FIGURE C


The iNotes Web mail component features a clean, modern interface. Roll over picture for a larger image.

iNotes Web Access component #2: Calendaring and scheduling
The incarnation of calendaring and scheduling seen in Shimmer brings almost the complete level of Lotus Notes client functionality to the Web. You can schedule meetings, appointments, anniversaries, and reminders. The ability to have these entries repeat was not included in the beta. This fact is documented in the release notes. It's scheduled to be in the final version of the application. All of the rich text editing features found in the mail message body are also available in calendar documents, along with attachments. What I found truly impressive about the Web version of the client was the various printing formats that are supported, even when disconnected. The iNotes Web calendar is pictured in Figure D.

FIGURE D


The iNotes Web calendar offers impressive printing options. Roll over picture for a larger image.

iNotes Web Access component #3: To-do tracking
The entry screen for to-do items reflects the comparative simplicity of the underlying Lotus Notes to-do form. It contains subject, starting date, due date, status, priority, and category fields. Strangely, even though to-do items contain no time fields, the input form allows you to set alarms 30 minutes before they become due, effectively making the reminder only valid at 11:30 at night. Although the release notes indicated that reminders were not enabled in the current beta, I found this capability curious.

When I brought this question to Lotus, they sent me the following response:

To your question regarding the association of times with to-dos (and their effect on calendar listings and alarms), in more current builds there is no time associated with a to-do item unless you associate an alarm with it. If there are no alarms on a to-do item, there is no specific time associated with it, and hence they don't occupy calendar space. If you turn an alarm on, then you have the ability to specify a time that is used to trigger the alarm. Since it's still a to-do item, it does not take up a specific space in your calendar. If you want an entry to have an alarm and to take up a specific space in your calendar, then you can just create a calendar entry and associate an alarm with it.

One new, potentially useful feature is the ability to display to-dos in Gantt chart format as shown in Figure E. You should note that printing of this view doesn't seem to be available when disconnected.

FIGURE E


The use of a Gantt chart could help some users to manage their to-do items. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Other iNotes Web Access components: contacts and notepad
I've never found the contact management features of Lotus Notes to be very robust. They work well enough when synchronized with my HandSpring Visor, but when compared to a full PIM (Personal Information Manager) package, they've always seemed a little anemic. Shimmer slightly improves on your ability to access your contact and notepad information from the road by offering more phone number fields for contacts and an embryonic notepad feature. There are separate tabs for work, home, and general contact information.