I just installed Notes 8.5 for the first time on my main machine. I know, I'm a wimp for not using the beta, but I had my reasons for staying on 8.0.2. I had been dying to use a couple of the features however, so here's the ones that caught my eye right away. Perhaps you have used the open beta and can add to this list. Some of these are refinements to the 8.0 client, but sometimes it's the little things that effect your day to day life.
1. Sidebar panels can be dragged down to the bottom of the tray and minimized. Thank you Mary Beth and Jamie.
2. Drag and drop in the rich text editor. I know, long time coming, but it's there now. I say, "yay!".
3. Notebook template. The old journal template got an update. I know a lot of people who use various local copies of this template to keep notes and so forth.
4. Calendar overlays. You can add a user's calendar (given proper access, of course) on top of your own (that's the overlay part) - this could be handy for teams or admins who manage multiple clients. Also, for internet calendars (like your personal/family calendar) can be added AND taken offline.
5. Context menus look much prettier and have been trimmed down to be specific to the application you are in (in other words, in the Inbox, Calendar...).
6. Better message signatures. The mini rich text editor can be used, or you can simply paste in something like this:
7. Inbox icons refinement. We actually did a timing study (thanks to Betsy and John) so we could optimize for scanning the inbox. So now you can easily find the unread messages and calendar notices amongst everything else in the Inbox.
8. Take Activities offline. cool.
9. The return of the gutter selection model. Personally, I never missed it, but I know others did.
In Preferences -
(and I think this is new in 8.5, although available as a notes.ini setting for years - the compress images setting)
10. Xpages and Domino Designer in Eclipse framework - poised to revolutionize Domino development. There's lots to say about xpages, so I won't do it now. But here's a tidbit I found today - a CSS Editor. Note to self: check out the new Themes in Designer, too.
There's an HTML editor in there too. Not wysiwyg, but who cares? Not I. You have to preview in 6 different browsers anyway. I like the outline view of it, though! (I moved it to the top from the default lower left.)
There is a lot more there which I'm sure you'll discover and let the community know about as you start to use it.
Those are my top of the head things to like about 8.5 and that's just on the client. I know there are a ton of $ saving features on the server, too.
Chris Reckling
Chris Reckling | 19 December 2008 06:13:11 PM ET | Home | Comments (3)
