In one installation I did across 2 companies with ~60 users I was told that this could be a “deal-breaker” but after discussing it with the management, they agreed to give it a go anyway, and in the 2 years they have been using it since I’ve only heard the enquiry once from 2 people.

Let me explain my position at this point, I was advised against using email receipts a few years ago by a computer expert I respected.  His reasoning was twofold 1) they unnecessarily increase email traffic (therefore reducing performance) 2) they give spammers an easy way to see that they’ve hit a “live” person at an email address.

Nevertheless I was not convinced.  For a long time I requested a read receipt on every email I sent out… until I started getting feedback that many people see this as an invasion of privacy, and some were getting (mildly to be fair) annoyed at this perceived ‘lack of respect’ on my part.

I spent some time thinking about it, and did some research, firstly into email etiquette.  Here is an except from www.emailreplies.com:

32 most important email etiquette tips … 20. Do not request delivery and read receipts

This will almost always annoy your recipient before he or she has even read your message. Besides, it usually does not work anyway since the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it, so what is the use of using it? If you want to know whether an email was received it is better to ask the recipient to let you know if it was received.”
I was intrigued by learning that “it usually does not work anyway since the recipient could have blocked that function, or his/her software might not support it.

Wikipedia has a good summary, here are some excerpts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_tracking (bold and italics added):

due to the nature of the technology, e-mail tracking cannot be considered an absolutely accurate indicator that a message was opened or read by the recipient.

requesting a receipt does not guarantee that you will get one, for several reasons. Very few e-mail applications or services support read receipts, and users can generally disable the functionality if they so wish. Those that do support it aren’t necessarily compatible with or capable of recognizing requests from a different e-mail service or application. Generally read receipts are only useful within an organization where all employees/members are using the same email service and application.

Depending on the recipient’s mail client and settings, they may be forced to click a notification button before they can move on with their work. Even though it is an opt-in process, a recipient may consider it inconvenient, discourteous, or invasive.”
This is not the image that I want to project, therefore I started thinking carefully about whether I should be requesting email receipts, particularly as I always declined them myself.

I have over the years been trying to manage my time more efficiently.  I realized that dealing with email receipts isn’t an efficient use of my time.  I would constantly be getting receipts of emails, which I would have to file, filter or delete, just for the occasional one that actually seemed useful or relevant.

It occurred to me at this point that when an email DOESN’T reach the final recipient, I usually get a failure notice about 4 hours later.  Therefore, when I don’t get a failure notice I can assume, with probably a higher degree of accuracy than a delivery receipt provides, that the email HAS got there.

I often use the traditional postal mail system to explain email systems to people.  In this instance, asking for a read receipt is like insisting that you must know the time at which someone opened the envelope of a letter that you sent them.  Most of us don’t even think about that.  When we send a letter we assume it got there.

If we must have some additional ‘re-assurance’ we send it by a tracked service (e.g. recorded delivery), which is still only analogous to a delivery (not ‘read’) receipt.  If the letter isn’t delivered it is returned to us – very similar to the email failure notification I described above.

Email receipts could be accidentally generated, or even spoofed, so even getting one doesn’t prove that the intended recipient got the message, much less that they understood it!

So to sum up, requesting email receipts can be considered rude, they are unreliable and probably an inefficient use of time, which is why (although I was once an “email receipt addict”) I choose not to use them any more.

Google don’t support them, but it is possible to “Suggest a feature for Gmail” on this page and “Read Receipts” is one of the features listed for suggestion.  Many people insist that this is an important feature, so Google may implement it one day.

The best 2 methods for checking if that “important” email reached its recipient are:

1. Call them and ask.  Particularly if you’re dealing with a client/customer this gives you an excuse to make human contact, which is important in building and maintaining your business relationship.  Speaking to them may seem time consuming, but the benefits mean it usually isn’t.  A conversation also means you’re far more likely to elicit a response to the original email.
2. Put the document into an application on the web where you can reliably track visitors (by authentication) to see who has logged in, downloaded/edited the documents, etc. This also offers better security.

However, you can configure an email client to request them, even with Gmail or Google Apps.  It’s (usually) the email interface (whether a program or web access) that requests and responds to receipts, not the email server/system.

There are other ways to track email, such as embedding images (which is why email clients often ask you for privacy reasons whether you want to display the image), but these are often considered to be methods of “spying” on the recipient and are therefore discouraged by some.

Other references:

• Email Read Receipts: good or bad? – http://matthom.com/archive/2007/10/29/email-read-receipts-good-or-bad
• Read Receipts: To Request or Not To Request – http://www.manager-tools.com/forums-4638
• The original RFC for email (which doesn’t include receipts) – http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc822.html

Recently, Firefox on one of my computers was taking so long to open it prompted me to delete the profile and start again. (Actually I just renamed the profile – deleting is a bit too drastic for me!)

The speed problem actually has more to do with the computer, but it turned out to be a worthwhile exercise, and I’ve managed to whittle my add-ons list down to just 20 installed by choice, which I feel enhance my browsing experience.

Of course if you have a special use e.g. developing websites, or using a social media site, there are other add-ons that make life easier (like Web Developer, Firebug or Twitterbar), but listed here are some for general web browsing and webmail (esp. Gmail):

To install:
- click on the link below, which will take you to the Add-on’s homepage on addons.mozilla.org, then click the large green button to install.

1. Adblock Plus 10/10
2. Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper 10/10
   - Both of these are essential if you dislike ads distracting you on your favourite websites.
3. Add Bookmark Here 2 8/10
   - Makes it easier/quicker to add a bookmark to the right folder, therefore keeping your bookmarks tidy.
4. Add to Search Bar 7/10
   - Say you have a favourite site that has a search facility (e.g. the search box at the top of this page ) this add-on lets you add that search to your Search Bar allowing you to search the site directly from your Search Bar without having to visit the site first.
5. Better Gmail 2 6/10
   - IMO essential if you use Gmail, but not needed for everyone, hence only 6/10
6. British English Dictionary 6/10
   - Highlights spelling errors in form fields (e.g. using webmail, or typing in forum message boxes.
7. Copy Link Name 9/10
   - Copies the name of a link, rather than the link location (shortcut URL).
8. Fast Dial 8/10
   - Visual bookmarks. Create a page of thumbnails of your chosen websites for quick access. Can be configured to open with a new tab.
   
9. goolash 6/10
   - “GOOLASH keeps you logged out from the search engine of Google, regardless of any other “G” services you might be using, like Gmail for example. GOOLASH keeps your web searches disassociated from your Google username, meaning that the results are not being filtered according to the profile Google has on you, neither the context of your requests is being attached to your persona.”
   If you like using Google services, but are a little concerned about everything you do on your computer being tracked, then you might find this useful.
   This add-on has disappeared from AMO, but I have found the original author’s site and taken a copy of it.  You need MR Tech Toolkit (or similar, or hacking abilities) to make it work with the latest version of Firefox, but IME, it does).
10. HTML Validator 9/10 – Windows only from AMO, but versions available for other OSs on the author’s website
    - Adds HTML validation inside Firefox and Mozilla. The number of errors of a HTML page is seen on the form of an icon in the status bar when browsing.
    Even if you’re not a web developer, it’s a quick visual check to see how much the site’s authors care about writing good code.  Even if there is a white cross on a red background, right-click to check how many errors, if only 1 or 2 that’s good
11. Mr Tech Toolkit 7/10
    - Provides the tools needed to install and manage extensions and themes locally and tons of other features.
12. NoScript 6/10
    - Allow active content to run only from sites you trust, and protect yourself against XSS and Clickjacking attacks.
13. Remove Cookie(s) for Site 7/10
    - A very simple extension to remove all the cookies of currently opened site. Very useful if Gmail ‘hangs’ during an operation.
    I’m trying some alternative Cookie control/removal tools at the moment, so I don’t have this installed, but I may we go back to it.  What it does it does very well (and simply which is always a plus!)
14. Searchbar Autosizer 9/10
    - Searchbar Autosizer reduces the size of your Searchbar when not in use (increasing the available space for those long URLs) but grows to fit a search when you start typing in it
    I have toyed with moving the Address Bar (Awesome Bar) to different places, and fiddling with the location of the Search Bar, but moving them makes things confusing for anyone else who uses my computer, or for me if I’m on someone else’s.  So I’m trying not to change the layout of my screen too much!
    
15. Searchload Options 7/10
    - Tweak the searchbar’s functionality.
16. Tab Mix Plus 10/10
    - Tab Mix Plus enhances Firefox’s tab browsing capabilities. It includes such features as duplicating tabs, controlling tab focus, tab clicking options, undo closed tabs and windows, plus much more. It also includes a full-featured session manager.
17. Tidy Browser Button 7/10
    - A toolbar button to toggle the size of the FireFox browser between the two standard web page widths on the Internet.
    I’ve modified this add-on for my own use.  I need to contact the original author to see if he has any objections to me releasing my version.  I usually have my browser window on the right of the screen, so my modification “docks” the window on the right, and resizes from there.
    
18. Update Scanner 9/10
    - Monitors web pages for updates. Particularly useful for websites that don’t provide Atom or RSS feeds.
    
19. WiseStamp 7/10
    - Enhance and customize your email signatures. Use multiple Business and Private email signatures, inserts HTML to signatures & much more. Works with Gmail, Google Apps, Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL.
20. Xmarks Bookmark Synchronizer 9/10
    - If you use Firefox on more than one computer, you’ll want Foxmarks. Install Foxmarks on each computer, and it works silently in the background to keep your bookmarks and (optionally) passwords synchronized.
    

Gmail Manager might make a re-appearance on this list at some point in the future, but for now, while the 0.6 version doesn’t work with Gmail’s latest changes, I’ve haven’t added it to my brand new profile Read the latest developments in the mozillazine topic.

Well, the evidence says it’s 5 months.  I have a list of topics about which I’d like to write here, but had been waiting that I could do them justice.  I’m also aware of some updates that are needed, so hopefully there’ll be another flurry of activity soon.

Right now, I’m trying out a new CMS on one of my demo sites: www.toseebefore.co.uk.  So far all is looking good.

Unfortunately I often have to politely direct them elsewhere as in recent times I have been very busy with work and other commitments.

Very occasionally I have agreed to look at a someone’s computer for them.  However I now have some “rules” about the computers I will and won’t look at.  I may have directed you here to look at them.  If so please read the following very carefully:

• You must accept the possibility that I may not be able to solve the problem, and that, in attempting to do so data may be lost.  So take a backup of everything you want to keep before bringing the computer to me.
• If I find any “adult” material, on your computer 1) I will not continue to work on it 2) depending on the nature of the material I may have to report it to the authorities without informing you.  Even if you don’t think that this will apply to you consider:
  • I may be able to see browsing history or emails that you thought were deleted.
  • Are you the only person who uses the computer? If not, do you know the sites the other users may have visited?

  If you think that there is a possibility that someone else may have visited such websites on your computer, then it is probably best for you to take the computer to a computer store.  If this is the reason why you want me to look at the computer for you (to remove content you know is there and want to get rid of), make sure you explain the situation clearly before bringing the computer to me.

• If I find any illegal software or pirated material on the computer I will either:
  • Delete/Remove/Uninstall the illegal software or
  • Stop working on your computer then or in the future

  Illegal software or pirated material is usually any software/material that has a price, but that you didn’t pay for, e.g. a friend copied it for you, or you downloaded a “cracked” version off the internet.
  Many people have illegal copies of Microsoft Office or Adobe programs, or copyright material such as films or music that they haven’t bought.
  To avoid misunderstandings or embarrassment, please don’t ask me to look at your computer if you have any such software or files on your computer.

• You must accept that I may change some of the programs on your computer for those that I prefer or recommend.
• Please make sure that you give me any usernames or passwords that are required to access your computer or areas of your computer.
• If your computer is a desktop, I will not need the monitor, but I will need the base unit, keyboard and mouse.
• If your computer is a laptop/notebook computer I will need the power pack/mains lead.

Finally, some people seem to have the impression that because someone “knows about computers” they will be able to do everything quickly.
I wish that were the case.  If your computer is slow, or if there are many problems with it, it may take me many hours to sort out the problem.  Often I need to wait for a scan to finish, or a program to uninstall or install before I can begin looking at the next issue.  During this time I would need to sit in front of the screen just in case a prompt appears on the screen requiring some user input.  It is tedious, time consuming work.

• As the tagline says, it’s easy to update
• It shows what a sub-domain is: blog.pjwright.com is a subdomain of pjwright.com
• I can easily post tips and advice for clients and friends
• Clients can post feedback/comments on the work I have done for them

One of the first things I plan to do is list some software that I (cautiously ) recommend, so that will be coming soon!