The purpose of this article is not to provide a general overview of QuickPlace and all of the things you can do with it, but to tell you what I think about the software and its capabilities and to give you some tips on creating a customized QuickPlace of your own. I'll also give you some useful links at the end of the article . If you aren't already familiar with QuickPlace and need a general overview, go to Lotus' site at http://lotus.com/quickplace to learn more and then head on back here. If you're already familiar with QuickPlace, read on, my friend.

QuickPlace has expanded my view of development and what I thought of as both possible and practical. It's by no means a replacement for most traditional Domino applications, but it does complement Domino extremely well and can be used in conjunction with it to accomplish some really spectacular things.

Content is king
Before I talk about some possible applications for QuickPlace and how to customize it, I would be remiss if I didn't first talk about the most important thing that determines if a QuickPlace will be successful or not: content.

In order to truly make a QuickPlace successful, you're going to have to have some very compelling and useful content. After all, filling a QuickPlace with bad content is like pouring Kool-Aid in the Holy Grail.

The key thing to remember is that the success of a QuickPlace will depend on the level of dedication and involvement of its chief content provider. Without a champion or a cheerleader, a QuickPlace is simply another database on your server that may or may not get used and will probably die a slow and horrible death. After all, even the prettiest hot air balloon will not get very far without any hot air. Therefore, in order to really get QuickPlace up off the ground, you're going to have to coddle and cater to those who have the content. Effective development isn't enough by itself; you're going to have to build it and then get people to come and participate.