Like many of you out there, I’m a Gmail guy. I use it for my personal websites, for my personal e-mail, and I set up all of my friends on it as well. Thing is, I’m not a huge fan of Apple’s Mail program. It got better for me recently when I learned about smart mailboxes, but otherwise, it just seems to be lacking to me. Sure, I could try Thunderbird, and I do have Entourage, but there’s still nothing that really works the way I want it to.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s had these thoughts, because there’s been some talk about this problem on the Mac. There’s an interesting piece over at Macworld about an open-source e-mail program that has some pretty heavy hitters behind it. Brent Simmons from NetNewsWire kicked it off, and now it looks like Daring Fireball’s John Gruber is now involved as well. The project is named Letters.app, and it’ll be interesting to see how it comes to fruition. If anyone can get it done, it’s that group, that’s for sure.

The first is for those of you that are unhappy with the new Dock. By replacing 4 images you can change the look of your Dock from bright and reflective to smokey looking and reflective. It’s a pretty cool change, but it’s going to come down to which one you like better. I like the Leopard Dock, so I’m happy with the default look. If you want to change it though, you can click here to find out how.

If you’re a big fan of the Stationary in Mail (which I’m not – I don’t see much point it in myself) you can create your own templates by following the instructions on The Apple Blog. Maybe if there were some cool stationary templates out there, I might like it better….so go make some, then email me.

You can send an entire webpage in Safari by pressing cmd+I – this will open a mail window with the entire page loaded inside the body of the message, with the title of the page in the subject line.

Perfect for sending your buddy at the office who’s Internet has restriced access those Star Wars Gaming news pages!

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…but there’s always room for improvement, and if you get a lot of mail, or compulsively check your mail, there are some really excellent Apple Mail plugins that can help you get more work done, and still stay on top of those forwards you love getting from grandma….

I’ve compiled a list of my favorite 5 Apple Mail Enhancers that I think are must haves for anyone using Apple Mail that has to deal with more than a few dozen emails a day…

DockStar – Dockstar can help you keep track of your email at a glance by creating multiple alerts in your dock Mail icon. For example, email in your business folder could appear as a yellow star with a number to indicate how many unread messages you have in that folder, or your husband/wife could appear via a heart symbol with a number in it. DockStar can really help you keep track of your mail without having to spend your entire day going back into Mail to see who sent you what.

Mail Widget – If you’re like me, then you probably feel the need to check your email every few minutes (at least)…but you may not want to keep Apple Mail open all the time…especially if you’re on a slower system and resources are valuable. Well, with this handy Widget you won’t have to. Now, checking your mail is just a click to Dashboard away…

Mail Tags - from enhanced organization through keyword, projects and due dates, to linking mail messages to iCal appointments Mail Tags takes Apple Mail to the next level, and makes it easier to organize your inbox, and get your work done.

Mail Act-On – also from the makers of Mail Tags, Mail Act-On allows you add keystrokes to Mail Rules, making it much easier to highlight messages you want to return to, and file your mail away with just one or two clicks. You can use it for very simple tagging, or build complicated systems to manage your mail with ease. A very powerful tool.

Mail Appitizer – Mail Appitizer is my favorite Apple Mail plug-in. This cool little free plug-in can really save you time if you’re constantly checking your email. When a new message comes in, Mail Appitizer pops up a small semi-transparent window with the email message in it. This gives you a look at your mail at a glance to let you know if you need to stop what you’re doing to respond now…or just wait until you have more time.

Do you have an Apple Mail plugin that you love that we didn’t mention here? Leave a link in the comments below and let us know about it!