Genii Weblog

Business-appropriate example of data loss #4

Wed 8 Jul 2009, 07:15 PM



by Ben Langhinrichs
I continue with this series of posts (actually, just collecting the samples for the presentation I am preparing) with an example in Notes 6.5, but as before, this same rendering has been an issue since R5 and is still an issue in Notes 8.5.  Mostly, I want to make it clear that iFidelity 3.0 is useful and effective even if your Notes client is at the early end of the supported spectrum.  In fact, if you are hesitating to upgrade, iFidelity may be a way to improve your system at a low cost and with little impact (no retraining, no admin overhead, no developer resources).

In any case, this sample is another that shows lists, but not nested lists this time.  Instead, these are checked lists, which are a useful Notes rich text feature for supporting checklists (welcome, Obviousman!).


Original email as sent from Lotus Notes 6.5.3 client

Original email sent from Notes 6.5 client


Email as received in Outlook after being rendered to MIME by the Notes 6.5.3 client

Received by Outlook after Notes 6.5.3 client rendering


Email as received in Outlook after being rendered to MIME by iFidelity

Received by Outlook after iFidelity rendering

Copyright © 2009 Genii Software Ltd.

What has been said:


835.1. Stefan Dertmann (09.07.2009 01:14)

How do you write that checkbox character? Is this a standard font?

We use [X] and [ ] in our notes emails for that purpose and it looks good in Outlook and other mail clients.


835.2. Ben Langhinrichs (07/09/2009 02:37 AM)

I'm not certain in which location you are asking. In the Notes client, it is a standard list type, and you click in the middle to "check" it. In outbound mail (such as Outlook shown here), it is not a character at all, but rather a small embedded gif (only included once, but used multiple times), just as the doclink symbol and such are implemented.

There are certainly ways to get around the use of the checked list, but they are still used widely in applications that someone may not anticipate going out as an email when the application is designed. Moreover (and this is where the case first came up in beta testing), there are cases where an application has worked for a long time in Notes rich text mail within a company, and only fails when a subsidiary is acquired that uses Outlook, or the company email changes to Outlook while the applications remain. It would be possible to change the applications, but you would need to go through the thousands of applications in a large company with a fine tooth comb to be sure you had weeded out every instance. Or you could use iFidelity and leave the applications alone.