Point, Webmail revamped

Correction appended

Both the University Webmail system and the USG's Point website have been redeveloped in the past week to  keep up with the evolution of technology.

@Mail, the latest Webmail client, was released Tuesday as a replacement for Sun Java System Messenger, while Point 3.0, the new version of Point, was launched last week.

The Webmail upgrade combined work done by the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the USG and the Graduate Student Government. After the USG began working with OIT in the spring and late fall to upgrade the e-mail and hard-drive quotas, OIT started to explore the alterations it could make to improve users’ experiences, USG president Josh Weinstein ’09 said in an e-mail.

The new version of Webmail is the result of input from a survey of users conducted by the USG and OIT. Though @Mail  was originally scheduled to be released Oct. 14, the date was postponed to Oct. 21 to ensure a smooth transition from the old Webmail, according to OIT’s website.

@Mail is superior to the current Sun Java System Messenger because “it [is] more visually appealing and convenient ... has a better composition UI [user interface] and runs more like a regular client [such as] ThunderBird, [Mac]Mail or Outlook,” Weinstein said.

@Mail also features an improved address book, an auto-address completion element and tabbed e-mail browsing, OIT customer services manager Leila Shahbender said in an e-mail.

Shahbender added that new features of @Mail include a tree-style folder view, better support for wireless handheld devices, mailbox sorting and searching, and multilingual support.

For those who prefer the older version, however, the old Webmail will be available until spring 2009.

Like the development of @Mail, Point 3.0 is also the result of surveys and focus groups. The main goals of the new version were to significantly improve speed and aesthetics, Adam Ernst ’10 said. Ernst worked with Sean Rubin ’09 and Will Peng ’10 from the Student Design Agency and Philip Stern ’09 to redesign the system. Rubin is also a cartoonist for The Daily Princetonian.

“[We were] cleaning up a very impenetrable and difficult to navigate design,” Ernst said.

Point 3.0 uses CAS, the University’s new authentication system, to combine features like TigerForums, the Student Course Guide and the Student Rooms Guide. The aesthetic aim of the new version of Point is to be simpler and easier to navigate, as focus groups frequently commented on the old version’s complexity, Weinstein said.

One new feature of Point 3.0 is a printer status module, which allows students to check the status of computer cluster printers. An improved “Events” section and a new survey tool are two elements that will be integrated into Point in the near future, Weinstein said.

A future USG project is a website called “Pairwise,” which will tabulate students’ most desired changes to campus life by allowing them to input their preferences for any two given ideas. For example, a student would be presented with “longer library hours or extend dinner [hours],” Ernst said, and asked which they prefer.

Users can input their own ideas and choose between already inputted ideas.

“The idea is that you select individual ranking[s], and the USG gets an idea of what students want the most,” he explained.

Old features such as TigerTrade, Dinky Times, “Today’s Menu,” the Suggestion Box and Anonymous Course Comments will still be on Point, Weinstein said.

Correction

The original version of this story stated that the University redeveloped the Point website. It was in fact done by the USG.