Form -vs- Functionality

-Stands Up- "Hello, my name is Keith, and I'm a Administrator" -Sits Down-

There I said it! Now that that's out of the way, I want to talk about the development of applications; not the actual elements of the database, but the look and fell of it. I know that some of you, the ones that got past the first sentence, are saying, who cares what the database looks like, as long as it works right? Well, that's where I would disagree. Sure having the buttons in places where people can find them is great, but if it looks like they were ripped from the design of a mid 90's website........(cringe)...Nuff said.

So why care? You know the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover", that saying doesn't hold true to the applications we develop. How many times have you visited a website, jut to go on to the next one because the site was "outdated" looking. Personally, I feel that if they can't keep the design of the database current, how current is the information. When we develop applications for Domino, the first impression the user gets about the application a a whole is the design. So if we design it using images from a clip art CD made in 1997 and don't take advantage of all the new stuff available to us, then the users will quickly think that Notes as an application is Outdated and opt for the more visually appealing Sharepoint or Outlook. Simple things like roll over graphics, web 2.0 style buttons and menus and even the choice of fonts can make or break an application. Also, color does matter!!!! Look at the design of the 8.5 client. It's uses a simple blue scheme with a splash or color here and there. Take note, this applies to both web based applications as well as Notes client applications. It's so simple to put a graphic on the frame of a table to give it rounded edges or create a menu with highlighted choices, so just take time to explore your options. This stuff isn't new.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, once you're done with the development of the database, pass it to your graphics people to have them make it look good. It will go a long way towards giving Notes a better image. (No Pun)

Case in point, below is the design of an application that I'm working on the graphics for. it's not done yet, but it demonstrates my point.

Desktop Facelift - Free - Clientgenie

I came across this at Lotusphere this year, but I didn't get a chance to play with it until today. I felt like making a change to the way Notes looked....I was in a Battlestar mood!

I created this using the ClientGenie application and Photoshop- http://www.clientgenie.com/free

Yellow Day - How do you celebrate!

So it's Yellow Day! Everyone in the office is in a festive mood and wearing their favorite yellow apparel. The decorations are hung, Lotus Flowers of course, and the food day table is full of your favorite yellow treats; Twinkies, banana's, corn, butterscotch candy, squash, pineapples, lemons...You get the idea... Some, come dressed in fancy yellow scarves and high gloss manicures, yellow of course (Mary Beth Raven). While other simply choose to wear their favorite C.U.L.T shirt. I decided to go with the yellow polo shirt and high gloss yellow construction helmet. It's says I'm ready to work, but still retains the business casual feel.....

So the real question is what did you buy your signifigant other on this holiday and does Halmark have a card for this? Below are some ideas:

Happy Yellow Day Everyone!

Spam Filter - New from FRAM!!

Well, I'm going to install my new SPAM filter this afternoon. I was assured by the manufacturer that this was the best on the market. It's easy to install and cheap too!!! You just need to remember to change it ever 3,000 Messages, or 3 Months, which ever comes first. Now I just need to find the spot on the server to install it.......

Remember to keep the open up when changing the filter, or the Spam will leak out......

What's the oldest database on your server?

So I was looking at databases today and just glanced at the creation dates. I was shocked at the age of one of the mail files on my server. Now we've been using Notes since 1994, but I never expected to see this. It's a database that I've used since I took control of the environment in 2003, but it never occurred to me to see when it was created. (See image Below)

Mine is 6/02/1994 - So, what's the oldest database you have running on your server? Post your replies and lets see who has the oldest file still in production today!

-Keith

IamLUG and GSXDay

So I'm sitting in the last portion of the GSXDay event after 2 days of the first IamLUG event. Kudos to Chris Miller and crew (including his kids) for putting on such a fantastic event. The sessions were well thought out and the presenters were at, or above, the level of the presenters you see at Lotusphere. Of course Paul Mooney was here and he's always good for a laugh, usually at his expense. The usual suspects presented many of the sessions; Paul, John, Chris, Eileen, Mary, Mitch, Kathleen, Etc. Of course the group secured the yearly bonuses for Anheuser Busch management since their sales goals for the month were met last night in the hotel bar. I'll be back for IamLUG 2010, wherever they plan to have it. I encourage all of you that didn't attend, to come and those of you that signed up, but didn't show - Fail. Of course, I'll be at Lotusphere 2010 as well.

OH, GSX Plug, Cool Tool....It really can save an admin his/her job just based on sanity alone. If you have lots (and even little) amounts of servers to monitor, you really need to check them out.

Also, IBM - in Notes 8.5.1 ( Or the next release) we need to have the ability to stop a large attachment from being sent by a user BEFORE it leaves the client and gets delivered to the router (ROOTER if your from Ireland). It's nice that we can block it on the servers, but if the user has a limit, block the message before it's leaves the client. Stop wasting server resources telling the user NO, when the client can do that at no cost to performance!

It's Sabotage...Well OK... not Really.

So, I'm sitting at my cubicle trying to sleep, when a tech from our Service Desk comes over and interrupts a fantastic dream about me and Angelina Jolie. We were sitting on the beach........OK, Too much info.....

He tells me that they received a few calls this morning that users are getting prompted for passwords in Lotus Notes. At first I didn't give it much thought, until I looked at my ticket queue and realized I had 5 people with the same problem. Shortly after that my manager and stopped by to ask me a question and in passing he mentioned that his single sign-on was also not working.

Sure enough, mine had stopped as well. After ruling out Gremlins, Sun Spots and Spontaneous Temporal Shifts in computer settings, I did a quick check of my registry. I found that "NPNOTES" was missing form the Network Provider Order entry; as you may or may not know, without that setting, single sign-on does not work. I checked my settings in Notes and the box was still checked to log in to Notes using the operating system password. Now I'm no rocket scientist, but if more than one person has the same problem, chances are the cause may be similar. I checked the registry on the machines that I had received calls about and sure enough they were missing the entry as well. I added it back on 3 of the machines and had the users reboot. Bingo, Single Sign-on was working again. So what caused the mass extinction of the registry settings?

Quick back story. We use a product called Radia to push out changes to applications and files remotely. We also use ITIL at our company, so we have specific processes around releases and how they are handled. I looked at the release schedule and it showed that just prior to the event, there was a release of a patch to an existing program. It turns out, our CHARM department ( Change and Release Management) had been receiving errors about a package that was failing during install. So they decided to fix it. The problem is, their solution included a line that overwrote the values of the Network Provider Order registry key. Basically wiping out the entry for Notes. So, I had found that something as harmless as "Fixing" a small and inconspicuous application could break my Lotus environment.

ITIL PLUG - If we had not taken the time to record the information about what was released, I never would have been able to track down what had changed the registry. Because I was able to match the CHARM release to the same time frame as the issues with Notes, I was able to find the problem.

After convincing them that they caused a the problem, they are now going to use the same Radia tool to modify the registry setting on everyone's computer to once again include the "NPNOTES" key. So remember, if Notes is broke, it may not be an issue with Notes....But any good administrator already knows that......