1. A method for notifying a user of a computer having a display about incoming messages stored in an inbox, the method comprising: a) receiving size information and originator information about a plurality of messages in the inbox; b) for each of the plurality of messages, generating a message visualization structure associated with the respective message, and determining a first non-textual visual feature of the message visualization structure on the basis of the size information of the message and a second non-textual visual feature of the message visualization structure on the basis of the originator information of the respective message; c) rendering on the display the visualization structures within a graphical environment in which the message visualization structures convey information about the messages, their respective size information, and their respective originator information in a non-textual-list manner, wherein at least one of the first non-textual visual feature and the second non-textual visual feature includes an animation of the message visualization structure associated with the corresponding message.
1. A method for notifying a user of a computer having a display about incoming messages stored in an inbox, the method comprising: a) receiving size information and originator information about a plurality of messages in the inbox; b) for each of the plurality of messages, generating a message visualization structure associated with the respective message, and determining a first non-textual visual feature of the message visualization structure on the basis of the size information of the message and a second non-textual visual feature of the message visualization structure on the basis of the originator information of the respective message; c) rendering on the display the visualization structures within a graphical environment in which the message visualization structures convey information about the messages, their respective size information, and their respective originator information in a non-textual-list manner, wherein at least one of the first non-textual visual feature and the second non-textual visual feature includes an animation of the message visualization structure associated with the corresponding message. 3. A method as defined in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first non-textual visual feature and the second non-textual visual feature includes the color of one of the visualization structures.