Paper Lantern Feedback - Email managment screen

[electric]

You asked for it, so here it is. My thoughts on what our customers would like to see.

(This is a summary of the most common requests/problems/wish/feedback about cpanel that our customers give to us.)

When a customer receives a new cpanel account, one of the very first things they do is log into the cpanel and get their email setup. Currently, this means they must navigate into multiple different screens, as well as understand the difference between an "email account" and "email forwarder" (which is not easy for non-technical users). It is a very common problem for our (non-technical) customers to end up with both a mailbox *and* a forwarder, when all they really wanted was a forwarder. Then they complain when their account runs out of disk space...

So the most common suggestion we receive from our customers is that the email management is too complicated and should be in ONE simple setup/management screen. Perhaps something like this:

EMAIL ADDRESS MANAGEMENT PAGE

At the top of the page, put a list of email addresses that are already configured, along with a big "create new email address" button. The customer can then choose to edit an existing email address setup, or create a new one. Nice and simple.

Then if customer choose to edit/create an address, you see something like this:

---------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected] (Change password / Email program setup instructions / Delete)

[ ] Email sent to this address will be stored on server. (Checking this box makes this email address into an email account.)

[___] Mailbox quota (If above is enabled, then display what is the desired mailbox quota along with a save button.)

[ ] Enable email forwarding for this address? (Checking this box would then make a "Destination addresses" textbox appear.)

Destination Addresses (This textbox is displayed ONLY if "enable email forwarding" is checked/enabled. So customer can enter all the email addresses they want this email address they are managing to forward to.)

[ ] Enable auto-reply. (Checking this box would then make a "Destination addresses" textbox appear.)

Auto Reply Message (This textbox is displayed ONLY if "enable auto-reply" is checked/enabled. So customer can enter their auto response message and any other applicable options.)

[ ] Enable filters (Checking this box would show the filtering options for this address)

---------------------------------------------------------------

I hope that makes sense? The idea is to have a very basic single "email setup" page where the customer can see all their email options for each email address, and it's clear what does what.

Perhaps someone could create a graphic page to illustrate what I have written. Unfortunately, my design kung-fu is weak.

Thanks.

 

[cPanelAdamF]

Great feedback, Electric. I took a stab at wireframing what you were describing. The notion of combining all of the kinds of email mailboxes that a user would create into one interface has some exciting potential. How close did I get?

 

[electric]

That looks great!

The only suggestions I have:

1) For the Email Accounts page, rename it to "Email Addresses". It would be nice to come up with a single/unified naming convention that is consistent across all cpanel services.

In my mind, and email "account" is a mailbox. That is, it's an actual account on the server where email is stored. An email "address" is just an address. It could have a forwarder associated with it, or an email mailbox/account associated with it.

So with that in mind.. rename that page to "Email Address Management" or something...

2) Don't forget to add auto-reply section as a tab on this page.

3) Not sure how to lay it out, but it would be good to have things more "listed on a single page" type of view. So perhaps instead of tabs, you could use hidden sections. So when an email address is clicked (to edit), it displays all the current setup (email mailbox/account checkbox, current forwarders in a simple textbox list along with enable/disable checkbox, any autoresponse, etc. Then if the user clicks into one of them... we see the tab/page you created for that particular section.

I hope that makes sense? Basically, as much info (simplified) on a single overview page.. and then hidden sections that appear, or tabs, when the user clicks for more info.

So the idea is that the user should be able to click "[email protected]" and see (on one page) ALL the various email setup for that email address, including any forwarders, if it is enabled as a mailbox/account, any autoresponders, filters, and auto-reply setup. No need to click anything else, unless they want to change something.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's two screenshots from a different cp that kind of illustrates what I envision. Basically, everything in one simple "email management" page.

The customers love this because they work using "email address" not "mailbox" or "forwarder" or "auto-responder". They think in terms of "email address" and then they want to see what services they can have for the addresses they want. So from a work-flow perspective, having everything clearly displayed and accessible on a single page is great.