When ISU students sign into their WebMail accounts for the first time this semester, they may hardly recognize their login pages.

A cosmetic home page alteration and an updated deluxe version of WebMail was unveiled by Academic Information Technologies on Jan. 5.

Frank Poduska, systems analyst for Academic Information Technologies, said the planning and designing of the deluxe version of WebMail has been in the works for nearly a year.

“It’s been a long time coming,” he said.

Poduska said continuous upgrades and improvements are made to the system. However, this modification was the largest to date.

“This change was made because we wanted to speed things up in a way that could only be done if we loaded some of the process into the local computer,” he said.

Nearly 800 people volunteered to test the new version, Poduska said.

Of the 800 volunteers, 200 of them consistently logged into WebMail using the Deluxe version, he said.

Jessica Gunzburger, junior in biology, was one of the volunteers who contributed comments and suggestions toward the new deluxe version. She said she believes the deluxe version allows for easier account management.

“I think [the deluxe version] is a lot more straightforward,” she said. “It’s easier to manage folders and to see how much free space you have.”

The major change with WebMail Deluxe is the requirement of JavaScript on the user’s computer, Poduska said.

This means many of the available features will rely on the user’s computer instead of the server as it previously was, he said.

“Not everyone’s computer will have the JavaScript capability,” he said. “That’s why the classic version is still available.”

Poduska said the classic version is the default version of WebMail, so users who prefer the deluxe version will need to select ‘Deluxe’ in their preferences under the ‘Options’ file.

Zach Covington, sophomore in pre-business, also provided his feedback about the new version. He said he prefers the deluxe version because of the built-in anti-spam feature, which has cut down on his junk mail.

“[The deluxe version] has a lot of the same functions,” he said. “It’s easy for people to use, but at the same time offers a lot of advanced features.”