Thoughts on mobile and social business applications, design, and user experience, by Chris Reckling. http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/ en-us Wed, 15 May 2013 17:30:00 -0400 Wed, 15 May 2013 17:30:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-may-update connections Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-may-update?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-may-update As is my custom on this blog, here are a handful of screenshots that show off the new features.

1. You can use @mentions in a status update post. We'll look up the name locally first, then search the server. It's fast.


2. In Files, we have gone to this action bar UI on the bottom of details screens, putting the most common actions a tap away. The download action is right there, too, and not hidden like before. (Downloads is also at the top level navigation, making it easier to find than before - you can see it on the iPad screen below. The FIles list itself has a dropdown "action drawer". The reason we did this is to optimize for the most common use case, which is to actually view the file. Now, tapping on the file will attempt to view it; tap on the dots to show the menu to download or go to the file details.
   

3. Likes on posts and comments can be done in the post details.
     

4. Target posts to a person or community. When you choose one of those options, then you can pick which person or community.


5. In the small things make a big difference department, we added a Recently Viewed Communities view to the Community list to make it easier to get back to a community you may have just been working on. We put the buttons here below the tab (also in profiles), and there's an alert if you accidentally hit the Leave button.
 

6. Attachments in forums are accessible now on the device. Here you go to More Actions... then choose to View Attachments to get to the next screen.
   


Apple App Store (US)
Google Play

As mentioned in the app store descriptions, there are a bunch of new command urls for you to explore. For example, now you can open a community and navigate to particular app in the community. I will update this blog when the technote is updated with the details on that.

Chris Reckling ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-mobile-may-update http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-may-update?opendocument&comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:15:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-app-updates ios Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-app-updates?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-app-updates

Performance improvements

The app remembers which view you were using at goes back to it. So, for example, if you always use the "My Communities" view in the Communities section, you will return to that view each time you leave it and go back.

The default view for the Activity Stream is "I'm Following". We thought this would be the more comprehensive view. Of course, you can always change it and we'll remember that next time.

On the iPad, the card panels are easier to close with a single swipe to the right.

The community About section has all the rich text rendered and links can be opened within the app.

Google Play
Apple App Store

Chris ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-mobile-app-updates http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-app-updates?opendocument&comments Mon, 4 Feb 2013 17:45:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-file-sync ibmconnect Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-file-sync?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-file-sync Opening General Session (OGS), Luis Benitez demo'd the feature on the main stage (about 45 min into it). Grif and I also were showing a recent build in the User Experience Lab. We got a lot of good feedback on the overall flow and use cases we are supporting.

I should mention that today you can download files to your device and access them in the Downloads view. I talked about that in June 2012 here. While that functionality is excellent, it is not sync and it is a bit hidden in the UI, via the Downloads view on the dropdown.

The first thing we wanted to do it make it super easy to sync a file on the device. This caused a bit of redesign on all the actions to make them more consistent and visible. Most people I asked in the lab understood what the icons meant. On the details page for a file, tap the sync button to add it to your offline storage. Here you can also determine whether you want that file automatically updated. (There is a setting to always sync, too - we found that people wanted options available, depending on their own patterns.)


Offline files are stored in a device-encrypted database which you access via the "File Sync" tab on the left navigation. We wanted it to be really easy to access these, so we moved the view to the main left navigation. From this view you can quickly open or view files and perform other file management tasks, like update and remove from sync. The app alerts you when a file is out of date and you can decide when to sync it.


File Sync is planned to be delivered on SmartCloud first, then rolled into Connections on premises. More details will emerge over the next few months. We know we need to do a desktop version of sync, as Luis demonstrated, to complete the picture. I'm sure you have questions, let's have them!

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter
]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-file-sync http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-file-sync?opendocument&comments Sun, 27 Jan 2013 19:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/mobile-in-the-user-experience-lab mobile Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/mobile-in-the-user-experience-lab?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/mobile-in-the-user-experience-lab Flickr stream. Here's the UX team trying it on for size this afternoon.

That's me with the blue hair and next to me (blondie) is Grif, who handles Connections Mobile. We'll be showing all of our apps, of course, along with some new things we're trying. We have lots of questions about your use of these apps and how we can make them more suitable to you and your users.

Most of the stations in the lab will have some posters for you to help prioritize features we are thinking of adding to products. In mobile, we are polling for Traveler and Sametime Meetings. Michelle Cooper and I put together this board, where you can vote by moving the guitars or the Star Wars characters along.


And for those of you not at Connect this year, you can vote online too:
Traveler Feature Prioritization
Sametime Meetings (Mobile) Feature Prioritization

I hope to see you in the lab! Also check out the UX blog, where folks will be posting all week. Also, follow us on twitter @IBMSocialBizUX- we'll be tweeting out info and prize opportunities for attendees.

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/mobile-in-the-user-experience-lab http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/mobile-in-the-user-experience-lab?opendocument&comments Wed, 9 Jan 2013 12:45:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/looking-back-looking-ahead mobile Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/looking-back-looking-ahead?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/looking-back-looking-ahead SkiLUG event in Stowe, VT!) And, since I am not working on the Connect OGS this year, I should have more time, right?

In 2011, we made 44 updates to mobile apps and in 2012, there were 66! This includes new apps, major updates, minor bug fixes, server updates, and even a new IBM Mobile Connect. As you can see below, we also transitioned to the new blue icons to go along with the branding updates. Feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive, with the only complaint per se would be to release more, faster!



If you have followed this blog at all, you know that I have usually posted whenever there was a new app released. Therefore, I won't rehash the entire release timeline for the year - you can always go back to past articles for that info. Instead, let's look at some of the trends we're driving.

Trend 1. User Experience
It's my blog, I'm the mobile UX guy, so I get to choose what's first! Seriously, design and user experience have been trending for several years now as a priority. IBM has even appointed a General Manager of Design! On mobile platforms, you really cannot avoid it. For my team, it's an opportunity to focus on core use cases for each of our products. It allows us to streamline the experience without sacrificing the most important functionality that people want from their mobile devices. Our products have a LOT of features - we make choices about which ones to place in the foreground and which to de-emphasize, based on our user research. Many of you have contributed to our research and for that, I thank you!

In 2012 we also made a concerted effort to organize our design consistency efforts into documented, reusable patterns. One goal was to make similar functionality the same across products and platforms. For example, each product has a login screen of some sort and account management. There are font choices, colors, segmented controls, tabs, backgrounds, icons, and more. There are essentially 2 dimensions of consistency to handle: one is consistency across all the different IBM produced apps; the other is consistency with the mobile platform. To put it another way, we have to be true to the platform while retaining the IBM-ness of the app. People notice, especially when it isn't done right. (Google recently got some press for their new focus on iOS app consistency, too.)

In 2013, we will continue to push on this consistency effort. While we made a lot of progress, we are not done. Per usual, going from design to implementation can take a few development cycles to complete. I am also looking forward to Android 4.x being more widely available in the market. It is a huge advance over Android 2.x but it does require rethinking (and recoding) the user experience to match it. We were able to do that on the Android tablets, but not on the phone yet across the board. (Sametime Meetings actually has 2 UIs depending on the platform, to optimize for either 4.x or 2.x phones.)


Trend 2. Enterprise Security
Security and management of mobile devices is certainly something customers demand before deploying any apps to their users. I believe Traveler has been so successful for email because some basic management features have been built in from the start. It's also dumb simple to deploy the clients to users, whether they are on iOS or Android. In 2012 we extended that management to the Connections 4 mobile apps and server. You can use a simple admin console to allow or deny access and do remote wipe of the app or force a password. All data on the device is encrypted.

In December, IBM shipped an update to IBM Mobile Connect, which provides VPN services, among other things. The client part of this is built into our mobile apps, so another option for admins is to set up Mobile Connect on their servers and use it to access Connections, Domino, Sametime, or whatever enterprise application you need. You can provide access to these apps without exposing your entire intranet to mobile devices.

For more complete mobile device management, IBM has Endpoint Manager, of course.

Trend 3. Tablets
Just yesterday, The Next Web had an article stating that tablet shipments would overtake laptops in 2013! We've also been seeing a lot of demand within our enterprise customers for tablet support (mostly iPad). In 2012, we produced new apps to support both iPad and Android tablets. Traveler Mail, Calendar, To Do, and Sametime (Meetings and Chat) had brand new designs done for Android. For iPad we updated the Connections, Chat, and Meetings apps and produced a brand new Traveler To Do app.
In 2013, we'll continue to enhance the apps we already have and maybe even introduce some new ones (come to Connect to find out and see some prototypes!). The tablet has a lot of potential for us to think differently about how to present our products, so we really want to focus on that.

This picture shows Sametime and Traveler apps for Android tablets. You should be able to see the family resemblance.

Trend 4. SmartCloud
The cloud is becoming more and more important. While many customers want or need to host their own deployments, many are also looking at how and where they can utilize cloud services to extend or enhance their in-house applications. In 2012, on the mobile front we began to produce a single app that supports either on premises or cloud deployments of our products. In 2013, we need to keep adding to that. For example, Connections mobile in the cloud only supports Files right now. Look for some cloud-first activity soon (and again, probably talked about at Connect in a few weeks).

Thanks to everyone reading this blog and using our products! Your feedback goes right back into our development cycles, so don't hesitate to leave a comment here, on your own blog, on twitter, or facebook. We read them all!

Did I mention that I have the best team!!

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/looking-back-looking-ahead http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/looking-back-looking-ahead?opendocument&comments Mon, 17 Dec 2012 10:18:22 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-for-ios-app-update sametime Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-for-ios-app-update?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-for-ios-app-update Sametime Meetings app for Android is the new app for iOS devices. There are many new features in this release compared to the previous version we shipped in February. Here's a partial list:

• Adds iPhone support. We already had Meetings on iPad.
• Meeting room management - create, edit, delete rooms, manage permissions
• Upload and download meeting room documents in the file library. This uses the iOS 'Open in..." function to move docs in and out of the meeting room. Before you had to upload using the desktop client.
• Send and respond to polls. A lot of people asked for this one!
• Supports on premises Sametime (8.5.2 IFR1) or SmartCloud version. SmartCloud IDs in the xxxx-xxxx format use the Sametime backend. Don't forget to update your previous SmartCloud Meetings app - we added some intelligence in there in case a user puts in the 4 digit-4 digit meeting id, it will redirect them to the new Sametime app.
• SmartCloud meetings have additional features such as server-side recording, waiting rooms, lecture style meetings, and meeting reports.
• Anonymous room entry is possible now.
• Updates to the UI in various places.
• The account setup provides one-click access to SmartCloud and Greenhouse environments.

Here's the iPhone screen - while in the meeting, tapping the screen brings up the controls on top.


And here is the iPad version, with the file library panel open and a file being uploaded and converted for the meeting.


Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/sametime-meetings-for-ios-app-update http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-for-ios-app-update?opendocument&comments Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:30:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/android-to-do-screens android Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/android-to-do-screens?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/android-to-do-screens    

Here's a look at the To Do's on an Android tablet, after you have selected one of them - it shares it's design with the Traveler Mail and Calendar apps, so you have a consistent experience across them. Again, if all you want to do is enter a new To Do and be done with it, then you can do that. If you need to fill out all the details, you can do that to by opening the To Do and editing it.



Now, go encourage your Traveler admins to upgrade so you can access this awesome new app. (I have heard that holiday bribery may be an effective strategy.)

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/android-to-do-screens http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/android-to-do-screens?opendocument&comments Thu, 13 Dec 2012 15:15:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/traveler-to-do-apps-now-available traveler Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/traveler-to-do-apps-now-available?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/traveler-to-do-apps-now-available Sametime Meetings and now Traveler To Do apps on the Apple App Store and for Android as part of the Traveler Upgrade Pack 2.

Per usual, for the mobile apps, designer Jessica Peter sought to optimize for the primary use cases. I would say our first use case was to be able to quickly and easily enter in a to do and mark it complete, as this is the most basic task (so to speak) for a To Do app to perform. Therefore, all you have to do is enter in the name of the to do and you are done. If you like to enter more info, like start date and end date, you can open the full form up and add whatever you need. To complete the to do, check the box. Done.


The only other thing you might want to understand about this app is that we decided to adopt a more modern terminology that doesn't quite map back to Notes To Do's. Specifically, to do's can be organised into "Lists". So, you might have a list for different projects, personal, work, hobbies, or whatever. It's up to you. In Notes terms, Lists are Categories. Got it?

Important note: You will need to install the Traveler Upgrade Pack 2 on the Domino server where Traveler is running to sync your To Do's. Your Android users should receive a notification to update the Traveler app once you've installed everything on the server. See Mat Newmann's blog for how that works.

You may now start to-do-ing.

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX

]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/traveler-to-do-apps-now-available http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/traveler-to-do-apps-now-available?opendocument&comments Wed, 5 Dec 2012 19:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-app-for-android android Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-app-for-android?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-app-for-android Google Play store. Congratulations to the team, including designer Sue Un, who simultaneously handled iOS and Android duties with aplomb. You can see the list of features on the Play store. Take a look below for a preview of both tablet and phone.
1. Meeting Room with participants list open. You can switch between participants, file library, and discussion.


2. The Lobby, as we call it, has your list of rooms, calendar integration (if you have the new Traveler release, coming soon...), and favorites. This view is showing the recent meetings.


Tip of the day: SmartCloud Meetings using the Sametime backend have a number scheme of xxxx-xxxx whereas the current meetings use xxx-xxx. In this new app, you can only use the xxxx-xxxx meeting IDs.

One interesting design challenge is dealing with both Android 2.2 and Android 4.x UX Guidelines. We decided to keep the app consistent with what users expect when using those different OS platforms while maintaining some visual consistency between them, if that makes sense. Bottom line: if you are on an Android 4.x phone, then you'll get an experience consistent with that device. If you are on an Android 2.2 or 2.3 (which most people are according to the stats), then you'll get the experience consistent with that OS level. Take a look and see what's different.

3. Android 4.x version. Note the "spinner" drop-down to switch views and the actions menu on the right.

4. Android 2.x device. Note use of Android 4 style tabs to switch views. You'll see similar tabs in the meeting room, similar to what you see on the tablet above for the file library, discussion, and participant tabs.

You can use the app with Greenhouse, IBM SmartCloud, or Sametime on premises with the 8.5.2 IFR1 Meeting server.

Enjoy your meetings (doesn't everyone?) and let us know what you think once you start using it.

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter
]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/sametime-meetings-app-for-android http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-meetings-app-for-android?opendocument&comments Sat, 17 Nov 2012 16:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-connections-mobile-command-urls connections Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-connections-mobile-command-urls?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-connections-mobile-command-urls this post for details on the first batch and when you might use them, then come back here and check out the new ones. The account info is optional. To use these, call them wherever you would use an http url, such as in an "a href" tag.

Added for Connections 4 mobile apps, but they are client side so will work with a Connections 3.x server.

Launch Activities
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/activities?
Launches the app into the Activities service just as if you had tapped on the Activities icon from the home screen.
 
Launch Blogs
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/blogs?
Launches the app into the Blogs service just as if you had tapped on the Blogs icon from the home screen.
 
Launch Bookmarks
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/bookmarks?
Launches the app into the Bookmarks service just as if you had tapped on the Bookmarks icon from the home screen.
 
Launch Files
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/files?
Launches the app into the Files service just as if you had tapped on the Files icon from the home screen.
 
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/files?uid=file_uid
Launches the app into the details of the file with the given uid.
 
Launch Forums
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/forums?
Launches the app into the Forums service just as if you had tapped on the Forums icon from the home screen.

Launch Wikis
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/wikis?
Launches the app into the Wikis service just as if you had tapped on the Wikis icon from the home screen.

This should make it easier to move from your own apps or web sites into the Connections mobile app.

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/new-connections-mobile-command-urls http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-connections-mobile-command-urls?opendocument&comments Sat, 17 Nov 2012 12:30:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/multiple-calendar-display-in-traveler ipad Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/multiple-calendar-display-in-traveler?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/multiple-calendar-display-in-traveler
There is hope, however! If you are on Notes 8.x then you know you can add calendars other than your own as overlays on your personal calendar. You can set this up in the Add Calendar dialog box. Simply check the box marked, "View this calendar offline or on a mobile device". The next time you synch your calendar, it will include all of the dates from the other calendar. You can add a Google calendar or use any iCal feed.



Enjoy!

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter


  ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/multiple-calendar-display-in-traveler http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/multiple-calendar-display-in-traveler?opendocument&comments Sat, 13 Oct 2012 11:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-ios-updated ibmconections Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-ios-updated?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-ios-updated Android app (for phones), IBM released to the Apple appstore an update to the IBM Connections app. We have been on a steady pace of delivering incremental updates since we began this mobile journey in July 2011 with a major update just last June of this year. The latest release continues the path with significant improvements in Activity Streams, Communities, and Forums. Other improvements were made in Files and Profiles. For example, we streamlined the viewing of files, did better caching, and added Community Files to the view list. On profiles, you can now see the person's activity stream and post to their board. The full list of updates is in the app store description here.

Kudos to the team for completing this milestone to support IBM Connections 4.

Now to the fun part - screenshots! I'm sure some demo videos will be posted soon, but to whet your appetite, here are a few.

Activity streams provide a look into what is going on with the people, communities, and content (aka people, places, and things?) you follow. There are quite a few different entry types, so the design challenge was to figure out a consistent way to display all of that information in a meaningful way, especially on a small device. As with Android, OpenSocial gadgets can also participate on iOS - let's hope people make mobile appropriate gadgets.
On iOS there are multiple tap targets in the stream - i.e. you can tap on the blue text to load that thing - the file, the hashtag, the person. Also, if you click on a person's picture anywhere in the app, it will go directly to their profile page.
   

Profiles show the person's activity stream as well as their details (which was in the June release). Here you can easily post to their board - we heard that 'request' a lot about the previous app. :) You can save the contact locally and share it via SMS, email, or generate a QR code.
   

In communities, you have the handy activity stream for the community and can jump directly to the content from the stream. iPad and iPhone have the same features, but the iPad is optimized to use the whole screen.


You can drill down to particular components in the community, too. It was easy to get lost in the previous versions, but we think this drill into and back out navigation will be consistent and clear about where you are in the product.


As with Android, Forums were revamped to use the same patterns as other apps in Connections. This means they are faster to load and easier to work with. Our designer, Grif, came up with a great way to show the response hierarchy with those colored bars.


Finally, in one of my favorite "small things make a big difference" department - any time you have a browser window open inside the app, you can expand it full screen. This is great for blogs, wikis, bookmarks, and links in status updates. Check out the bookmarks section. You can expand full screen, open in safari, and copy the link to the clipboard from this screen.


That's all for now. I'm sure you will enjoy this latest update. Spread the word, leave a comment, gives us a rating on the app store. (And get your IT folks to enable mobile at work, there's some great security features in the server that they'll like.)

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter


]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-app-for-ios-updated http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-ios-updated?opendocument&comments Fri, 12 Oct 2012 18:45:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-android-phone-updated ibmconnections Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-android-phone-updated?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-android-phone-updated Google Play store of the app for IBM Connections. This app now supports connecting to a Connections 4 server as well as Connections 3.x. You can easily try it if you have a Greenhouse account.
Update: Congratulations to our design team: Grif Friedman (a Yankee fan, but I won't hold that against him!) and new mom, Carrie Lloyd. Also, the development, qe, and product mgmt team's all worked together to make this a reality!
New features for Connections 4 include:

• Activity Streams. You can get updates from people and content you are following or just the status updates for people. A long press brings up options such as launching a URL, pivot to the user's profile, search by hashtag, and (depending on the type of entry) going directly to the object - i.e. the File, Blog, Wiki, etc. This powerful feature should make it easier to keep up with your content in Connections.
• In Status Updates, you can include your location and a photo or video.
• OpenSocial gadgets added to the activity stream will render in an embedded browser window.
• Community Events. View and respond (Follow, Comment, Attend) to events in your communities.
• Post a message to a community board.
• Forums. Updated to be faster, better integrated, and generally nicer. That means we gave them a makeover. :)
• Files. Mostly updated the icons to match Connections 4. Also added a view for Community Files.

In addition, for Connections 4 servers, there are some basic, yet necessary security configurations. You can now register devices, enforce a configuration profile (i.e. require a password), deny access, and perform a remote wipe.

Check out some of the new screens of the activity stream, status update, and a tag search.
     

Here is the activity stream for a person and a community (updates were part of the app June release, but this uses the activity stream UI). Personally, I'm loving the community stream because is lets me keep up with all of the activity in the community in one spot, then link directly to the file, blog, wiki, etc. Huge productivity gain (and this is also in the desktop browser version!).
 

Two screenshots of forums, one with the updated list view, including information like questions and answered posts. You'll notice the way we have dealt with the response hierarchy for the forums with those bars on the left side. It should be clear which part of the thread you are replying to, also.
 

There's more I could show you, but you'll have to download the app yourself and try it. Helpful comments on the app store are appreciated by us and by your fellow users. We think you'll like this update.

(and before you ask, I cannot speak about other updates that may or may not be coming)

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-app-for-android-phone-updated http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-app-for-android-phone-updated?opendocument&comments Wed, 10 Oct 2012 18:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-sametime-chat-apps-for-android sametime Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-sametime-chat-apps-for-android?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-sametime-chat-apps-for-android Sametime Chat apps for Android tablets and phone. This is the first release of Sametime to have an experience designed specifically for the Android tablet. Tyler Walters, on my team, is the designer. Great job by him and the development team to produce this. This design is in line with the IBM Traveler tablet design, so you can use them side by side and have a great experience.



We also did some updates to the Android phone app, including chat history features that were in the iOS version already.
 

We hope you like these updates.


Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter
]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/new-sametime-chat-apps-for-android http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/new-sametime-chat-apps-for-android?opendocument&comments Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/extending-the-connections-mobile-apps Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/extending-the-connections-mobile-apps?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/extending-the-connections-mobile-apps this wiki article. This article will show you some examples of what it can be, using the iPhone as an example. It works the same way across platforms.

First, here is the app Home screen as it appears when all the Connections services are enabled.


This first example changes a number of things, based on the mobile config settings.
1.        The app name at the top is changed to "One Greenwell". You might do this if you've named your internal Connections deployment something other than "Connections". Alas, the name on the app store and the device home screens is still "Connections".
2.        I renamed 2 of the Connections services. I changed "Activities" to "Projects" and "Bookmarks" to "Dogear".
3.        I hid "Wikis" from the navigation. You might do this if you don't want certain of the services to be available on the mobile devices. (I also did it because I can't scroll down to show everything in these static pictures.)
4.        I added an entry to open the Sametime app. This uses the command url - sametime:// - and simply launches the app as if you had done it from the device home screen.
Here is what my first customized home screen looks like.


In this next example, I put Activities and Bookmarks back to their proper names and added a link to search IBM on Twitter. (Note: you should URL encode the urls you provide in the mobile config file.) I used something like this:  "http://mobile.twitter.com/search?q=ibm". Tapping this link opens an embedded browser with the URL. You would use this same technique to open ANY web page. For example, if you have an internal Help Desk page or similar info you want to get into user's hands. (Of course, there is no guarantee they will actually tap on the entry!)

     

That's it for today. Let us know how it is going or other ideas you might have to use this new feature. We'll be showing some more examples as the apps are updated for Connections 4.

Chris Reckling
Mobile UX
Follow on Twitter


]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/extending-the-connections-mobile-apps http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/extending-the-connections-mobile-apps?opendocument&comments Thu, 2 Aug 2012 13:30:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-ios-apps-updated sametime Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-ios-apps-updated?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-ios-apps-updated
Improved chat history functionality
The new client includes a chat history browser that allows you to browse chat history by user and by date. Note: only browses chats that are stored on the device.
Manage settings from within the native application
Several settings that were previously outside the application and settable using the Settings app, are now part of the Sametime app itself and settable from within the Sametime app without exiting.
Performance and UI improvements
Chat bubble performance improvements as well as the way pictures are handled, which is more like the iOS Message app.
Improved session resume performance when Sametime is in background
The new client introduces background operation for up to 10 minutes. In user terms, this means that if you leave Sametime and then go back to it within 10 minutes, response will be immediate because the app does not have to reconnect. Even if away for more than 10 minutes, the reconnect scenario is quicker while the connection is re-established.
Optionally share user's location (iOS version 5.0 and up)  
If enabled in the application setting, the current city location is shared as part of your status.
3rd generation iPad Retina display support  
Includes hi-resolution graphics to take advantage of the new iPad retina display.
Configuration now settable via URL  
Instead of having to manually configure the server settings, a Sametime administrator can configure a URL in a common location, or send via text message or email. For example, the following URL configures the app for Renovations servers and partially fills in the user name.
sametime://%40renovations.com@stproxy.renovations.com:8080/?action=AddCommunity&ssl=true&authProxyReuseCredentials=true&photoPort€83&communityName=Renovations

Full details on this URL are in the Sametime documentation wiki.
There is another server setting to control features on the proxy server that admins may be interested in. For example, you can disable location broadcasting and "save to device contacts" features in the mobile clients.

Here are the new in-app settings. We tried to put the most commonly used settings here and others in the Settings app. Tip of the day, I found out the hard way: if you want Return to equal Send, then it's in the Settings app.


And here is a picture of the chat history feature.


All in all, this is an update that you'll want to get now.

Chris Reckling ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/sametime-ios-apps-updated http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sametime-ios-apps-updated?opendocument&comments Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:30:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sharing-a-profile-in-the-connections-mobile-app socbiz Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sharing-a-profile-in-the-connections-mobile-app?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sharing-a-profile-in-the-connections-mobile-app 1. Send a Vcard through email, sms, etc. through the Android Share intent.
2. Create a QR code that could be scanned by the user on their phone.

Here's how you do it:
Open someone's profile via search or in your list of network contacts. Press the hard menu button and choose the Share item.


The next menu popup is when you choose how to share. Choosing Share brings up the standard list of Android app options.


Choose Scan contact info to generate a QR Code.


Now, another mobile phone can use a QR code scanner to read the information and add it to the local contacts.

(On iOS, the option to share the vcard is there, but not to generate the QR Code.)

Enjoy!

Chris Reckling
@creckling ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/sharing-a-profile-in-the-connections-mobile-app http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/sharing-a-profile-in-the-connections-mobile-app?opendocument&comments Fri, 13 Jul 2012 15:00:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/custom-urls-in-ibm-connections-mobile-apps ibmmobility Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/custom-urls-in-ibm-connections-mobile-apps?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/custom-urls-in-ibm-connections-mobile-apps June update of the IBM Connections mobile apps for iOS and Android include 'custom urls' in the app. Custom URL schemes are like a little command API into the app. Basically, your app creates a namespace that it registers with the OS so when the URL is called on the device, it knows to execute the command. These work on both iOS and Android.

Use Case 1. Deployment scenario. Since Connections is typically deployed on your own servers, with their own unique urls, this is a place where users can immediately fail, either by not knowing the correct Connections server URL or their user name/password. Now you can provide specific instructions to your users in a custom HTML page they can access from their mobile devices. And to make things even easier, all they have to do is tap on the custom url that you provide to properly configure the device. Here's the custom URL format:

ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/launch?&

ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/launch is the base URL that will open the app with optional parameters that will create the account with the specified information, if it doesn't already exist.

For example, you could include in your deployment HTML page a link to the app store, to download and install the app along with a custom URL to configure it. The following URL launches the app and creates an account named "Renovations Connect" to the server named "connections.renovations.com and fills in the user name field with the string "@renovations.com".

ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/launch?accountname=Renovations%20Connect&accountserver=connections.renovations.com&accountuser=%40renovations.com

Then the user simply has to complete their name and enter their password to log in to Connections from the device. We have been using this internally because we install new builds of the apps every day and this makes it much easier to do.

Use Case 2. App integration. The second scenario has to do with opening a specific Connections service in the app. Here are the custom URLs for you can use to call into the Connections app. There are some interesting things you can do with these. I'll look forward to hearing about it. For example, if you have an app with people's names in it, you could link over to their profile in the Connections app.

Launch the Connections app to My Communities page.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/communities

Open Connections to a specific communities by uuid for the last logged in account.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/communities?uid=5863bdbb-8684-4a4a-ac0d-f058a1c9baa8

Specify a particular account if more than one on the device.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/communities?uid=5863bdbb-8684-4a4a-ac0d-f058a1c9baa8&accountserver=connections.renovations.com&accountuser=sdaryn%40renovations.com

Launch the Connections app and show profiles.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/profiles

Launch the Connections app and show profiles on an existing account.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/profiles?accountserver=connections.renovations.com&accountuser=sdaryn%40renovations.com
 
Launch the Connections app and show a specific profile for the last logged in account.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/profiles?uid=37151640-8f0a-1028-8d7d-db07163b51b2
or if you know the email address of the user.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/profiles?email=sdaryn%40renovations.com

Launch the Connections app and show a specific profile for an existing account.
ibmscp://com.ibm.connections/profiles?email=sdaryn%40renovations.com&accountserver=connections.renovations.com&accountuser=fadams%40renovations.com

All of this information will be in the Connections Wiki soon, but I thought I would get it out there now.

Chris Reckling ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/custom-urls-in-ibm-connections-mobile-apps http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/custom-urls-in-ibm-connections-mobile-apps?opendocument&comments Fri, 22 Jun 2012 11:35:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/update-to-sametime-meetings-ipad-app sametime Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/update-to-sametime-meetings-ipad-app?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/update-to-sametime-meetings-ipad-app Sametime Meetings app for iPad. This update includes a couple of features to make it easier to join your meeting rooms associated with a calendar invitation. We've also included all the retina graphics so it will look great on the new iPad.

Here's the problem we're solving: Often people will put the meeting url inside of a calendar invitation. On the desktop, this is fine, but on the iPad it is very difficult to copy the url from the calendar to the clipboard to paste into the Join URL field. In addition, the url is usually of the http variety, which ends up launching Safari instead of the app. TIP: Did you know that the iPad app has its own unique url to launch it? Make a Sametime Meetings iPad url by by simply replacing "https://" with "stmeetings://". For example, https://meetings.myco.com/stmeetings/room/etc becomes stmeetings://meetings.myco.com/stmeetings/room/etc.

Our solution reads your calendar on the device and pulls in any meeting that has a Sametime meeting url in it. There is a new view in the lobby that shows those meetings. Now a single tap will join you into the meeting or you can tap the detail disclosure arrow to see the meeting details.


The second thing we did was to make the Join by URL feature more prominent in the UI. If you have the meeting url on the clipboard it will automatically fill it in for you.


Hope you like it!

Chris ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/update-to-sametime-meetings-ipad-app http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/update-to-sametime-meetings-ipad-app?opendocument&comments Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:15:00 -0400 http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-files-and-downloads ibmconx Chris Reckling http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-files-and-downloads?opendocument&comments http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-files-and-downloads this link for a full description of the features and benefits. In a nutshell, you can upload and share files with people and communities. In the mobile apps IBM just released, we put a lot of effort into making the Files experience simple, useful, and as full as possible. As mentioned in a previous post, we focused on core use cases for the mobile user:

• Access to my files
• Find a file anywhere in the system.
• Open a file for viewing.
• Commenting on files shared with me.
• Uploading a photo from the device.
• Share a file with other people.
• Download a file for viewing offline.

Let's just focus on the download use case - yes, you CAN take it with you. Once you find a file in the list or through search, you open it to its details page. Tapping on the file name allows you to quickly download or open it. There is a special view accessible from the file list or your account page to show you all your offline downloads. Files are encrypted on the device.
Here's the iOS version. Android is quite similar.


Now, if you happen to be off the network for some reason, you can still access your files and open or view them. You still won't be able to enter comments for synching later, but this gets you 90% of the way there.

Enjoy!

Chris Reckling ]]> http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-mobile-files-and-downloads http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/insidelotusblog.nsf/dx/connections-mobile-files-and-downloads?opendocument&comments