There are lots of good stuff in the 8.5.1 designer, but one thing really stinks..


The Designer in 8.5.1 is good, and compared to 8.5 it is really good.


On thing stinks though. Working Sets

I really don't get this.
It is one of the most vital parts of the Designer, you use it all the time, and still the usability of Working Sets is absolutely horrible.

These are some of the things that annoys me:
  • it's really cumbersome to add,delete, (things you do all the time!) ,way too many clicks to do so little
  • you can't drag 'n' drop anything ...I want to move them around and put them in the order I want..so it fits the way I work, ..you just can't.
  • Only one level, no working sets in a working set (folder)
  • Right clicking "Open in designer" in the Client should not put the database in the working set which just happen to be open. At least ask me?
  • Duplicate UI, Why are design elements shown in the Applications in the left pane and dbl. clicking it is shown in the center pane.
    • Remove the list in the left pane and only show the categories of design elements.
    • It would give way room for many more applications in the left pane (this is a problem today).
  • Inconsistency: Right clicking on the same design element in the two lists gives two different menus.




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I could go on, but I think you get the picture.


Organizing and moving around in the Applications in the Working Sets should be easy and a joy!!
We have had browsers for years now ..IBM learn from them!.
Think Mozilla Firefox Bookmarks!!

Working Sets should really just be like bookmarks in Firefox.


  • Click on a bookmark in the toolbar and the Notes application would open up in the left pane
  • Right click on a folder: "Open all Notes Applications" would open them all in a current "Working Set"
  • CTRL + clicking on bookmarks would open the selected in a current "Working Set"

These quick simple ideas from the top of my head would make Working Sets much more usable.
Of course they just rough ideas and should be worked on and refined, ...but I am on to something here :-)


Posted on 11/12/2009 02:50:00 PM CET