Google offers a way to integrate Google services with your custom domain, Google Apps

I’ll be honest, it’s pretty great. But why do I like it so much? Simple: e-mail.

Rather, Gmail. It’s no secret that I and many people are big fans of Gmail. It’s fast, extensively uses Ajax to make it a seamless and fast experience, has a clean design and feels a lot more Web 2.0 than any other Web e-mail service out there.

With Google Apps, I can take my patthorntonfiles.com e-mail accounts and run them through Gmail. This means I can all the great features and services that I do with a @gmail.com e-mail account, but now I can use my custom @patthorntonfiles.com e-mail accounts. This is great because — and this is no great surprise — the Web e-mail client for my server is atrocious — arguably worse than what comes from Microsoft.

I’ll have all my contacts on the go (Gmail automatically adds contacts too and remembers who I e-mail with auto-completion), built in messaging so I can talk to my contacts from anywhere, labeling (which is a lot sweeter than folders), SPAM filtering that rocks my world, IMAP support so I can sync up with my various computers and mobile phone and, here is the kicker, 4.5 gigs of space per e-mail account. I only have 1 gig of server space to begin with, but now I won’t have to use any of it on e-mail. This allows me to be a lot more aggressive in what I keep in my e-mail box. I always had to worry about clogging up my server before.

Plus, it is all free.

Those of us who have been enjoying the new version of Gmail can attest that it really is a special Web app now. It’s blazing fast, has a nicer UI and just works better. Too bad my patthorntonfiles.com accounts haven’t been updated to the new version like my personal account has.

If any of you are ever bored or want to talk about the state of journalism, Web development or anything tech related, feel feel to e-mail me at pat[at]patthorntonfiles[dot]com. Or, better yet, just send me a chat message. I’ll be checking my domain’s e-mail a lot more now that I have it hooked up to a world class Web client.

Plus, I used to have this really cryptic way of logging into my e-mail while I was on the road. Now, I can just go to a standardized address like http://mail.example.com to login to my account. Yeah, that’s hot, and my e-mail account won’t be swimming in offers to make me rich or increase my sexual prowess.

Now I just need an iPhone to take my IMAP support to another level.

P.S. Google Apps also allows you to use Google Calendars, Docs and other services through your domain too. This would be a great option for a small business, educational institute or college newspaper. But I really just wanted the e-mail.