E-Mail Address

Internet E-Mail Address Format

An Internet e-mail address has two parts: a username, and the domain where that user may be found. The format is username@domain. The @ is read as "at".

The domain name will find the machine (also called a server) where the account resides. The domain name may take the form of either a fully qualified domain name that identifies the precise machine where the account is located or, more simply, the company domain name. In the case of the shorter company domain name, the machine handling the incoming mail should be able to direct messages to another internal server where the account is actually stored. In all, the system is very much like postal stations with banks of locked P.O. boxes.

The username can be a person, a group name, or a business function - like sales.

• A person is usually identified by a string of characters, often of the form - last name first initial, as in doej for Jane Doe, possibly the reverse as jdoe and sometimes like the name itself, jane.doe.
  
  
• A company may set up usernames for various services, such as helpdesk for customer call-in, sales, information. The department name becomes the username: Letters@GlobeandMail.ca for Letters to the Editor at the Globe and Mail, or info@booksforbusiness.com for the information desk at Books for Business.
  
  
• Some positions carry generic usernames: pm@pm.gc.ca for the Prime Minister of Canada at the Prime Minister's office of tthe Government of Canada (gc.ca).

Your Internet Address

To use E-mail you will need a personal Internet address. Format for this is: user_id@domain_name.

• The domain name identifies where you are located on the Internet.
• User ID is your unique identity. UserID is also referred to as username or login ID.

Examples: (with pronunciation)

• charlie@websearchguide.ca - charlie at web search guide dot see-ay) (not a real address)
• felix@catsforfriends.com - Felix at cats for friends dot com (not a real address).

Where to next?

There's a structure to e-mail messages. Read Anatomy of a Message