Posted on 2024-08-07
Email tools are pretty interesting. A lot of people these days use whatever web client their email provider gives them: Gmail, Outlook Web, maybe something like Roundcube if they're on an independent host... they're all much of a muchness.
For the most part, these are fine. Gmail and Outlook both suck for writing plain text email[1], but apart from that there's no real problem with it. However, I still prefer a good desktop client.
And I do mean a good desktop client. I'm not talking about Apple Mail or Outlook. Clients like Claws Mail and Thunderbird are more what I'm getting at: solid, dependable, good at following standards. Heck, Thunderbird remains one of the best options out there for working with NNTP. But even with that said, I still have a soft spot for using a terminal-based mail client.
There's something really nice about being able to use my preferred text editor to write email. I really like being able to just flit between tmux panes to move between my work and my communications. Terminal email clients also prioritize good handling of text, which means you can be reasonably assured that when you send that message you're sending it in the correct format.
Currently, I use aerc[2]. But I also recommend checking out Neomutt[3] if you get a chance.
Heck. Maybe I'll get brave enough to go back to Emacs at some point and return to my old mu4e setup...