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Predicting a rendering problem in advance

Mon 2 Feb 2009, 09:49 PM



by Ben Langhinrichs
Sometimes I feel like I MUST be missing something.  Mail has been a critical part of Lotus Notes for two decades, so obviously there must be someone, or perhaps multiple people, at IBM whose job it is to think... think about potential issues... think about scenarios where mail might not get through successfully... think about the customers who have to be able to use the system with confidence.  But sometimes it is hard to believe.  More often, I simply think "What would happen if somebody wrote this who didn't bother testing - what would they miss?" and then I go test it.  Usually I find a problem, although sometimes not exactly the one I expected.

My challenge: Predicting an untested problem
I'm going to try an experiment.  I'm going to predict a problem before even trying it out, then test to see if I am right after I post this challenge.  I have no way to prove to you that I have not already tested this, so you will have to trust me.  To hedge my bets a bit, I will make it a bit of a broad prediction.

My prediction: iNotes will render tabs and sections as if on the web
I predict that if I have a tabbed table or section in a rich text email, and I go to iNotes to view the email with the tabbed table or section, it will render as if it were going to the web, with active hotspots to switch tabs or open/close the section, rather than as if it were sent by mail, with a flattened table or opened section.  Then, when I forward or reply the message from iNotes, the hotspots will remain but have lost their meaning, so that the tabbed table will only show one tab, or the section will remain closed if it was closed in the rich text message.

Watch for my follow up to see if my prediction is correct.

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