Chapter 4

"Sure thing.... I'll send you an email."

That is the main statement nowadays. Or, "cc, me in on that email"

Today, and for some time now electronic mail (email) has been the standard means of communication between people in business, home, and school. It is so commonplace now that we as a general nature, rarely send out any letters via US mail. It is faster, cheaper, and quite honestly- more reliable. Also, if we are not emailing someone, then we are sending a text message instead of a note or letter to someone. Emails can be sent whenever you want to send it and the receiver can read it whenever he or she gets to it. You can send out an email to someone, literally on the opposite side of the globe and they we get it in just a few quick minutes later. That same email only cost the price of a phone call and if you sent it to the correct email address - it did not get lost in the mail.

And speaking of correct address.... each and every person sending and receiving emails must have a unique email address. That address has a three part component. First, is a user name (userID) . Followed by an @ (called an "at" sign). Secondly, a host name for the ISP server who is hosting the email account. Lastly,a Top-level domain at the end, such as ".com" for commercial or ".edu " for education.

Breaking down the components of an email client window is rather simple. The top line of the window has a space for putting in the name or email address of the recipient of the email. That is to whom the message is going . The next line is the "cc" line. This is for anyone that you wish to include to see this email along with the original recipient. This is used quite frequently in the business world, as many people are usually working on the same project or need to be give the same information as others in their department or team.  A subject line is to let the person know the topic or reason for the email. The message body contains the whole email that you wish to be read.