IBM Lotus Notes Domino Blog Template Update 8.01

IBM Lotus Notes Domino
Blog Template 8.0.1 Update
Steve Castledine
January 28, 2008

© 2007 IBM Corporation

Presenter
Steve Castledine
Advisory Software Engineer
IBM

http://www.stevecastledine.com


Agenda
 Introduction
 W hat are the Changes?
 Notes Client UI
 Tagging
 Attachment Handling
 W eb Client Rich Text Editor Update
 Default “Theme” Update
 Questions


Introduction
The Blog Template that ships with the Lotus Domino Server had a significant update
at version 8.0.1.
Targeted around making it easier to use and also align the UI with Lotus Notes 8.0
look and feel.
This presentation aims to inform of these changes and educate on the impact and
technical how/why's. It's aim is also to be a technical resource in its own right.

Assumes some knowledge of how the template works already ( I will be doing a new
“Quick Start” guide to the template shortly based on 8.01).


What are the changes?
Notes Client UI Updated
Taken on a Notes 8.0 Look and Feel, uses Java views and navigators in the standard client, simplified to make it
easier for “Samantha” to use, allow administrators to restrict access to configuration areas.

Tagging takes preference over categories
Previously you could tag and categorize content, this lead to confusion and UI clutter. By default tagging takes
preference however categories are still available and both can still be used.

Attachment Handling Improved
Attachment handling was complex. This has been simplified for both Notes and Web client.

Web Client Rich Text Editor upgraded
At 7.02 (1st IBM release version) the web based rich text editor was downgraded as it did not satisfy Open
Source/Legal requirements. This has now been upgraded and uses the Dojo Rich Text Editor.

Default website “Theme” updated
Previous default theme was a basic blue layout. The new default theme is “Lotus Connections Yellow” based. New
users get this by default, existing users select an option to upgrade to it.


Notes Client UI Update
Taken on a Notes 8.0 Look and Feel, uses Java views and navigators in the standard client, simplified
to make it easier for “Samantha” to use, allow administrators to restrict access to configuration areas.

“Java” Views and Navigators
Using the standard client, the display is rendered using the new Java Views and Navigators:


Notes Client UI Update cont...
Navigation
Previously you could navigate to all views from the main navigator. This has now changed to a “java” navigator with only the
essential items available.

You can access all of the original views still by clicking “Advanced”

Note – basic client also has simplified navigator – only its a standard navigator – not java

Adding Content
Adding content previously was fairly simple, if you were used to the template, but daunting if you were not due to the
overwhelming number of options.


Adding Content
The add content form is now simplified:

User can define which fields to display –
selection is “sticky” for future use


The action of adding content is simplier:

Click New Post
Add Subject and Content
Click Save and Post

No need to worry about setting status (we have Save as Draft)


Extra administrator option for hiding “advanced” feature's

Support Note - Adding the role “basic” to the ACL and associating that with the user, will hide the advanced views link
and remove some of the fields from the add content form.

Was a big customer request.

Some of the advanced fields hidden in
the content form:


Tagging takes preference over categories
Previously you could tag and categorize content, this lead to confusion and UI clutter. By default
tagging takes preference, however categories are still available and both can still be used.

Was probably the toughest area to change as part of the UI “cleanup”
Highest risk on Customer Support – because of change
More information on this can be found at http://www.stevecastledine.com/sc.nsf/dx/tags-v-categories

Previously:
User would add a “Content Category” document to the application for each category of content they created
Select a Category when adding content
In addition select tags if they wanted to link their content to external sites such as technorati (www.technorati.com)
This confused users, the fields were together, categories had multiple levels (for advanced content management use)
It needed simplifying


Tagging takes preference over categories cont...
Now:

No need to add the category documents
User's just “tag” the content – previously used tags are automatically available for reuse
UI simplified – clutter removed:


What about existing users?:
Nothing breaks, can continue to use template as before – only use the tag selector instead of the category selector.

Existing users may wish to upgrade their existing website theme to a new version (details later in this presentation) or
just carry on as normal. if they want to change text such as “Categories” to “Tags” within their site they can do a search for
categories within the “HTML Template” documents and replace the text manually.


What about existing users? cont..

There is a new view “Tags”. Any documents that have been tagged will appear in this view. Old categories appear
under “Advanced – Post's/By Category”.

Support Note - If a user wants to update all old categories to be tags they can do. There
is an option under the “More” menu “Upgrade Data for Tags”.


Attachment Handling Improved
Attachment handling was complex. This has been simplified for both Notes and Web client.

Part of the complexity is caused by attaching of files directly to Rich Text field not supported because
of the way the rich text is stored on disk for the blog template (HTML/MIME).

Previously:
User would add an attachment by selecting “Add Attachment from Directory” from the “Action” menu.

They could then manage these attachments in the “Attachments” Tab.


Attachment Handling Improved Cont...
Now:
An Attachments section that can be toggled open/closed.

Explains to the user how to import images, attachments
and podcasts.

Adding a file can be done by clicking on the “Upload”
links (see right) or using “Insert > Upload File” fro the menu.

Attachments automatically appear at the end of content
within the web site. You can use “Actions > Insert >
Attachment Link” to position it where you wish.


Attachments can be managed from the “Uploaded Files” View.

Attachment indicator in view

Attachments can be uploaded from Web Client


Podcasting simplified
The blog template makes a good podcast host.
The attachment changes have simplified this
process as well.

User simply adds an attachment (MP3 etc) as they would any file.
Then follows the on screen instructions on turning it into a podcast entry:

Subscribers then just point their iTunes or other podcast client at
the feed url which is “theblog.nsf/podcast.rss”.


Web Client Rich Text Editor Upgraded
At 7.02 (1st IBM release version) the web based rich text editor was downgraded as it did not satisfy
Open Source/Legal requirements. This has now been upgraded and uses the Dojo Rich Text Editor.

Support Note - Internet Explorer and Firefox/Mozilla supported – not Safari right now.

Previous Basic Rich Text Editor


Web Client Rich Text Editor Upgraded cont...
Upgraded Rich Text Editor (using Dojo)


Web Client Rich Text Editor Upgraded cont...
Support Note - Existing users automatically get updated Rich Text Editor, however the layout will remain as it was (as
it is fully configurable and we do not want to lose any customer enhancements).

There is a reset option “Reset HTML Templates” that will refresh the Web Based admin client to the new “look”. Can be
located under “HTML Templates/Web Client Templates/Reset Web Templates”.


Default website “Theme” updated
Previous default theme was a basic blue layout. The new default theme is “Lotus Connections Yellow”
based. New users get this by default, existing users select an option to upgrade to it.

Previously
Previously the default theme was a basic “Blue look”.


Default website “Theme” updated cont...
Now
The default theme has been updated to a “Lotus Connections Yellow” style.


Because the website “Theme” is configurable by the customer, the update to the new theme is not automatic when
refreshing the template (so they retain any customization's).

Examples of Customization:

Support Note – So to update an existing blog template to the new theme, you need to go to
“Advanced > HTML Templates > Page Templates > Reset HTML Templates”.


Support Note – Because the option “Reset HTML Templates” was already available to reset the theme back to
“default”, there is an ini setting which will set the default theme back to the original “blue” version if required.

This ini setting is BlogTheme=0 – when the “Reset HTML Templates” is used – this will instruct it to use the old blue
theme. If the setting is not available then the new Yellow theme is used.

Tag Cloud
Upgrading to the new theme also provides the user with an out of the box “Tag Cloud”:


IBM Lotus Notes Domino Blog Template Update 8.01

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