Message composition
In order to compose a message, a user selects
the "compose" option and is then presented with
a message composition form. This is what the message composition
form looks like right out of the box, it includes the standard
message items such as "To" and "Subject"
as well as "Server". Normally you would configure
the name of your SMTP server for outbound messages when
you install MailMan, so that your users don't even see this
value. The "From" line can either be guessed based
on the user's POP3 username and the name of the POP3 server,
or you can configure a few options to specify how the line
is derived. You can specify that the user's POP3 username
is their email address, for instance, many POP3 servers
use an entire email address for a username. In the Professional
Edition the user can specify their email address and real
name in their user preferences.
If the user wishes to attach files to
the message then they can press the "attach" button
at the bottom of the composition page. The composition form
will then reload and in the place of the attach button there
will be file upload boxes. If the user selects any files
then those files will be attached to the message before
it is sent. MailMan produces standard MIME-encoded messages
that any standards-compliant mail client will understand.
Once your user presses the "send"
button, MailMan will communicate with the specified SMTP
server to deliver the message. MailMan also provides an
option to use a local instance of Sendmail for delivering
messages if you do not have an SMTP server available for
use by your web server.
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