Return HomeE-mail is all about messages: that is, E-mail provides a way for two or more people to exchange messages. Just as the postal service is used to send postcards, letters, and magazines, E-mail is used to send various kinds of messages . An electronic message can range from a simple memo or letter to a complex multimedia presentation designed to overload and delight your senses.
There are two basic protocols for e-mail: SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and MIME (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extension). The latter allows incorporating non-text items such as sounds, movies or computer programs into an e-mail message.
All you really need to make e-mail work (besides an Internet connection, e-mail account and some software) is the e-mail address of the person you wish to contact.
An e-mail address consists of a user name and a domain name. The domain name consists of two parts - a computer name and a domain name. The domain indicates the type or organization or country (ie com=commercial, org=organization, edu=education, uk=united kingdom). So the e-mail address chris@maherassociates.com consists of these three parts:
There can be only one maherassociates in the com domain and only one chris on maherassociates.com.
Since computers like numbers better than words, the domain name maherassociates.com actually is translated into an IP address (205.187.163.83). This translation (names to IP) is called the Domain Naming System or DNS. It makes e-mail addresses and web sites easier to remember.