Most people should think of MS Outlook, Thunderbird or other decent email applications before even considering Lotus Notes as a solution to their email needs.
I myself have chosen to the GMail route for personal use since I find the interface is great, although not the most efficient at times, grouping your conversations together and generally responding quickly to user actions.
But let's get back to Lotus Notes, and why I hope nobody ever has to use this horribly bloated mess of an application whose user-interface experts must have been away on vacation during its development.
First of all, the WHY.
Why would anyone even bother with it? Well, in my case the company I work at uses it so I don't have a choice. I can't think of any other reason anyone would subject themselves to its psychological torture.
Why am I bothered by it so much?
Usability Blunder #1
I write an email and send it off - let's say I included a 10mb project document and sent it to Joe Swanson, Ubergenius. I also sent carbon copies (for those of you who haven't figured out what "Cc" means) to my project team.
Joe responded to my message (also using Notes) and has unfortunately selected the Reply-To-All-With-History option.
Silly, Joe. Will he ever learn?
There's a multitude of reply options in the wondertool that is Lotus Notes:
- Reply will not include any history at all
- Reply-with-History resolves that but includes all original attachments in the reply. Why anyone would want to do this on a regular basis is beyond me.
- Reply-without-Attachments is available yes, but since it's the last option on the menu it seldom gets noticed nevermind selected.
And yes, those options are duplicated for the dreaded Reply-To-All feature.
So the attachment I sent Joe has now been sent back to me as well as the 15 people in the Cc list.
Thanks, Joe for assassinating the mailbox storage limit for my whole project team.
Usability Blunder #2
Respond to an item in your "sent Items" and Notes cleverly decides that the recipient should be none other than yourself: the initial sender of the message.
SURELY if you want to reply to any email you want to reply to the sender, right? Sheesh, even Gmail got this one right and it hasn't been around for long at all. I can just imagine how many years this application has butchered such a simple function.
Usability Blunder #3
Lotus Notes has a side bar on the left side of the screen that can hold your bookmarks to address books and other databases (everything in Notes is basically a database).
I can't be positive, but most people would think if you have a bookmark set to point to a certain database that's most likely what you expect it to run when you click on it.
Well folks, in the world of Notes it's a different world. Of course it will work when you initially set it up, but there have been countless times where that very bookmark that I've clicked on about 40 times this morning to run my database development project now decides to point to another database.
Hmmm ok. Well maybe the design is the same? No, it's a completely different filename in a completely different location with a completely different design.
Let's try directly opening the file I was working on before then, that should work.
Oh, it doesn't. Well it does in a way, but unfortunately I'm not satisfied with running a backup version of the database that I made about 3 weeks ago. I'd rather run the one that I've put about 50 hours of work into since, thank you.
I don't change a thing, and get back from a much needed coffee run.
Clicking on the icon now points to the proper database again.
Magic!
Usability Blunder #4
Wow, the storage limit of my mailbox is really getting up there.
Around the time I get a warning before sending any outgoing mail out is when I start going through my existing items and saving/removing attachments I didn't have a chance to do at the time.
Oh here we go, I found an email with a 6mb attachment - that's probably a good chunk of memory I can restore in my profile.
I open it up, save and delete the attachment and have a look at the buttons available to me in the toolbar.
- Send
- Save & Send
Hmmm that's weird. So I'll have to send the message back to the people in the Cc list simply because I wanted to remove the attachment? That doesn't make much sense.
To conquer this you'll need to press the Esc key which brings up a menu to "Save Only" the email without sending it to anyone. Shouldn't this be placed in the toolbar as a standard action? You'd think so... but no.
Usability Blunder #5:
Developing applications using Notes Designer
Lotus Notes uses the Domino server to run its databases, which use framesets, agents, forms and pages using Lotusscript, a formula language and JavaScript.
Since I'm not too familiar with JavaScript I've been using Lotusscript heavily as well as the formula language for when it's more efficient to do so (fairly often actually).
Lotusscript itself is a spin-off of visual basic... no semicolons are needed at the end of lines and the function names are pretty much identical. It has the same basic form elements such as text boxes, list- and combo-boxes and in general everything works fairly well.
The Blunder
Let's say I'm in the middle of writing code for a button. I finish a line that requires some testing, the designer doesn't have a problem with the syntax so I preview my form with the code changes to ensure it works the way I expect.
Notes: "Do you want to save your form before proceeding?"
I sure do! I click YES. Maybe the first time it doesn't work because I made some type of logical error in the code.
I'll exit from the preview, change the code and hit CTRL+S to save so as to not be bothered by the save-prompt again. I click Preview again.
Notes continues into preview mode, yet somehow, basic unrelated functionality in that button code that was working not 2 minutes ago is now not performing its usual action.
That's odd, let's investigate.
Found it!
A line of code that I haven't been anywhere near in the last 2 days has somehow disappeared.
Once again... magic!
I've found one way to try and overcome this is clicking on the form itself after modifying the code and then doing the CTRL+S. It seems as though even using that shortcut while in the code-editing window will give you a greater chance of code disappearance.
This is by far the most frustrating thing in the development environment.
honorable Mention: Rich Text Fields
Another frustrating thing is probably working with rich-text fields, as for some reason after any changes are made, the document being modified must be saved, closed and re-opened in order for the changes to be seen on the screen. Amazing!
I can't think of anything else at the moment unfortunately.
As you can see, I'm far from thrilled with this application but hopefully I've steered you away for the moment until things improve.
Next up at the firing range: Motorola phonebook design.
11 comments:
I stumbled across your post about Lotus Notes and I couldn't agree with you more. The company I work for uses Notes, and I find it absolutely horrible. We recently upgraded from version 5 to version 6.5, which made the interface look a lot cleaner, but which didn't do anything to its gaping usability holes. I've recommended the company switch to Exchange for months, but since they've made such a large investment into their Notes infrastructure, I doubt they're going to be changing anytime soon.
Well well, as a notes expert (=someone who knows a lot about a tiny areas of the it world) I do need to reply.. I've been using notes for 14 years now, and I could not agree less with you.. the fact that you complain simply means that you can't see the advantages of this whole "notes" you're complaining so much about.
I've lived without a virusscanner for 14 years now, and I have never ever had any problems with any form of virusses. I've heard of NO-ONE who uses anything else which did not have at least 10 outbreaks during this timeframe (usually way more). I know of several hunderd people who had to completely reinstall their OS because of this and whould be happy to use a mail system which is so unvulnarable to virusses.
I've heard of NO-ONE who had such a backward compatibility like notes has for at least 14 years, I can still open my mailfiles from 1993 in 5 versions later. Try that with ANY program.. try opening your windows mailfile from 1995 with the current outlook, or try the same with the 1995 netscape mail you had.. NO chance.. in notes you can not only read them, but also reply and work with the ORIGINAL file, without even converting anything.
Try retrieving ONE email from a backup from 2 years ago.. from 2 versions ago, or even more.. In notes NO problem, in ANY other system you would need to reinstall that old version.
Show me any mail server which can run on the fidelity of systems that the domino server (the actual server's name) can run on, for that matter, the same counts for the client.. It can run on windows (95 through vista), macintosh and linux currently. They all look and feel the same, and are native applications, not just a browser imitation.
Yes there are some things which could be improved on the UI, but well notes is way more then just email, and comparing this with outlook or g-mail is totally off scale.. it's like comparing a bike, with a motorbike and a ferari.. and yet, Notes is the ferari in this case.. You need to educate your users.
Let's say you WANT to redistibute the attachment, let's say you want the full difelity, can you even achieve that in those other programms ?
About rich text.. well give it a try in any other program.. the fidelity notes offers can not be done anywhere else.. and because it can do so much, there are some restrictions.. well, I don't find that too bad, seeing what can be done there.. there is no other program which can do all this.. try embedding a ole object in the g-mail you're sending.. try adding a java applet in outlook, together with multiple layers, sections, graphs, a powerpoint and a freelance LIVE application, and some more weird stuff.. including full fledged html.. no chance.. and because it can do so much, you find it bad ? Weird thinking..
And please show me where you can modify the appearence of g-mail or outlook in such a radical form like you can in notes. The integrated designer is a serious tool, which has 4 languages integrated, do show me any mail capable program which has anything close to that.
I know of at least 50 companies which are using notes to the fullest, but also 50 companies who use notes just for email, and are very very satisfied with it. It's a tool which needs some training, and when used for some time will allow a wider fidelity of things compared to any other programm.. still it has new options and posibilities for everyone.. you just need to know where to look.
- a Very satisfied notes user -
You won't steer people from an enterprise decision with a rapid-fire rant on a product like Notes. Oh someone might stumble on this and use it to fight their Outlook holy war internally, but corporations make decisions based on facts, extensibility and ROI and not random nitpicks.
So to those nitpicks:
#1 The reply option order has been changed in Notes 8, but once people know Reply without Attachments is an option (key, read the drop down) they use it. Being "last" in the list means it's 1/4" of mouse movement. If you have users routinely messing this up, send them to remediation.
#2 In 15 years I have never had occasion to reply to something in my sent folder, just as I've never written "Return to Sender" on a piece of postal mail I was sending. The use case you describe simply doesn't exist in real life.
#3 If you have a problem with a bookmark, open the workspace. Or hit Ctrl-O to open a database. Remove the bookmark and put it back.
#4 Remove your attachment and hit Ctrl-S, or File-Save, like everything else on a computer. Don't expect an email program to know your intent when editing a message (something that typically has one action performed on it, not manipulation) that's already been sent or received.
#5 Losing a line of code, never seen it happen.
Rich Text, I agree and have always wanted back-end changes to be brought to the UI, but live with it. Nothing else handles rich text like Notes. Certainly not an email-only program.
Notes 8 will definitively close all these discussions in which noone is right or wrong 100%
Notes 8 will offer :
- world class UI and ergonomy
- complete openess via Eclipse RCP
- Compliance with standards including Free open document formt suite
- Integrated presence awareness and Chat
- Windows, Linux & Mac client
I use the beta for 1 month. I no longer open any outlook, gmail or external webmail account that look sooooo poor now compared to my Notes 8 mail client.
Michael
Are more than 120 million users that wrong ? A lot of the large, major companies are using it. Lotus is installed in 60'000 companies. Now do some calculations: 120'000'000 / 60'000 = 2000 employees (avg). Just let me tell you: these companies do know exactly the strength of Lotus Notes/Domino. Btw: Have you seen the Notes 8 beta? A lot has been done on the user interface.
Umm. I hear you pain. But it does sound as if your running version 5 or before. Notes is now up to 7.0.2, with nd8 (and a completely overhauled - at last - user interface)..
Also bear in mind that if your a corporate developer, and dont like the way the mail template works - customise it. You have the source code right there, and you can make the mail template do what your business wants. Lots of other companies do this.
Or use the excellent open-source mail template from http://www.openntf.org ?
There's lots of ways around your issues - your no longer in Microsoft land now. You have the tools - fix em.
But first - upgrade your servers, clients, and mailfiles to a more recent release, eh ?
---* Bill
http://www.billbuchan.com
LOL I love how there were 4 Lotus propaganda posts (all within a couple of hours of each other, 5 days after the original post)...
So based on those comments, it takes about 15 years to finally figure out Notes? I love the one comment about "educate your users", as if its the fault of end users that Notes isnt intuitive... personally, I dont think a user should have to endure additional training just to use a different email client.
Then there are comments like "Are more than 120 million users that wrong?" Well, do each of these 120 million users have a CHOICE?
Oh but I like Bill's comments even better. Thanks Bill, I'll jump right on hacking away at the source code to make my mail template pretty, right after I upgrade all of our company's "servers, clients, and mailfiles to a more recent release". Once I'm done, I'll look up in bewiderment and wonder why I'm getting fired for wasting all that time when I should have been doing my freakin job... it may be easy for Bill to do all these upgrades as he's a domino sysadmin (which actually makes it his job), but for end users like us, yeah right.
If you have 15 years of experience with a software tool or technology, you have absolutely no perspective on the learning curve that newer users have to endure. If you're a lotus domino sysdamin, you no longer care.
-Cole
Take a course or something...your comments sound stupid enough to see you do not understand at all what is going on. Tip: press F1 for help.
I'm quite amazed at the fact that this post has become such a gathering spot for IBM shills, err, I mean Notes fanboys.
I use Notes every day, and on a weekly basis at minumum, I discover something new that's broken. By broken, I mean illogical or counterintuitive in day-to-day use for an average user. Quite frankly, I don't care how customizable Notes is from a dev perspective, or how many databases you can integrate in the interface, or that you can send working java apps alongside rich text, html and a powerpoint attachment (which, honestly, any other e-mail app does just as well, but that's not the point). If that were the measure of a quality e-mail app, everyone would have their own written-from-scratch custom implementation of some UNIX command-line tool. Notes is a complete mess from a user perspective.
I can't find the time to write up a full list of grievances (hey, if I didn't have to waste so much time working around Notes' shortcomings, maybe I would!), but with reference to #2 above, I need to put in my two cents because there were some senseless comments made on this point.
Obviously, if I click 'reply' on a sent message, what I (and by 'I', I again mean an end user, not a cranky 15 year developer veteran who is completely detached from his user base) want to do is send a follow-up note to the original recipient. Why would anyone possible assume this could mean anything else? Why on earth would someone want to click 'reply' on a sent message and then be greeted with a new message, happily adressed to themselves? Or is the argument here that Notes is superior because its behaviour is so inclusive it even takes into account the needs of schizophrenics?! Unbelievable.
Such an interesting array of comments!
I do appreciate the tip to press F1 for help, and strangely for someone that absolutely never uses Help functions unless under extreme circumstances I find the Domino Designer help system very helpful - quite the opposite of most help files. I highly doubt though that they will have a section in there entitled "Click here to find out why your bookmarks don't point to what they used to point to."
Maybe someone should add that section in there, and say something constructive like "all you have to do is just remove the bookmark and add it again." Since that has not ever happened to me with any other program I've used in the last two decades that's not an acceptable solution. That's like saying... your car shuts off at random? Well why don't you just start it again... Duh!
And taking a Lotus Notes course? Surely you're joking. Will the course tell me why a line of code I wrote not five nanoseconds ago has disappeared? The instructor will simply look at me with a blank stare and ask me to write to the Domino Support team.
The most entertaining comments for me was a response to my issue with replying to items in my Sent Items folder. "The use case you describe simply doesn't exist in real life." Oh I agree that if you worked at IBM in their Lotus Notes development group it certainly does not! However, why did the clever folks at Google figure this one out? Did I write to them in advance of developing their free email system and tell them - "Hi, it's Alex again... please let me reply to items in my Sent folder and make sure the other guy's name is in the To: box, not mine. Thanks!"
Now, I realize Gmail is not a corporate tool and that there are numerous benefits to using Lotus Notes from an enterprise perspective, but you must also realize that I'm looking at this in terms of the user interface experience. Since I'm one in the tens of thousands of end-users in my company, I cannot demand that all our servers, clients and whatever else get upgraded to the latest World Class User Interface of Notes v8.
Besides, they will not be upgrading to Notes 8 since we have already migrated the majority of our users to Microsoft Exchange. That must say something for a company that has been using Lotus Notes for decades, and is partnered with IBM for numerous products and services.
I need not reiterate what Cole and jhembach wrote but they highlighted my thoughts exactly - it seems like so many products are designed for the uber-Linux guru who thinks nothing of editing source code and recompiling kernels on 50 different builds of an operating system. Is it so much to ask that a little more thought and planning go into a product before it's released so that this isn't necessary?
The end user should not need to make adjustments to compensate for the interface. Too many companies are doing this with everything from coffee makers to mobile devices to automobiles. From time to time it's nice to see others that appreciate intuitive user interface design and strive beyond the bare minimum of what is required for basic operation.
Just come across this quite old post, but couldn't resist the temptation to post a reply (and yes, at the 1st of January when everybody else is shooting off a month savings in fireworks here in the Netherlands ;-) ).
Two things you wrote:
"And taking a Lotus Notes course? Surely you're joking. Will the course tell me why a line of code I wrote not five nanoseconds ago has disappeared? The instructor will simply look at me with a blank stare and ask me to write to the Domino Support team.
"
If I would be instructing that course I would actually give you an answer. The reason is very simply. In button edit mode, ctrl-s is a character and with any other character in Windows, if you've selected a line of code and then type another character, that line of code is replaced by that character. I leave it in the middle whether it's a logical to have ctrl-s be a character and only in button edit mode, but it took me only once of making that mistake to figure it out. It puzzles me why you still haven't figured that one out.
2nd remark is about your bookmark problem. Only explanation for that one is that you or someone else messed with the replica ID of the databases. Notes uses some key to link that bookmark to a database. If multiple databases have the same key which can only happen if people have fiddled manually with it, you get problems.
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