We wish we found IBM's Lotus Notesa long time ago. This single application could have formed the basis forthe entire site. The interface is so problematic, one might reasonably concludethat the designers had previously visited this site, and misread 'Hall ofShame' as 'Hall of Fame'. Lotus Notes 4.6 contains almost every example of inefficient design illustrated thoughout the entire Hall of Shame site. What follows is an introductory collection of some of the myriad of problems with the application. As we fortunately no longer use Notes, we encourage you to let us know which aspects of Lotus Noteshave caused you difficulty. Of course, we recognize that some visitors maydisagree with our assessment of particular features of the application, andwe invite your feedback. Comments can be sent to [email protected]. Feedback from Notes users... Last updated 28-July-1999 |
The command buttons shown here are the main entry point to the application. Unlike all other command buttons however, these buttons require a double-clickto operate. The new user, of course, is unaware of this 'feature', and clickson the desired button, then waits for something to happen. The only thingthat happens unfortunately, is that the button takes on a depressed appearance. The user will wait some period of time believing perhaps that the applicationis processing his or her request, then likely conclude that the button doesn'twork, and clicks a different button. It is only after a considerable amountof time, clicking all of the buttons, and some divine insight that the userattempts a double-click. |
Once the user has figured out the operating characteristics of the main commandbuttons, he or she is presented a new set of buttons with a different setof operating characteristics. The command buttons shown here operate witha single click, do not take on a depressed appearance, and display a highlightedline to indicate which button has been clicked. While many users would at first glance conclude that the 'arrow' on thetopmost button is an indicator that this is the currently selected button,it is used to indicate that this is a 'special' (a.k.a. inconsistent andundesirable) type of button. Clicking on the arrow causes the button to'open' (downward) to reveal a variety of folders. Why the designers choseto use an arrow pointing to the right to indicate downward movement is oneof the many mysteries of this program. |
This image from Notes was provided to us by visitor Susan Singer: One of the most annoying aspects of Notes is its failure toprovide horizontal scroll bars when necessary. I suppose many users don'tcare what's on the right side of their screens. The attached bitmap showsan instance where 2 horizontal scroll bars are needed. To add a horizontalscroll bar the user has to (instinctively?) click on View then select Showthen select Horizontal Scroll Bar. |
This image was provided to us by visitor Ernest Pittarelli: This is the most infuriating message of all. WHY am I limited to only 8 windows at a time?!? Visitor Lorenzo Marcantonio writes that this message is seen all too frequently when performing searches in Notes 'ominous' help system, as each search opens a new window. |
Because of the Notes design model, the spell-checker becomes almost useless. In addition to checking the body of the letter, the Lotus Notes spell-checker in also checks the e-mail addresses, invariably returning spelling errors. |
Like most e-mail readers, Lotus Notesprovides the ability to attach files to message. Unfortunately, becauseof the design of the application, most users have a particularly difficulttime with this simple function. The Attach File function only works when the cursor is in the 'Body'section of the letter. If the cursor is in any other area of the letter,the Attach File function, while not disabled, will not work, and will insteadcause the poorly-composed, generic Notes error message to be displayed. The problem with attaching files is an artifact of Notes'document-centric design. There is no functional reason why the user mustbe in the Body of the letter to attach a file. Attachments in Notesare indicated with an icon to represent the attached file. As such, theicons could simply be appended to the end of whatever information was includedin the Body portion of the message, regardless of where the thin black lineof the cursor was located at the time of the attachment. The recent experience of one of our clients, a large financial institution,provides a notable illustration of the difficulties users have with the AttachFile function. Just after the corporation switched to Lotus Notes,their Help Desk was inundated with calls from employees specifically askinghow to attach files. To stem the tide of calls, the organization sent aletter to each of its employees explaining the necessary steps. This shouldgo without saying, but such an action really shouldn't be necessary. |
A visitor wishingto remain anoymous sent us the following message that was sent to all membersof his organization from the head of the IT department. The message wassent 5 months after the company switched to Lotus Notes, and to us, represents yet another example of the extraordinary efforts Lotus Notes requires of the organizations that adopt it.
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The simple act of sending a reply to a letter is no less convoluted. Selecting 'Reply' does not append the original message to the reply, themost likely means of replying to a message. To attach the original message,the user must select the dubiously worded 'Reply With History' function. Upon selecting either the 'Reply' or the more likely 'Reply With History' button, a new window is opened containing the Notes fields. By default, Notesincludes only the sender as a recipient. To send the reply to all recipients,the user must select the 'Reply To All' button. Interestingly, the 'ReplyTo All' button has no apparent effect on the message. The new user is likelyto click on it, pause a moment, click on it again, and perhaps click on itagain. To see that the button has indeed had an effect, the user must 'open'the recipient fields. What should have been a single step requires threeseparate actions of the user. |
Visitor John Kristoff wrote us to describe Notes' behavior that he finds particularly problematic:Whenyou reply 'with history', the original note you're replying to ends up firstbeing copied into the clipboard, and is then pasted into your new e-mail.Any information you had earlier copied (to the clipboard) and wanted to pasteinto your message will be wiped out. Because of this bizarre behind-the-scenes behavior of Notes Johnlearned to use the 'Forward' function instead since it doesn't use the clipboard. Unfortunately, he then has to manually add the addressees to the message. |
Pressing the Trash button while reading a message has the same apparent effect as the 'Reply to All' button: nothing. The typical user will click it, click it again, scratch his or her headand perhaps look around before clicking it again. Still, nothing happens. While one would expect that the Trash button would close the message and send it to the trash folder, it merely indicates to the program(as opposed to the user) that the message should be sent to the trash folderwhen the user closes the message. The likelihood that someone would wantto continue reading a message after saying 'trash it' seems particularlyremote, thus, building such functionality into the program strikes us asa misguided effort that is likely to confuse the user. To make the program understand that you really do want to trash amessage, you must select the 'Delete' button on the same toolbar, which infact does close the message and send it to the trash folder. The Deletebutton, however, is at the extreme right hand edge of the toolbar, and isonly visible if the application is maximized at a resolution of at least800x640. |
Lotus Notes also provides 'Trash' and 'Delete' buttons from thein-box itself; unfortunately, the actions of these buttons are in directcontradiction to the same buttons provided when reading a letter. Whereasthe 'Delete' button from the letter window causes the message to be immediatelysent to the Trash folder, the same button in the in-box window merely toggleswhether the selected letter should be sent to the Trash folder at some latertime. Similarly, whereas the Trash button from the letter window marks theletter as one to be sent to the Trash folder at some later time, the 'Trash'button in the in-box causes the message to be immediately deleted from thein-box and sent to the Trash folder. Itshould be pointed out the the image of the Delete button above is only availablewhen the program is viewed on a monitor with a resolution of at least 1024x768. When viewed at a more typical resolution of 800x600, the Delete button istruncated, as shown here; at a resolution of 640x480, the Delete button isnot displayed at all. Go figure. |
Part of the difficulty facing new users of Lotus Notes is the terminology employed by the application. The main application command buttons provide access to 'databases', such as the E-Mail Database, the Help Database, the Address Database, etc. The Help database defines a database as a single file containing multiple documents, then defines a document as a 'datebase entry' consisting of 'fields'. The Help database then gets into a verbal joust with the user with such terms as 'database libraries', 'records', and 'Domino Servers'. While the Help database describes the steps necessary to 'replicate' a database, it fails to define the word 'replicate'. All of these terms are meaningless to most computer users. Moreover,they should be meaningless to most users. Unfortunately, to learn to useNotes the shipping clerk, the secretary, and the vice-presidentof finance all have to develop a programmer's vocabulary. Computer applicationsare supposed to shield the user from such terminology. Similarly, the application makes dubious distinctions among the variousfunctions in the program. As shown in the image, forwarding a letter isconsidered an 'Action' and, by virtue of its grouping, is somehow consideredrelated to 'Emptying the Trash', whereas replying to a letter is considereda 'Creation', and not unlike the act of entering an appointment in the calendar. The terminology employed in Notes can baffle computer professionals. It doesn't require much generalization to conclude that it could utterlydefeat the casual computer user. |
As an illustration of the difficulties inflicted upon the user by the terminology employed in Lotus Notes,one merely needs to look at the task of accessing the address book. An addressbook is a central concept in nearly every e-mail application; it is a clearlyrecognized metaphor for a collection of names and addresses. While Lotus Notesdoes include an address book, it is buried under so much system structureand jargon that the very powerful metaphor is made irrelevant and impotent. The address book in Notes is accessed by selecting the File menu, the Database submenu, and the Open submenu item, while ignoring all the irrelevant submenus and submenu items. The user is then provided the dialog illustrated here, and prompted to specify the Server, the Database, and the File. Access is then provided when the user has selected the Open button. Given the task, and the metaphor, this is Geekspeak at its finest! This terminology underscores Lotus Notes as an application clearly designed by geeks to be used by geeks. Unfortunately, those responsible for purchasing Notes as a corporate e-mail solution must be geeks as well. |
Have you ever attempted to change the default internet browser in Lotus Notes? Did you even know it was possible? Jeanot van Belkom sent us the following summary of his attempts to perform this otherwise simple function:In one of the Lotus Notes manuals, I found the remark that it is possibleto choose a different Internet browser as your default. Anxious (thestandard Notes browser doesn't even support frames), I started looking forthe place to set this default. |
This image from Notes was provided to us by visitor Colleen Burke: The status bar at the bottom of the screen has tiny arrows that act as'drop-up' menus. But, they all look disabled, even when they aren't. Inthe image, you'd never know that the first 3 status menus (?) are disabled,and the last 3 are enabled. |
Markus Kässbohrer described a rather bizarre aspect of Notes:You can set up Notes to automatically display an alert when a mail comesin. Choosing 'OK' will clear the alert and do nothing else (well, you wantedto be notified, so, notified you are). However, if you choose 'OK,' completewhat you were doing, and then switch to Notes a few minutes later you'llfind - no mail. The new mail is only actually collected if you choose 'OpenMail'. On the other hand, if you've got the 'drafts' folder of your inboxopen at the time you choose 'Open Mail,' nothing will happen and the newmail will not be retrieved. |
Scott sent us this collection of images relating to the Notes Help system (itself worthy of its own wing in the Hall of Shame): Lookat a Notes application, have a user bring up a 'Picklist' dialog box, clickon the Help button, and have fun learning about how a developer created thedialog box and not how a user can actually use the darn thing. Here's what Notes displays in response to the user's request for help: |
Markus Kässbohrer wrote to describe the interface inadequacies of the Address Book in Notes: |
I would consider Notes' Address Book an example of how to make the user'sjob as hard as possible...everything that would help you get the task donequickly does not work. |
Perhaps the most infuriating 'feature' of Notes, as it was configured at the corporation where it was inflicted upon us, is that every time the user presses the Send button after composing a letter, the application responds with the illustrated message. We have two alternative suggestions: (1) change the caption of the 'Yes' button to 'Yes, Dammit!', because that's what every user thinks when they see the message; or (2) recognize that the user, by pressing 'Send', probably wants to ... Send the letter, so just Send it! |
Lotus Notes offers the user the ability to set certain preferencesfor its Archive functions. Unfortunately, many users will conclude thatthese settings cannot be manipulated. The Archive Preferences dialog contains a number of checkboxes, someof which are shown in the illustration. For some inexplicable reason, Notes'designers chose to display the dialog in read-only mode; that is, clickingon the checkboxes has no effect. Unlike all other dialog windows in allother applications (and, for that matter, all other dialogs in Notes,the user must first change the state of the Archive Preferences dialog toEdit mode. This absolutely non-intuitive requirement is accomplished throughthe absolutely non-intuitive action of double-clicking somewhere on the dialogitself. The dialog will then behave as a normal dialog. |
Judging from the number of visitors who have mentioned it, the process of copying messages in Notesis perhaps its worst interface 'feature'. Apparently, when mail messagesare copied from one folder to another, the message itself is not copied;Notes creates a 'reference' to the message. Unbeknownst to the user, if you delete the reference, Notes will in turn delete the message itself. Similarly, deleting the message will cause all references to it to also be deleted. A number of visitors described the loss of valuable information through this process. |
Wayne was one of several visitors that wrote that the Notes Text Properties dialog is a source of confusion: Setting text font properties stops me cold every time. Select the text andbring up Edit Text Properties. Change font, color or whatever. Now look forthe OK, Apply and Cancel buttons you always find in this kind of dialog.There are none! Have the changes been applied? Turns out yes. No way (thatI recall) to undo the changes! The Edit Text Properties dialog is analways-stay-on-top non-modal dialog. The only way out of it is through thex in the top-right control box. This is the only such dialog I know of inNotes. Once in a while it's convenient to be able to edit multiplesuccessive selections of text. The rest of the time the absence of anybuttons confounds me for at least a few moments. |
Frank Kneepkens sent some images describing Notes lack of an automatic wordwrap feature:When the incoming messages have only CR/LF's between paragraphs, yousee those paragraphs as one long line when reading the message from the inbox.You have to select the (hidden) horizontal scroll bar to read the line. Thereis no way to set automatic word wrap. Complaints to Lotus about this problem are responded to with the canned phrase, 'It's not Lotus Notes's fault, it's the sender's. Huh? To get the message word wrapped you have to do the following:
Then, you can read the message without horizontal scrolling. |
Be careful with that 'Save As Draft' button... If you're writing a mail and worried you might lose it you can eitherpress control-s and then continue writing right away, or press the 'saveas draft' button, whereupon the messages vanishes into the drafts folderand you (assuming you figured that out) go back to your desktop, open drafts,and re-open the message to eventually continue working on it. (Thanks to Markus Kässbohrer for pointing this out). |
The login window for the Lotus Notesutilizes a security 'feature' to defeat would-be onlookers from learningyour password. Never mind the fact that the password characters are notdisplayed (as with all login windows), the designers decided to add further'protection' by adding extraneous characters to the password field, so would-beonlookers cannot determine how many characters are contained in the password(in the above example, a six-character password is being entered). Further,as groups of characters are typed, the images on the dialog change to distractthe would-be onlooker from observing the number of (extraneous) characterstyped. Now if Notes could somehow mask the sound of keypresses at the keyboard, all this programming effort might be worth something. This is not the login window for a weapons targeting system; it is an e-mailapplication. We wish the designers had spent their time improving the usabilityof the application itself rather than wasting it on useless diversions. |