Detaching Files In Notes
It's Tuesday. You know what that means! Time for me to have another whine about a Notes feature that annoys me. Like the last one this week's is also about the use of the directories on your local machine.
Detach one file from a document and this is what you see. Good.
Detach two or more files from a document and this is what you see. Bad.
So, what's the problem, apart from the fact that it points to a folder I have no memory of ever using from within Notes? Well, I always use my Desktop as the in-tray. Everything I download goes there until I can process it and move it on to its permanent home. In the first example dialog it's fairly easy for me to select the Desktop from the dropdown menu. In the second one it's only possible because I happens to know to navigate through C, Winnt, Profiles, howletj and Desktop. Instead I find myself saving to the root of the C drive and then opening an Explorer window to move them over to my Desktop. Why can't these two dialog windows just be consistent. No excuses please. Just do it!
It's been pointed out to me that I am very negative about Domino and not doing its image much good. Well you could also argue that I am doing them a favour. Fix all of these shortcomings and you'll have an even better product than you have already.
Thanks to Tim (don't know which one) for the Shipping News DVD. I watched it on Sunday and liked it a lot. Also to Peter Abatan for the Web Performance Tuning book. I doubt there will be anything aimed specifically at Domino but anything that's worth passing on I will.
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I have to agree. As someone who can ONLY DO Domino development, I am a supporter of the product as much as the next man. But I can't see how there is any point in glossing over things that cost me time, therefore costing my employers money. The Notes client, as a product, has SOME UI features that are better than their Microsoft equivalents. This is important. Imagine what it does for the success of Notes that users of it get used to nice UI stuff on Notes at work, then get annoyed with Microsoft's equivalents.
So there is a point to it, from all persectives. So please Lotus, LISTEN to criticisms of the UI, and not just the Notes client, the Designer client can be an absolute nightmare in some ways. As a purely Domino developer, I use it ALL my working day, so I should expect it to provide me with a speedy comfortable virtual working environment.
Specific, targetted criticism, like is provided on codestore, is a valueable resource.
I'm told the Designer client, as a development environment, is greatly improved in R6. I hope so, as this is very important.
Good gripe Jake, and I'm definitely with you on your comments. As far as the people suggesting you're too hard on Domino....I'm pretty tough with my kids and still love them. 8) Keep the Tuesday Vent alive!
What about the lame attempts at Bookmarks? Why are they so unmanageable? If you change a folder name in one place (bookmark folder), should it not rename the tab on your workspace? It would be nice if you moused over the bookmark links and they provided "titled" information such as, db name, location, server, etc...
I've tried on a few occasions to seperate myself from the Workspace, but just can't do it!
I agree. This is Bad!!!! I posted this in the forums way back when and someone assured me that it was to be fixed.
This is fixed in Notes 6!
Wow. Ed showed up. =)
I think it made sense sort of. The single attachment dialog would let you enter a new name for the single attachment and the multiple one would not. Also you can select a file to replace with the single version. That is why you only get the folder view for multiples. Kind of a pain, but it makes sense. I use my desktop as a dumping ground too.
I see where you're coming from Chris but look at the way other apps handle saving multiple attachments. Outlook for example ;o)
The simple solution would be to not allow you to use the name field, and only show folders for multiple attachments. I think that is what you are talking about Jake. I am guessing that is what version 6 does.
As mentioned already, the folder issue is fixed now. A lot has changed around attachments in Notes 6 in addition to consistent folder dialogs:
- *File-Attach* and the paper clip in the toolbar are greyed out if you're not in a rich text field (no more "Cannot execute the specified command" errors)
- you can 'Edit' the attachment in place (no more detaching, saving, attaching to do the same thing)
- "Detach" and "Launch" have been replaced in the attachment context menu:
-- View
-- Open
-- Edit
--Save
-- Save and Delete
-- Delete
-- Save All
--- Save and Delete All
-- Delete All
- file attach/detach processed in the background (downloading a large file no longer ties up the entire client)
And finally, one that doesn't really impact the UI:
- optional LZ1 compression (instead of Huffman)
Not sure if I missed any, but that list should give an idea that the client UI has improved in Notes 6.
How it looks in R6 Chris:
Rod you forgot to mention that you can drag and drop them to the desktop. Nice! I am half impressed (you can only do one at a time!).
That is a known bug and not broken by design. See:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/nd6forum.nsf/55c38d716d632d9b8525689b005ba1c0/379143ce434c3dcf85256c450065a6e6
Regarding Rod's comment ("- *File-Attach* and the paper clip in the toolbar are greyed out if you're not in a rich text field ...")
I hope this doesn't sound too quibblesome or ungrateful, but it strikes me that this improvement (though real and appreciated) takes the wrong direction. Notes OUGHT to be able to realize that no matter where the cursor may be, any file attachment will have to go into the Rich Text field(s), and put it there.
Take the Address function as an example. Regardless of cursor position, I can use that function. Since there are multiple places an address could go (To, CC, BCC), the Address interface includes the selection for those too, and rather nicely too.
When I fall asleep at my desk and have fitful dreams of the perfect Notes client, it includes an Attach function that works like the Address function. If there's more than one rich text field on the form, part of the popup window lets me select into which of those fields the file should go. If there's just one, Notes preselects it.
Finally, where it should go within the RT field: if the cursor's in the RT field, then it should go right at that spot (as today). Otherwise, place it at the very end of the current content in the field, and which I'd be willing to bet would be fine 90%+ of the time. Or maybe for consistency, ALWAYS place it at the end, regardless of the cursor positioning? Perhaps the Lotus Notes 7.0 development team can work out what's best ...
According to the Fix List database, it will be possible to drag multiple files to and from Notes 6.0.1.