New to Me . . .
OK, enough of the fun stuff. Lets get this "Notes Developer" blog talking about some "Notes Developer" stuff.
Lotus Notes has a functionality to it that I was shown a little while ago (Thanks, Nathan) and I thought I would share it. OK, this might be "Old Hat" to some of you but it was something that I never new that Notes could do and I find it pretty cool.
The functionality I am referring to is running the Notes client in "Kiosk" mode, that is running a Notes application as if it were a stand alone product. What this does is it launches an application full screen on a users computer with no toolbars or bookmark bars. This would be good for using in an environment where the users would be using the computer for only that application, dumb terminals, etc.
To launch the application in Kiosk mode use this in your Notes icon, startup script, whatever:
(e.g. "C:\Program Files\lotus\notes7\nlnotes.exe" /kiosk "af\main.nsf"
And it will look like this:
Now, I have a client that I wrote an application for and then their sister organization got wind of it and asked Lotus911 to come and install a server for them so they could run this application themselves. This company is a Microsoft shop and has never used Lotus Notes before so I jumped on a flight and gave them what they wanted (kudos for our team!). Since then I have found out about this little trick for Notes and was wondering if I should apply this to the application, but I have some reservations. Yes, this company only runs this app on their Domino server and this would be easier for them to launch it. But I still hold the thought that if you allow a new customer to browse around in the client they might find more interesting stuff and spark more interest in the tool, leading to greater usage.
I would like to get others comments on this. So let me know what you think (if anyone is actually reading this).
Comments
This way, you're still showcasing the solution to the key individuals who will more-than-likely be looking for other business solutions while providing to the user community exactly what they need.
On the majority of the applications that I write, I include a "Preferences" document which the "admin" group will maintain. This proves useful in two ways:
1) The business owner/contact can modify keywords and other simple settings without dealing with the "IT speedbump".
2) You yourself can return to the application 6 months later and easily change things around when you get that one-off request.
Giving the admin team a level of control over the applications, I've found, let's them understand just how powerful LND can be... and that will bring them back asking for more solutions to business issues.
Posted by Chris Toohey At 10:30:17 AM On 08/15/2007 | - Website - |
The more functionality you can show the users/audience (particularly a M$ shop), the further away people's perceptions will get from "Lotus Notes...that is an email client isn't it?"
I get fed up of saying "No. So much more. Much much much more"
Posted by Mike At 11:01:12 AM On 08/15/2007 | - Website - |
Posted by Scott At 04:44:09 PM On 08/16/2007 | - Website - |
Trackback for you. { Link }
Thanks!
Posted by Simon Scullion At 04:06:44 AM On 09/06/2007 | - Website - |