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Sir Paul Mooney proposed that perhaps it was time to rethink the Lotus Notes user interface. He provided suggestions and others have as well. I wanted to weigh in on the idea…

I actually think the chicklets are great. Infact, I’m not the only one who thinks its a good idea. There’s one other company that has a device which has been applauded as a phenomenal device that features a similar interface. This one has a square icon representing a unique application (just like Notes), the ability to move to different groups (or tabs, like in Notes) where more application icons can be stored and the ability to move the application icons themselves from one screen/tab to another (just like Notes). Perhaps you haven’t seen the device I’m talking about:

Now… if Notes wants to make their icons look more cool like the iPhone, I’m all for it. But I think its somewhat appropriate that Lotus Notes (which was originally partially based on UI concepts from Apple) has kept this interface despite attempts to make it more contemporary in R5, 6, 7 and now 8 … and Apple chose it for one of their products.

And in my book, when Apple has an interface idea – its probably a great one!

Tags: Apple / Mac, interface, iphone, lotus, notes, ui

Now this is a great website design! I had to do a double-take on the URL to make sure I was really looking at a Lotus webpage, and I was.

The site design here is very contemporary, attractive and easy to get around. All of the key points of information are quickly brought to your attention (including the all-important “contact us” – which, let’s face it, is the one link every single company hopes you click on … assuming there’s not a “buy now” link that is).

The solution looks really nice, too. I really think they’re on to something here with a one-stop-shop server room in a box for smaller companies.

All that being said, I’m still a bit confused about what software is all included in this tool. It looks like a nice sampling of Lotus software, but its not clear if you get everything; turn on what you want to purchase; or only get selected pieces of software.

… and that’s probably intentional so that you click on the “contact us” links to get more information from a sales rep or business partner.

Tags: design, foundations, ibm, lotus, ui, website