META: An email is a fast way of communicating with your family and friends or with your business associates no matter which part of the world you are in. When you form a new email address it is imperative that you know how to go about it.

An electronic mail or more appropriately e-mail as known to us is basically a form of communication that takes place between people via the Internet. Mail is circulated across the Internet by SMPT or Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It was actually launched in the 80’s but has received frequent modifications. It still stands however, to be the common standard used to date. An email address is normally identified by the SMPT. However, when it is not able to find an address it will notify the sender that the email address does not exist.

An e-mail is generally opened and read via an email client which is stored in a computer. Accessed can be gained to your emails by logging on to any personal computer. Here you will be able to send, receive, check and compose emails. A simpler email option is the web mail, which is far easier to use as it is placed at a central point on the Internet from where you can access it through a specific web application. You can use a web mail service from any computer provided it is served by an Internet connection and has a browser facility.

Free email services are provided from the many web mail services out there today, although you could select a paid-for service if you so wish. Whether it is paid for or free, if you wish to exchange messages through this medium then you will firstly need an email address. This email address like any postal address identifies the area where the message has to be delivered. It is an address from where you can send as well as receive all your electronic mail. A specific location can be displayed from the email address you are using which is identifiable by some servers and networks.

Emails have an attribute that is common in all email addresses across the web. Email addresses all have a set format. See the example shown; susie@Yahoo.co.uk. The example shows your first name, followed by the ‘@’ (at) symbol, then the host name, which can be Google, Yahoo, Hotmail etc, and then lastly a three letter abbreviation which usually is co.uk. or com, or ac.uk .com, .gov, .edu, .com and so on. Due to the fact that the features generally remain unchanged, forming an email address for yourself has never been easier.

While creating an email address for yourself, you should be aware that there are certain limitations. It is more common for lower case letters to be used than upper case, but because it is not case sensitive upper charactes can be used. Users should be aware however, that this must not exceed sixty-five characters. It is hard to identify, if you start including other characters, so it is advised not to include them. The ‘at’ symbol sets the user name and the domain name apart. The domain name is a bit more limited as you are only allowed to use letters, numbers and the hyphen symbol.

Having learnt the basics of how to create a new email account, you are now ready to start using your new email addresses to begin communicating with your family and friends.