Can you guess what this button does?
Thu Aug 31, 12:26
We use Lotus Notes at work. We’re the government, so you can’t expect us to always be on the cutting edge, or even within 5 years of it. That’s just how it is.
Anyways, if you are familiar with Lotus Notes, you know that it can do everything, poorly. I have many complaints about Notes, but today I just wanted to share one example that could give you a feel for the general quality (or lack there of) of the application. Let’s look at the main toolbar (I shortened it by cutting some uninteresting parts.) that I see while when I’m reading my email:
Can you guess what these buttons do? Go through each one and guess what each button does. Below are the answers.
Stumped? Obviously this button brings up a little window that shows the properties of the page you’re currently viewing. What else would “two squares, one superimposed on the other and rotated 45 degrees” mean?!
Save. Ok, that was too easy. But don’t get cocky. This next one will get you for sure.
Well, let’s see, an open folder, with an arrow gesturing to open it. Could this be Open? WRONG! It’s New. It brings up a menu where you can choose to make a new email, new calendar entry, new contact, or a new todo item.
Yeah, these are all boring. Edit, Forward Email, Print, Back, Forward, Stop, Refresh.
Ok, now this one was kind of a trick question. You would think it means either Search (which is the right answer) or Magnify. However, clicking on it brings up a friendly little dialog box that says “Cannot execute the specified command”. A button that does nothing? That’s pretty dumb. At the very least it should be greyed-out like the Save button.
Yeah, Lotus Notes is pretty terrible. However, in its defense, I may be holding it to a higher standard than it deserves. After all, they’ve only had 15 or so years to perfect it.
Well, I hope you learned something today. Maybe you learned that you should avoid Lotus Notes. Or perhaps you need to take a look at your own application and make sure you aren’t making the same mistakes. Or maybe you’ve now have a better appreciation for the software you use that doesn’t suck.