Structure for an unstructured mind

I just created a new tab on my Lotus Notes Workspace. 'Workspace?' you ask. Yes, workspace. Ok, I know, it has been more or less buried by Lotus since Lotus Notes V5 came out. But every time I install the Lotus Notes Client the first thing I do is to reinstate the Workspace back to being the Homepage. I just find it so much easier to work with.

It's a visual thing. I hate having to scroll through extensive lists and if you'd see my current workspace you would know I have a lot of databases listed.

On my workspace I can easily find certain databases blindfolded (CRM database: 1st tab, 1st line, 1st tile from the gap). But if you asked me what the application name was though....
This is because I use visual indicators for finding an application. Things like location on my tabs, icon image and relative position towards other applications. I rarely look at the name.

Having a workspace allows me to structure things visually and in a way that is logical to me, like placing templates below the databases and grouping things the way I want them to, not just into alphabetically sorted lists by name.

Why don't I like the alphabetical lists?

Well... people who know me will recognize this but I'm simply horrible at remembering names! Be it people, brands, databases, etc. I will make a mess of it. I'll easily call a Volvo a Volkswagen, mix acronyms up and still sometimes search for the names of my own cousins. So to put an alphabetical list of 100+ database names in front of me is like saying :"Good luck!". Give me a workspace and tabs though and I have no problems what so ever.

I think this is also why I'm so fond of my iPad. Things are more visually-orientated then list-orientated and that makes it easier to work with for me. I think Lotus could learn a thing or two from Apple there. The visual way of working that Apple has developed would really benefit a lot of people like me that just don't work in structured lists. Take for instance the "Application-Open"  control. Wouldn't it be a lot easier to find databases if it was portrayed in an AppStore like fashion? With a search box and tiled overview, suggestions lists and maybe even preference recognitions? Ok, yes, I know the list-lovers now cringe but I'm sure a lot of ordinary users would absolutely love to have a more intuitive way of locating apps.

How often have you had users you literally had to walk through opening an application on the server?

"Ok, press CTRL and 'O' keys simultaneously. You should see a window called 'Open Application'. Now enter 'x' in the server name field. Do you see a list of names below it? No? Ok, press the [Open] button. Do you see the list now? Yes? Ok. Scroll down until you see the yellow folders and locate the 'x' folder. Double click it. Yes. You see another list now. Find the "xx" name and double click it".....

So until Lotus decides to permanently take out the workspace (or comes up with a better replacement) I'm really happy with my Workspace and the 14 tabs and 100+ tiles I have on it. Let me work in my own quirky way of visual structuring. I'm sure I'm not alone!

Undocumented Method

I've been busy, really busy the last couple of weeks. Mostly with writing jobs I had to finish. I'm still working on an article and apart from that have been really busy with several reports and Functional Design documents so writing on my blog kind of fell in between.

But in the midst of all that writing I got a good old basic user problem to solve today. A notes 5.0 mail file (yes, I know this customer is really taking his time to upgrade) that had problems with it's Signature and Archive settings. they seemed to randomly disappear. Fixup didn't help and to rule out other problems with the profile information documents I decided to simply delete those. Now I've done that literally dozens of times with the calendar profile so knowing how to address that profile was no problem. I wasn't sure about the Archive profile name though, so to be sure I dove into the code to see how it was addressed.

The agent opening the Archive settings called a method:

Call uidb.EditArchiveSettings()

Mmm.....not a method I am familiar with so I tried the help to see what it did. But I got no luck there, no mention of the method in the help files.

Unusual, Domino methods usually are pretty well documented but at the same time: No problem,  the notes community is so well organized that I was sure that I wasn't the first one looking for this. So I turned to the biggest help file imaginable: The Internet.

Within a couple of seconds I  googled several entries noticing what I noticed, that the method wasn't actually documented although it has been in use since Lotus Notes 5.0. But more importantly, they also provided me with the answer I was looking for: The archive profile is addressed as, yes you guessed it: "Archive Profile".

Go figure. That simple and predictable answer could have cost me a lot of time hadn't there have been the Internet. How I ever survived before.....I really don't know!

ps. Deleting the profiles did the trick as I expected.