have to do is make a few simple
edits to the config file, upload the files to your server, and run
the install program in your browser. Additionally, if your
server doesn't allow the program to create a MySQL database, you
will have to create a MySQL database on your server, adding just
one more step. What I am trying to say is that most
webmasters will have no problem setting this up.
The Interface
As for the forum where you have people
sign up for your Ezine/Newsletter, you can customize that to any
extent (within the limits of HTML), so there is nothing to say
there. As for the interface, it is nice and simple.
Your menu is on the left, and the information you specified to see
is on the right. Additionally, there is only one little
picture at the top of the screen, so it loads very fast,
conserving your bandwidth.
The Features
For a free program, this has a decent amount
of features. First of all, it will automatically archive all
the letters you have ever sent (which you can have visitors at
your site look at). The only problem with this is that it
won't blend into your site, and it has the MyMail logo on the top
of it. However you can always hack the program (yes, you are
allowed to hack it) so it shows what you want. The next
feature is this thing called the "server load
manager". What this does, is allow you to bypass any
timeout settings that may be set on your server (EXAMPLE: After
executing a script, your server may "terminate" it after
so many seconds). It does this by sending out only so many
messages at one time (EXAMPLE: It sends 5 messages, waits a
secound...and then sends another 5 messages...). There are
other features such as import/export options and E-Mail
validation, but I will leave you to explore those other features.
Some Final Notes
As you probably have noticed, I never
mentioned HTML support, and that is because there is none.
However, there is a very simple hack you can do that is on the
site so you can send out HTML letters. Finally, this is a
great program which will have more than enough features for most
anyone.
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