take one woman with low self esteem, but quite good hair
add one moronic illness
stir in some medication which causes hair to fall out
mix it all up and this is what you get...
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Life at the orifice
Some recent examples of why Lotus Notes is accused of being "unintuitive":
Example 1
I accidentally delete an email message
I go into the trash can and drag the message out again, into the inbox
Whilst Lotus Notes knows what I have done and acknowledges what I am trying to do, instead of restoring the message into the Inbox, it barks:
No, Lotus Notes, YOU should bloody well Restore it. If you know that's what I'm trying to do, why can't you just do it? Why must I click on OK to acknowledge your stupid error message, then click on Restore?
Unintuitive.
Example 2
I am going to be away from work for a few days, so I set up my Out of Office.
Some time after coming back, Lotus Notes sends me an email to remind me that my Out of Office is on, and advises me of the convoluted method of disabling it. By the time I've read this message, I might have been back at work for some considerable amount of time.
Why not pop up a message as soon as I sign in, reminding me that Out of Office is on and prompting me with a single click to turn it off? (Hint: this is what Outlook does).
Unintuitive.
Example 3
I am typing an email.
I decide that I want to move a paragraph of text to a different location within the message.
I select the piece of text and attempt to drag and drop it.
I cannot drag and drop text.
Instead, I must use Cut and Paste.
What kind of "Professional" Windows GUI application does not allow the user to drag and drop text in a text editing environment? (Yeah, okay, Notepad - but this has no pretensions of being a professional business tool).
Unintuitive.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
One of my favourite things about offices is the Internal Mail envelope, as unlikely as this may seem. I love the fact that it can be used hundreds of times before either the user runs out of boxes, or the thing becomes so worn as to resemble an old, soft, thin yet trusty rag.
I particularly like the ones used by our US office, which are satisfyingly robust and have a string fastening - much more secure than the flap closure favoured on this side of the Atlantic, which is open to all sorts of abuse - notably, the use of sellotape and staples which decreases the life expectancy of the envelopes considerably.
I am quite a stickler for scrubbing out the previous recipient with a thick, black felt tip, and writing the new recipient's name in block capitals, to ensure that there can be no confusion.
Others, I notice, are not so diligent.
Such are the musings of an office dogsbody.
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Example 1
I accidentally delete an email message
I go into the trash can and drag the message out again, into the inbox
Whilst Lotus Notes knows what I have done and acknowledges what I am trying to do, instead of restoring the message into the Inbox, it barks:
No, Lotus Notes, YOU should bloody well Restore it. If you know that's what I'm trying to do, why can't you just do it? Why must I click on OK to acknowledge your stupid error message, then click on Restore?
Unintuitive.
Example 2
I am going to be away from work for a few days, so I set up my Out of Office.
Some time after coming back, Lotus Notes sends me an email to remind me that my Out of Office is on, and advises me of the convoluted method of disabling it. By the time I've read this message, I might have been back at work for some considerable amount of time.
Why not pop up a message as soon as I sign in, reminding me that Out of Office is on and prompting me with a single click to turn it off? (Hint: this is what Outlook does).
Unintuitive.
Example 3
I am typing an email.
I decide that I want to move a paragraph of text to a different location within the message.
I select the piece of text and attempt to drag and drop it.
I cannot drag and drop text.
Instead, I must use Cut and Paste.
What kind of "Professional" Windows GUI application does not allow the user to drag and drop text in a text editing environment? (Yeah, okay, Notepad - but this has no pretensions of being a professional business tool).
Unintuitive.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
One of my favourite things about offices is the Internal Mail envelope, as unlikely as this may seem. I love the fact that it can be used hundreds of times before either the user runs out of boxes, or the thing becomes so worn as to resemble an old, soft, thin yet trusty rag.
I particularly like the ones used by our US office, which are satisfyingly robust and have a string fastening - much more secure than the flap closure favoured on this side of the Atlantic, which is open to all sorts of abuse - notably, the use of sellotape and staples which decreases the life expectancy of the envelopes considerably.
I am quite a stickler for scrubbing out the previous recipient with a thick, black felt tip, and writing the new recipient's name in block capitals, to ensure that there can be no confusion.
Others, I notice, are not so diligent.
Such are the musings of an office dogsbody.
<< Home