iNotes Enhancements 

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Lotus iNotes provides a web browser based interface instead of the traditional Lotus Notes client interface. It includes three modes of access: Full mode, Lite mode and Ultra-light mode.

Lotus iNotes Full mode

Full mode offers a full set of features including mail, calendar, notebook, contacts, and to do list and is adapted from a new tabbed, frameset-based page architecture and user interface framework for more parity with Lotus Notes client and greater efficiency, This new framework is introduced in Domino 8.0.1, for more background information refer to the developerWorks article, “Introducing IBM Lotus Domino 8.0.1 Web Access Lite mode”.

There are several enhancements in Lotus iNotes V8.5 as depicted and summarized below.



· Application switcher: Offers application icons for the main Lotus iNotes applications (mail, calendar, notebook, contacts). Clicking one of these entries either launches or switches to a managed tab.
· Quota indicator: Provides indicator to easily see if you are approaching an administrator-specified mail file size restriction. If warning threshold is passed, it indicates this level by changing color and offering suggestions to resolve the situation when mouse hovers over the quota indicator.
· Managed tabs: Offers to open Lotus iNotes applications and documents in separate tabs that users can click to switch between different works in progress , like the Lotus Notes client.
· Sidebar: Provides for Day-At-A-Glance, IBM Lotus Sametime® Contact List,Users and Help. It leverages various AJAX visual effects provided by the Dojo library.
· Status bar: Provides useful information for users and error messages.
· Support console: provides more information on what is occurring during a session, as well as more details when a JavaScript error occurs. It can be used when troubleshooting issues.
· Safari 3.1 support: Lotus iNotes full and lite modes now support the Apple Safari 3.1 browser on Mac OS X Leopard/10.5. Mac users now have a choice of using either Mozilla Firefox or Safari.
· More dialogs: When a dialog box is essential, Ajax dialog boxes are used to display the dialog box as an element on the page rather than a pop-up,
· Show MIME Headers from Message: Provides "Show MIME Header" and "Show MIME Full" actions from the More menu to explore received MIME message headers in the Inbox folder, All Documents view, or any user folder.
· Spell check message before sending: Offers a mail preference setting "Spell check message before sending." for automatically runing a spell check prior to sending a message.
· Lotus iNotes proxy servlet: Lotus iNotes introduces a proxy servlet on the Lotus Domino server to work around browsers imposed cross-site scripting security when getting data from external servers and mashing the data up within the Lotus iNotes page. The proxy servlet runs as a plug-in within the Lotus Domino XPages servlet adapter and sends requests out to the particular external site or service (located at a different host address) on behalf of the user, and it returns the response to the browser.
· Overlaid external calendars: provides overlaying entries within the calendar views from one or more Google calendars and public Google calendars of various public holiday, public events such as sports team and organizations such as schools or theaters.
· Lotus Quickr integration: Provides the following capabilities to Lotus Quickr team collaboration software
· Establish preferred Lotus Quickr places within Lotus iNotes preferences
· Browse and insert links to Lotus Quickr files, folders, or places while composing outgoing messages
· Store received attachments within a Lotus Quickr place
· Whenever sending any outgoing attachments, have Lotus iNotes automatically store such attachments into a prespecified Lotus Quickr place and send links to those files
· Whenever sending any outgoing attachments, have Lotus iNotes display a prompt asking the user whether it should move such attachments to a Lotus Quickr store and send links or send the attachments as is
· Widgets: Provides limited support for Lotus Notes widgets. Widgets display in the Widgets folder in the Mail navigation pane. Widgets can be used to display Web pages in a Lotus iNotes tab panel or a new browser window. They can be configured to prompt the user for required input and to automatically receive input from selected text on the page. Lotus iNotes supports only Web page widgets. Google Gadgets, feed, and Lotus Notes document widgets are not currently supported.

Lotus iNotes Lite mode

Lite mode has retained the same performance characteristics of low bandwidth and empty browser cache as introduced in Lotus Domino 8.0.1. It continues to consume less bandwidth than full mode and loads faster than full mode when starting with an empty cache. It provides access to Mail, calendar and Contacts in a streamlined user interface.



· Preferences configurations: Available directly from lite mode, and will be opened within a managed tab.
· Quota indicator: Is also available in lite mode.
· Menu widget: Has been improved to reduce flickering and support retaining the "dropped-down state." If you click the drop-down arrow on one top-level menu item, just hovering over the drop-down area of other top-level menus displays those menus. Previously, you needed to click each of these items to display the contents of each drop-down menu.
· Safari 3.1 support: On Apple Safari 3.1 browser on Mac OS X Leopard/10.5 for both full and lite modes.
· Meeting Invitation notices: Users can quickly read and process invitations and provide simple yet essential actions to accept, decline, accept with comments, and decline with comments.
· Mail right-click menus: Provides the ability to right-click a particular document or a selected range of documents and then invoke one of the offered actions to avoids needing to refocus on the Action bar area to complete most frequent operations. There is also a right-click menu available from folders within the outline to allow quick access to folder management operations.
· Drag and drop: Provides to drag documents from the list view and drop them into a folder to file messages. If the destination folder is collapsed, it automatically expands as you drag the contents to be filed over it.
· Mail preview pane: Facilitates the quick reading of messages. Lite mode only supports preview on the bottom of the screen.
· Spell check message before sending: Is also available in lite mode.
· Out of Office: This function is available from the Mail view.

Lotus iNotes Ultralight mode

Ultra-light mode. The ultra-light mode is designed for use on a mobile device and is initially supported on the Apple iPhone or iPod touch. It supports Mozilla Firefox as a desktop browser to provide a solution for users with disabilities.

• Home page: Provides real-time access to Lotus Domino mail, calendar, and contacts through a simple look user interface and ease of use associated with a typical iPhone application. Unread count: is showed at the top of inbox and home page to let users immediately know how much mail still needs to be read. This count is updated on a page refresh or when an action is performed.
• View icons: Provides useful information at a quick glance. There are indicators to identify unread mail, high-priority items, and various types of calendar events. On the right, icons indicate items marked for follow-up action, items handled by forward or reply operation, and where attachments or additional information are present. Attention indicators are display when this feature is configured in the Lotus iNotes preferences.
• Message page: Read and new message page is designed to utilize the small iPhone screen in a new and visually appealing user interface. Users can read encrypted mail and do name validation with local contact.
• Day At A Glance page: Provides a convenient Day At A Glance calendar view that initially displays the current day’s schedule for the user. Action icons are available to navigate to the next and previous days, return to the current day, refresh the view to see any new entries, and return to the home page. The calendar event list that displays respects the user’s existing Lotus Notes color settings and incorporates familiar Lotus iNotes icons as event identifiers.
• Calendar events page: Provides read-only access to user calendar and allowing users to view existing entries with subject, chair, date, repeats, time, and location information.
• Contacts page: Displays user personal contact list from Lotus iNotes and provides an alphabetic listing with controls to jump to a specific letter page in the contact list. Icons display in the contact list when a cell phone number, a business phone number, or a work email address is available for someone. On the iPhone, these icons are clickable links to place a call or compose an email from the view without having to open the entry. From the contact view, users can create new contacts or drill down to open an existing contact entry.
• Accessibility and desktop browser support: Provides an accessible solution for Lotus iNotes that complies with the standards set forth in Section 508 of the United States Rehabilitation Act (found at 29 U.S.C. 794d). The ultra-light mode on the desktop is designed to function well with keyboard-only navigation, display well when users want to use large fonts and high-contrast modes, and be easily understood with a screen reader.

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