Due to the rapidly changing nature of KDE software, I fear that this may be hopelessly out of date.

Collecting user account information

When KMail is run for the first time, it creates the $HOME/Mail directory and then dumps the user into the settings dialogue (which can usually be found under the file menu). At this point the user is expected to fill in the account information KMail needs to be able to send and receive mail. This is not a trivial task. The user must:

1. Enter their name and email address, and optionally a reply-to address.
2. Click on the Network tab.
3. Select SMTP, and enter their outgoing mail server.
4. Click [Add...]
5. Select POP3 and click OK
6. Enter their name (again), ISP login and password, and POP3 mail server.

This must be a nightmare for a novice user. How is a first-time user supposed to know to click on the network tab? How do they know that they must [Add...] a POP3 account so that they can receive mail?

A much better solution would be to use a wizard to collect this information the first time KMail is run. For users for whom KMail is their internet mail software (this will be a large proportion of all KMail users, and will only become larger), all KMail needs to know is:

• Name
• email address (the one that other people use to send mail to you)
• ISP login and password
• outgoing (SMTP) mail server
• incoming (POP3) mail server