Notes Design Blog

Participate in Lotusphere 2012 online feedback activities

Velda Bartek — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:31:02 -0400

If you are at Lotusphere or couldn't make it this year, here are some online activities.

Answer Our Online Question of the Day!	In the User Experience Lab, we'll be asking a "Question of the Day." Visit us in Asia 4 each day to answer the question and to sign up for a chance to win a prize at the end of the day. If you don't have time to stop by and see us, we'd still like to hear from you. Click here to fill out a short survey to give your answers. https://www.ibm.com/survey/oid/wsb.dll/s/ag41e
Wiki usage survey	We want your feedback. IBM is continuing to develop improvements and release updates to the wikis. We want to hear what is important to you so that we can prioritize improvements that help you most. The data we collect from all wiki usability and feedback activities is used to influence our priorities for future design enhancements and development. https://www.ibm.com/survey/oid/wsb.dll/s/ag419
Sametime Prioritization Ideation Blog	Help us come up with a list of future features in Sametime. Vote on the ones listed here and suggest your own by adding to the list! Click the following URL to access the Ideation blog in our Online UX Lab in Greenhouse. [You will need to register on Greenhouse in order to participate (using a business email address) but it only takes a minute!] https://greenhouse.lotus.com/communities/community/icsuxlab/SametimeLS12

Velda Bartek
LotusDesign on Facebook and Twitter

Special sessions in the UX Lab

Velda Bartek — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 08:42:59 -0400

Are you curious about product design? Do you want to get more involved? Join us for one or more of the following special sessions in the User Experience Lab (Asia 4).

	Special Events
Monday 1/16/12 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM	"IBM Collaboration Solutions Future Product Design Direction" Speakers: Chris Paul, Director, User Experience; Ethan Perry, STSM; Brian Utesch, STSM Abstract: How is the user experience (UX) of IBM Collaboration Solutions products designed? What role does Lotusphere play in ongoing collaboration with customers? The ICS User Experience Director, Chris Paul, and UX Design and User Research Senior Technical Staff Members, Ethan Perry and Brian Utesch, will discuss how design direction is set, the importance of user adoption, and how you are engaged in the design process. Bring your questions to this interactive session.
Tuesday 1/17/12 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM	"Mobile User Experience Directions" Speakers: Tyler Walters, Chris Reckling Abstract: Social Business and mobile technology go hand in hand. See where we are going in designing mobile apps for tablets and smartphones in 2012. Provide feedback on the design directions and help prioritize features.
Wednesday 1/18/12 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM	"Meet the User Experience Designers" Speakers: Amy Travis, Margo Ezekiel, Ethan Perry, Eric Wilcox Abstract: Join our lead user experience designers and talk with us about our design challenges and future design directions in a fun and lively session. It's your chance to see how we design your favorite products.

Velda Bartek
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

Great activities in the UX Lab

Velda Bartek — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:50:02 -0400

We've been so busy getting ready for Lotusphere 2012, we forgot to tell you what we have planned for you.

Here's a list of the activities.

You really want to stop by to see Social Mail with Eric Wilcox. Eric is a first time Lotusphere attendee. Make his Lotusphere memorable.

Kathy Howard will be there to talk about Domino Designer and XPages. I know you all love to get a look at Designer.

I'll add some more info tomorrow, be sure to stop back.

Velda Bartek
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

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Participate in activities going on in the User Experience Lab

View the latest product design concepts, experience mobile product designs, talk to our social solutions designers, and provide feedback to improve the information experience. Meet the designers, user researchers, and information architects responsible for the direction of our products. Participate in hands-on activities and tell us what you need.

Lab Hours:
Monday, January 16 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Tuesday, January 17 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM
Wednesday, January 18 9:30 AM to 6:00 PM
Thursday, January 19 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Visit these stations in the lab located in Asia 4:

Station 1: IBM User Research and Future Studies

See how we conduct research and sign up for an opportunity to participate in future studies. Discuss with us what you would like to see improved in the products that you use.

Station 2: Connections and LotusLive

To influence our future design directions, help us prioritize the most important scenarios in which you would use these products to complete daily tasks. Try out the next version of Connections and let us know how you like it. Give us feedback on our new features, including enhanced community functionality and integration of the social business toolkit.

Station 3: Editing in the Cloud with IBM Docs

Check out IBM's new web editors and tell us what is most important to you in a document editor, a presentation editor, or a spreadsheet editor.

Station 4: Design Your Information Experience

How do you use information either as a new or an experienced product user? How can the Lotus and WebSphere Portal product wikis be more effective in giving you the information that you need? Help influence the direction that we take with your product information experience.

Station 5: Sametime

Real-time collaboration is critical to your business. Come to the Sametime UX station to give us input on future designs and to discuss your requirements for online meetings, instant messaging, and using audio and video.

Station 6: Making Your Business Solutions Social

Learn about the core design principles that make a business solution into a social business. See the common set of patterns and artifacts that we're designing and help influence their design. Tell us about your favorite business solutions, and we can talk about how using social media can enhance the outcome of the solutions.

Station 7: Social Mail

View and interact with demos of the social mail beta in Connections 4 and help us shape the future user experience design. Provide your feedback and unique insights on how social mail might best be used by your company or organization.

Station 8: What's Next for Lotus iNotes and Lotus Notes

See a showcase of what we're considering for the next releases. Let us know what you think of these features and provide feedback on potential improvements.

Station 9: Lotus Domino Designer and XPages

Do you want influence the future direction of your application development tools? Stop by and give us feedback on Lotus Domino Designer, the XPages extension library, XPages templates, and more.

Station 10: Mobile Applications

Select a device, select a product, and get a first look at the latest mobile products from IBM. This station features Android and iOS phone and tablet apps for Sametime, Connections, and Traveler. Come by and give us your feedback on future designs and prototypes.

Station 11: WebSphere Portal, Social Portal with Connections, and IBM Web Content Manager

Provide your input on the new and future plans for integrating IBM Connections and IBM Web Content Manager into WebSphere Portal. Come by and give us your feedback on future designs and scenarios.

Station 12: Design Your Video Experience

Tell us how you find and use product videos, and what you expect from our videos in the future. Preview the videos that were submitted for VideoFest, and help select a new design for the wiki Video Gallery.

IBM Lotus iNotes Survey

Sheri Branco — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:28:08 -0400

The User Experience Research team is conducting a follow-up survey to get additional feedback on a series of common tasks in IBM Lotus iNotes. We invite you to take a few minutes to complete this short survey and provide input on which tasks are the most important to your job and how well those tasks have been designed and implemented (are they easy to use?) in IBM Lotus iNotes today.

Please feel free to forward this request to any additional colleagues who may be interested in participating as well.

To participate, click this link: IBM Lotus iNotes Survey

Thank you very much for your input!

Deb Maher and Sheri Branco
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

VideoFest 2012

Sheri Branco — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 15:32:24 -0400

Submissions are being accepted for VideoFest....your video could be highlighted at Lotusphere 2012!
Contribute your video now at VideoFest 2012

-Sheri Branco
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

IBM Lotus iNotes Top Tasks - Ease of Use

Sheri Branco — Tue, 8 Nov 2011 13:48:57 -0400

Thank you to all of those that provided input on important iNotes tasks in the area of locating/searching and organizing your mail. We would also like your thoughts on the ease of use of those tasks. Please come to the Online UX Lab to provide feedback!

Organizing Mail: http://tinyurl.com/iNotesOrganizeEasy

Searching Mail: http://tinyurl.com/iNotesEasy2Search

To participate in current and future events, log in with your Greenhouse ID (register).

Deb Maher and Sheri Branco
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

IBM Lotus iNotes Top Tasks

Sheri Branco — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:49:23 -0400

Help us prioritize top tasks in the areas of Organizing and Searching mail within IBM Lotus iNotes. Cast your votes here:

Organizing Mail: http://www.tinyurl.com/iNotesOrganize

Searching Mail: http://www.tinyurl.com/iNotesSearch

To participate in current and future events, log in with your Greenhouse ID (register).

Deb Maher and Sheri Branco
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.

Velda Bartek — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 09:13:48 -0400

More than 240 of you have joined the UX team in the Online UX Lab in the last 6 months.

We've discussed Notes Traveler, videos, and install. You've voted on XPages, mobile, Connections, and Sametime.

Your feedback has become line items in product releases, defects to eliminate some pesky bugs, and focused our attention to improving key tasks.

To participate in current and future events, log in with your Greenhouse ID (register).

On behalf of the IBM Collaboration Solutions User Experience team, a big THANKS.

Velda Bartek
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

Document editing

Velda Bartek — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:53:19 -0400

Tell use what is most important to you when you create and edit documents.

Cast your vote in the Online UX Lab activity (http://tinyurl.com/onlineuxlab) and see what is most important to your peers!
If you need a Lotus Greenhouse ID, register here : http://greenhouse.lotus.com

Thanks for voting. Your votes will help us focus our design efforts on the Symphony tasks that are most important to you.

Velda Bartek
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

IBM Lotus Notes Traveler users far and wide...we need you!

Velda Bartek — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 13:17:20 -0400

Notes Traveler users,

We're hosting an unassisted usability activity in which you perform 15 mail and calendar tasks. Tell us which tasks are important to you. Tell us how easy it is to complete the task.

You complete the usability activity when it's convenient for you.

This is your chance to complain, ask for fixes and features, or tell us how much you love Traveler!

Go here now to start: http://tinyurl.com/NotesTravelertoptasks

Please pass this on to your fellow Notes Traveler users! Everyone's feedback is important and wanted!

Michelle Cooper and Velda Bartek

Connections Integration with iNotes Attachments

Susan Mckinstry — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 09:12:32 -0400

Inserting attachments into mail is a very common practice. What we would like to do is provide a way encourage saving those attachments to IBM Connections and sending them as links instead. This helps save space on the mail server and hopefully prevents people from going over their quotas and *gasp* ending up in mail jail.

Our team has been exploring several options on how to do this and we could use some feedback from you.

Below are 4 options to achieve our goals.

Option 1: Provide a new attach dialog with options
Option 2: Prompt to upload when mail with attachments is sent
Option 3: Provide attach options on the compose form
Option 4: Provide upload option in the attachment area

Keep in mind that these options are for drawn for iNotes, but we want this to become a standard pattern for all products using attachments. Please rank your preferred options from most desired to least desired.

Option 1: Provide a new attach dialog with options
Click the paperclip icon to insert an attachment as you normally do but you'd get this dialog instead.

(in this example 2 files were already selected, but by default it would be blank)

If you choose to attach from your computer, this Browse button on this interface now brings up the standard OS browse for files dialog.

You can see that there are options to insert the selected files as links. In addition, you can select the Files tab on the left to insert files which can be shared from the Files app in Connections. Eventually we could add other places to insert files from such as a Wiki, an Activity or Quickr, or even third party repositories such as Sharepoint, Documentum or FileNet.

**************************************************************************************************************
Option 2: Prompt to upload when mail with attachments is sent
(Those of you familiar with the Quickr connectors will be familiar with this option)

Users would be able to set a preference to be prompted when sending messages with attachments. If the preference is set, when the Send button is clicked for a mail message with attachments, the following dialog would display:

If the company has multiple servers or other repositories where files are routinely stored, the dialog can be extended to include them. In this example, the person can save files to Connections, to Quickr places or to other ECM places (such as FileNet):

(the last 3 items in the drop-down are recently saved to locations)

**************************************************************************************************************
Option 3: Provide attach options on the compose form

An "attach" section lets you choose from where and how to attach files. As in the above options, other options such as Sharepoint or FileNet could potentially be added.

If the "My Computer" link is clicked, the same OS dialog to browse for files displays:

If the "My Computer as Links" link is clicked, the OS dialog to browse for files displays as above, followed by this dialog:
- Because the first release would only have one Connections option - uploading to My Files, a simple dialog is used. In the future, we could consider offering a different dialog with options to upload to other Connections locations

**************************************************************************************************************
Option 4: Provide upload option in the attachment area

Options in the "attach" section let you choose to send attachments as links or as normal. Contextual help may be added to provide more information on where the files will be uploaded and to explain that the files will be shared with recipients. For instance, if the person only has Connections integration the attachments will be uploaded to My Files.

If the functionality is extended to allow saving to other repositories the files will be uploaded to the last location used with the option to change it:

**************************************************************************************************************

Please provide us with the following feedback
1. Rank your preferred options from most desired to least desired.
2. Provide as much information as you can about why you ranked as you did. Especially providing specific use cases help us understand your needs.
3. Please comment on the experience when just inserting regular attachments. Does this experience affect your choice.
4. Are you familiar with a similar experience as option 2 which is already in our product for Quickr? If so, how do you feel about changing that experience?.
5. If you have additional feedback on how we can improve the design of any of the options we'd like to hear it.

If you have any questions about any of these designs please post them and we will try to answer. Looking forward to your comments!

Much thanks,
Susan McKinstry, Product Designer

Making "Find" more findable

Julia Brown — Thu, 8 Sep 2011 14:54:19 -0400

We're working on making it easier to find things in Mail, Calendar, and other applications, and we had a few different options we'd like your feedback on!

In the first option, we'd have a Find button in the action bar, like this:

Option 1:


When you click it, it would bring up this dialog, where you can choose a column to sort by and search within:



Options 2, 3, and 4
There is another way to find things in Mail, Calendar, etc, called Search This View. When you choose to Search This View, a search bar appears at the top of the view, and it searches in columns, as well as in the body of emails/calendar entries/documents (Find searches only in columns):

We are considering adding a drop-down to the Find button, so you could choose between Find and Search This View. We have a few different options for what to call the two options, especially for people who don't already know the difference between Find and Search This View.

Option 2:


Option 3:


Option 4:



So, we would like to know which option you like the best.

Do you prefer the Find button with no drop-down?
Note: You can still access Search This View from View > Search This View.
If you prefer the drop-down with options, which option do you like best?
Also, let us know if you knew about Find or Search This View before reading this blog post.

Thanks!
Julie Brown, Information Developer, and Susan McKinstry, Product Designer

A few of the things coming in Notes 8.5.3

Mary Beth Raven — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:00:23 -0400

Here are a few things coming in Notes 8.5.3:

Search mail by sender or subject
Sort by subject strips off Re: and Fw:
“Slide-in” alerts for new mail

Search mail by sender or subject

Search mail by subject (recipient in the case below because it's a screenshot of my sent folder) by choosing a contact menu item:

Choosing "sort by Subject" strips off the Re: and Fw:

Note: This feature requires the 8.5.3 mail template, an 8.5.3 Client, and an 8.5.3 Server (if your mail file is local, you only need the 8.5.3 Client).

New Slide-in Alerts
If you are like me, you turned off those annoying "new mail" popups because they stole focus etc. Well, you can turn it back on now!

So long, and thanks for all the Yellow stuff....

Mary Beth Raven — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:45:00 -0400

In August of 1997, I joined Iris associates as the UI designer for a new product -- Sametime. And now, 14 years later, after having worked on several versions Sametime, Lotus Notes, and a few other things, I have decided that it's time for a new adventure. To that end, I am leaving IBM and going to work for Solidworks, a small (by IBM standards) 3D software modeling company. I'll be doing UI design, social business strategy, and community management -- a mix of things that span design and marketing.

I'll be working for a guy (@tomspine) who has been my boss twice before - once at Digital Equipment Corporation, and again at IBM. If he had not steadily and craftily recruited me for the past several months, I never would have considered leaving IBM.

While I am really excited about this new opportunity, I am also sad that I will no longer be working very closely with this community. You-- customers and business partners-- have been wonderful to work with. You made this design blog a success because you took the time to thoughtfully comment on the design questions and issues I posed. Thank you.

Research on "Happiness at work" indicates that the happiest people are those that feel they are making a difference. With your help, I've been very happy at IBM, making a difference in the design and usability of several products. I leave the design and usability of Lotus Notes (and Lotus iNotes, and PIM in general) in the very capable hands of Margo Ezekiel. Margo took over as design lead in January (I've been working on an internal project all year). Margo has been doing, and will continue to do, a great job.
Thank you for the terrific memories. Here are just a few of my personal favorites. (Please, feel free to comment and add your own.)

My first Lotusphere (1999). I did a presentation with Vin Collella about Sametime.
The "Hannover" announcement (at the Hannover DNUG). I didn't know it was coming. I'd just supplied Kevin Cavanaugh and Ambuj Goyal with a few designs for DNUG in general. When we heard the announcement back home, we were freaking out with excitement!
My first blog post (April 2006) about the "Quote Selection" menu item -- and got 99 comments!
My first Podcast (with Jeff Eisen) - with Julian Robichaux present in person. Here's a photo we took in the old Iris building in what we called the "Elvis kitchen"

My first ILUG (Irish Lotus user Group), during which I received a proper English dictionary with the proper English spelling of "Traveller"

The first time I presented as a "futurist" during Lotusphere's Business Development day. I was the third or fourth "futurist" to speak. Alistair Rennie introduced me and YOU ALL clapped and hollered... and Alistair gave me this look of... "They KNOW you? They LIKE YOU!!"(it was before Alistair himself got into the social biz thing) it was GREAT!
The second time I presented as a "futurist" during Business development day. I am sure most of you remember it, not because I talked about text analytics helping discern action items from email, but because it was the debut of the Yellow Shoes.

That was the beginning of all the yellow wardrobe.
Thanks for all the yellow stuff --I have quite a collection of yellow gifts from you!

A sweater
2 scarves
2 pairs of socks (one hand-knitted by Liz Novak!)
A purse (which I use daily!)
1 black and white blouse
2 bracelets
(Probably a lot of other stuff I have forgotten.... )

IAMLUG - for which my daughter made a sock-puppet twitter avatar, and I dressed slightly goth, to match the new dark visual design we were introducing.

My first UKLUG, especially the personalized Lego people that each of us received. (Note the yellow shoes...)

Working wit Joyce Davis!

Presenting with Mat Newman at UKLUG! (Ok this pic is not actually of us presenting... it's at Kimono's right before he FORCED me to sing a new sametime song... but I will miss him nonetheless..)

It has been my honor to not only present with many of you in this photo below, but to call you my friends.

I want to especially thank the Nerd Girls, for encouraging me to take this professional leap, and for letting me know that even if I leave IBM, I will always in some way be a part of this terrific Community.

We can still stay in touch:
Twitter: @MaryBethRaven
Skype: MaryBethRaven

I wish IBM and all of you every success.

Invitation to participate in a survey: "IBM Sametime Top Tasks"

Velda Bartek — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:48:15 -0400

Hi!

We would like your feedback to help us assess the relative importance of tasks within the IBM Sametime products.

To participate, please visit: http://tinyurl.com/427ra9z

Thank you!
Sheri Branco, Lotus User Experience Research

Design Concept - Interactive getting started

Velda Bartek — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:02:59 -0400

We have a new design concept for getting started.

We've posted a video prototype and other material in the Online UX Lab. We'd love to hear what you think.

Join the community, watch the video, and tell us what you think.

Velda Bartek
Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter

Sametime 8.5.2 supports Widgets and Live Text

Mary Beth Raven — Fri, 5 Aug 2011 11:39:52 -0400

The Sametime ID team has posted to the Sametime wiki additional end user, power user, and administrator documentation for the Sametime 8.5.2 live text and widgets features:

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/stwiki.nsf/dx/Working_with_Sametime_8.5.2_and_widgets

Note that this is the same documentation that shipped with Notes 8.5.3, with technical updates so that it covers these features for the Sametime Connect client.

Sametime 8.5.2 "End Meeting" button - should it end the meeting for THE OWNER? (corrected Link)

Mary Beth Raven — Fri, 5 Aug 2011 10:34:35 -0400

Hey, Sametime Meetings users.

Sametime 8.5.2 introduced an End Meeting button for the room owner

Right now, when you click that button, it kicks out everyone *EXCEPT THE OWNER*.

Is this the behavior you expect? It allows you to run back-to-back meetings in the same room... but it does mean you have to take an extra step to leave the room yourself (i.e., close the window).

What do you think?
Tell us here at the Sametime blog:
http://ibm.co/pzteEq

A question for you about Notes Advanced search

Mary Beth Raven — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:32:13 -0400

Sentient searchers,
Regarding the advanced search, I have a few focused questions.
First, do any of your "Samantha" type users actually use it? You know, this:

And next, do people "get" the the Date condition? (It's really just adding a date condition i am asking about right now). Do users appreciate the thoroughness of the choices, or are there too many, or is it just too much?

Thanks for any opinions.

Calling all video critics

Velda Bartek — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:02:53 -0400

Video watchers,

Come see some new ideas the IBM Collaboration Solutions Information Development team is working on for videos!

We're considering using some animations in our videos and we'd like to know what you think.

Watch some short sample videos in the Online UX Lab and share your thoughts and opinions: http://tinyurl.com/ibmvideo71211

The discussion is open until Monday, July 25.

Velda Bartek

Lotus Design on Facebook and Twitter