Interesting ways to use fastmail
 

What do you use your fastmail for ?

I use it the following ways :-

1) As a web-based email client

2) Web-based file storage

3) Web-based zipping utility ! :)

Web based zipping utility? OK..I'll bite. What's up with that? I mean..why would you need one and what do you do with it?

I use Fastmail mainly for..e-mail. Although I have started a to do list in Drafts and there are some files I keep on there on purpose. I've always used my web based e-mail as a place to keep passwords and registration information.

Well, I was using a friend's computer the other day and it didnt' have winzip. Rather than waiting for it to download, I uploaded the file, which was small ( we just wanted to make it smaller :) ) , and downloaded it from my fast mail account.

Wahlah ! Instant zipping :D .

Hey, that's clever!

It's great for use in public libraries which have fast connections but don't allow you to install any software.

:D

:D

When I had a fastmail account (BASIC -- GOOD INTERFACE) I used it for my email and I used my storage for some things also..... Sharing files and all...... I liked how it showed the IP that accessed it :)

Sadly I havent had a good of an email since :(

Good grief! How did you even find a thread that old?

Makes ya feel good the site is still about BritTim doesnt it :)

I use Fastmail mostly for email (both web UI and local client), but I use their file storage capabilities too. The EMD Members photo gallery comes to mind.. :cool:

http://emdpics.somdcomputerguy.com/

- Bruce

Yes you have alot of nice pictures on there :)

How long has that been up now anyway??

Yours missing.

You know, to be honest, I have no idea how long DBH maintained it. He probably started it too, but I'm not entirely clear on that. I'm not even sure how long ago I began its' 'transfer and resurrection'. Five or six years at least I guess..

- Bruce

eta: this post I made in 2012 brings it up to closer to a decade.. :):eek::)
483
Dave started the original gallery in 2003 apparently..

Thats interesting....Do you know the original URL??

Unfortunately, the original page no longer exists, and is not even available on archive.org. To satisfy your curiosity, the original url was http://dbh.fateback.com/emd.html

It's nice to be able to put a face to a name, so I do occasionally check out the gallery.

For those that haven't posted a photo, I form in my imagination what they look like - and it's usually in the form of a character from Family Guy, as they range from benign to egomaniac!

Thanx BritTim ...... I tried to pull that up on the archive site but the earliest it has with that directory,its already gone :(

Would have been nice to see what it looked like originally.......

I think your doing a nice job though..........

To steer the thread back on to its (ancient) topic...
Personally I make very considerable use of Fastmail's "website" functionality.
The photo gallery function is handy, but the thing I use most, and which really is a boon, is the ability to redirect any address on my domain to any external URL I choose.
Unfortunately, Fastmail have recently introduced a limit of just one hundred web addresses per user (that's 100 per user, not 100 per domain), which severely restricts the function's usefulness.

I have several subdomain.mydomain.com URLS. Some point to an external URL, some to a file or directory in my Fastmail account. I also have 'created' a couple email addresses that impersonate the real email address.

- Bruce

That is a neat idea. Have you tried contacting support, explaining your use case and asking if the limit can be relaxed. I believe Fastmail does have a history of relaxing limits (normally if you are on the most expensive account level) where your requirement for a relaxed limit is reasonable.

I do this as well on one of my shorter personal domains so it's a bit like a url shortener but with easy-to-remember naming for URLs that I use often.

I do a similar thing with emails eg: I have one called printer@, one for pushover@ and one for things@ point to my printer, Pushover.net and task-list addresses respectfully, but these easier to remember!

Yes. I went into quite a lot of detail about how exactly I use the website function and why I feel the need for more than 100 addresses.

The reply was:

I am surprised that Fastmail's design does not allow for customer specific limits, but otherwise Fastmail's response cannot be criticised, I think. They gave your request careful consideration. They acknowledge that what you want is reasonable, but say it is not something they anticipated, and they are unable to help. Unfortunate, but surely reasonable.

Yes, I have no complaint. But it does beg the question, if my practical use of the website facility, and in particular the 'redirect' function, "is not something Fastmail was designed for", what exactly was that function designed for?

While I cannot answer that for sure, this is my guess. The Fastmail website support is very basic. Often we may create an extremely basic website based on Fastmail, but then decide we need something much more sophisticated, using another service. If we are using a custom domain, that is no problem. However, if we used a Fastmail alias, we will be using a different domain on the new service. The redirect function means that people are seamlessly sent to the new website implementation without needing to know it has moved.

Yes, that is plausible.
But I can't see where the harm would be in allowing users to use the web-site facility in more generalised ways.