We get that like total frustration when you're trying to check email on your
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phone. Yeah, it's just spinning and spin.
It's like the loading icon just mocks you.
You're just stuck. And you know, you sent us something about this, actually.
I did. Yeah.
About a web based email client called snappy mail.
Right. Right. So that's our focus today.
We're going to really dive deep into this snappy mail thing, see what's going on.
And more importantly, like what it means for us, right?
Like, is this actually the answer to our email woes?
I mean, that's the hope, isn't it? We've all got email woes.
Exactly. Before we get started, though, got to do the shout out thing.
Right. Of course. To Safe Server. Our amazing sponsor.
Yeah. They're the ones who handle the whole hosting side of things for this type of
software. And if anyone's thinking about that digital transformation journey,
they've got some awesome advice. Yeah.
So check them out at www.safeserver.dd.
All right. Let's get back to snappy mail.
Simple, modern, lightweight and fast. That's what caught my eye.
Straight to the point. Right. It's also described as, wait for it,
drastically upgraded and secured fork of rain loop web mail community edition.
That's a mouthful. It is.
So for those of us who just want email to actually work,
especially on our phones. Yeah. What's the key takeaway here?
What does all that really mean? Okay. Let's start with that fork idea. Okay.
Think of it like, you know, a recipe. Okay.
You've got a really good base recipe. Let's say it's rain loop. In this case,
it worked great, you know, back in the day. Yeah. But things change. Right.
So the folks behind snap email,
they saw a chance to take that recipe and make it even better for today with
fresh ingredients, new techniques. And it seems like their main focus,
the thing they really zeroed in on is making email super smooth and
speedy on modern browsers, especially on mobile.
Our phones are basically our lifeline these days. They are.
And in our research, they threw around some pretty impressive numbers.
I saw 138 KB download using broadly. I mean,
what does that even mean?
Well that's for when you first open it on mobile and it's tiny, tiny. How?
Think about it.
138 KBB is like the size of a single photo on your phone,
a decent quality one. Oh, okay.
So instead of waiting for this giant app to load,
snappy mail should just pop up instantly. Yeah. Even if you're on a dodgy
connection,
that'd be amazing. Right.
And they also mentioned a performance grade of up to 99% by Lighthouse.
Now that sounds like some serious tech jargon. It does,
but basically it's like getting an A plus in web performance. Oh, okay.
So it's going to run smoothly and quickly. Exactly. No more lag, no more waiting.
Okay. So it's designed for speed, especially on our phones,
but our notes also said it's something like 66% smaller and faster than
Rainloop. And how did they manage that? Like, what are the big changes?
So a big part of that comes from embracing all the newest web technologies and
ditching some of the older clunkier stuff. For example,
Snap email needs a more recent version of PHP on the server. Okay.
It's like making sure the engine running, everything is up to date, powerful.
Exactly. And on the front end, what you actually see and interact with,
they've switched to a newer version of JavaScript called ES 2020,
which is like a more efficient, streamlined language for web browsers.
So the code is just leaner and meaner. Yes.
And they've also changed how the website's code is packaged and sent to your
browser. Oh, how's that?
They moved from this tool called web pack to another one called rollup. Okay.
Think of them like packing systems. Rollup is like the modern, efficient one.
So smaller packages, faster delivery.
Precisely. And even in how the website looks, the layout,
they're using modern techniques, flex box, border box, things like that.
I've heard those terms before. Yeah.
They're all about making the website more responsive and faster to load.
It sounds like they really went all in on modernizing things. They did.
And that's not all. What else?
They also made some big improvements in security and privacy. Oh yeah.
That was a big point in the notes. It's a huge deal.
They've made a real effort to make snappy mail more privacy focused.
Like how? Well, for one,
they've removed connections to all those social media platforms and other third
party services, you know, Gravatar, Facebook, Google, Twitter,
Dropbox. Oh wow. That's a lot. It is. Yeah.
But that means less tracking,
less data being sent out just because you opened an email.
So it's keeping your info more secure. Exactly. And on top of that,
they've also really strengthened the actual security measures.
What do they do?
They use stronger methods for securing your admin password. Okay.
They keep a log of failed login attempts to catch any suspicious activity.
Exactly. Plus they even included instructions for using this tool called fail
to ban.
It basically blocks computers that keep trying to guess your password like a
digital bouncer. That's a great way to put it.
And they've also added support for something called fetch metadata request
headers, which is another layer of security to prevent certain types of attacks.
So they're not just taking things away for privacy.
They're also adding more protection. Yes.
It's a multi-pronged approach to security.
I like it. Now beyond speed and security,
any new features that'll make using it, you know, nicer.
Absolutely. For one, they added a dark mode. Oh, nice.
Which is easier on the eyes, especially at night.
Yes. And I'm all about that. What else?
Well, for those who like to really customize their email organization,
there's a more advanced editor for Civ scripts. Civ scripts.
Remind me what those are again.
They let you create really specific rules for your incoming emails.
Oh, okay.
Like if I wanted all my work emails to go directly into a specific folder.
Exactly. You can totally automate that. Very cool.
And for even more convenience,
they've added push notifications for new emails.
So even if Snap email isn't open, I'll still get alerted. Yep.
You'll get a little notification on your phone or computer.
And they've also made big improvements to how Snap email handles encrypted
emails using PGP. PGP. That's for keeping messages extra secure, right?
Right. They're using a more up-to-date version of the technology
and supporting newer, more secure types of encryption keys.
So it's all around more secure and modern. Absolutely.
One last thing from our notes, which browsers can actually use Snap email?
Right. So they've decided to focus on the latest versions of popular browsers,
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera, Safari, all the big ones.
Okay. This lets them take full advantage of all the newest web features.
But it does mean that older browsers like Internet Explorer won't work.
I think most people have moved on from Internet Explorer by now.
Probably. So to bring it all back to our listener who asked about this,
seems like Snap email is worth checking out if you're fed up with slow,
clunky web mail, especially on mobile, right? Especially on mobile.
It's faster, smaller, more secure.
And it's got all those modern bells and whistles.
It really seems like a completely modern take on web-based email.
Totally. And I love that they prioritize privacy and security from the ground up.
It's a big deal.
And it really looks like a significant improvement over Rain Loop.
Definitely. And it's all about getting you to your emails faster without the
hassle. So thinking about how quickly web technology moves,
how do you see email clients adapting in the future? Like what's next?
That's a great question. I think we're going to see a lot more experimentation,
especially as we all demand faster speeds and better privacy online.
Makes sense.
We might see some really outside the box ideas about how we interact with email,
you know.
It's exciting to think about.
And thanks again to Safe Server for making this deep dive possible.
Couldn't have done it without them.
If you're out there and need reliable hosting for your software,
or maybe some extra advice on your digital transformation,
definitely check them out at www.safeserver.de.
They're the best.
Stay snappy!
Stay snappy!