Thinkcorps

(2001-ongoing) ATP Solutions offers a robust Webmail solution for ISPs and individuals who require a more powerful offering than Hotmail. Provided: Web site design, content, and development; program design and user interface; marketing and customer service collateral.

ATP Solutions is run by my friend, Alex Hart, out of New York. Alex and I have been collaborating on ATPmail for several years now, ever since he decided to turn the web-based email project he hacked together for use while traveling internationally into a business.

We’ve gone through several generations of designs and interfaces, continually incorporating new features as Alex dreams them up. The program now includes powerful spam filtering, an address book, calendar and task management, file storage and more.

Best of all, the program incorporates all this functionality into the main interface (which was no small trick). This makes it an extremely powerful program since an amazing amount of functionality sits at your fingertips. In most cases, there’s several ways to perform any one function, making it very easy for users to get around and get comfortable with the program.

As for programming, ATPmail is very advanced and relies on tons of javascript code, allowing it to run very fast without having to go back to the server every single time you click a button. In fact, the only action that takes any time is when you initially load the program. For example, ATPmail loads your entire addressbook when you login, and accesses the information using javascript, creating powerfully fast searching and autocomplete features (the program will guess who you mean when you start typing an address, for example). When new mail arrives, the entire mail list page is not refreshed, rather the new information is simply added to the page, meaning only the necessary information is transferred. This makes ATPmail easy to use, even on a slow dialup connection.

ATPmail does not use the new AJAX functionality touted by many developers because it’s really not appropriate. However, it has been using a close cousin for many years, the hidden iframe. What this method allows ATPmail to do is communicate efficiently in the background, creating that “application” feeling, but maintain common Web browser functionality—like a functioning back button—that users expect. The problem with AJAX is that if you did hit the back button, you would lose your current application state, in other words, the application would refresh like you just arrived. ATPmail avoids this pitfall by using hidden iframes that respect the back button, meaning users don’t find themselves bumped out of the application if they happen to hit the wrong button.

Because of our close collaboration over the years, Alex and I often work together on other projects. His valuable expertise in programming has allowed us to take on complicated projects that other small developers wouldn’t dare touch. In fact, with Alex involved, it’s actually easy to say to a client that we can do anything they want. There’s not many times you can say that with conviction.