Content area
Full Text
Novell WebAccess keeps it close with a sharp look, while ipswitch Imail champions the end user and Microsoft Outlook Web Access shows an intuitive face. By Sean Doherty
Lotus Development Lotus iNotes R5 (R5.03, beta)
B
With release 5.03, Lotus iNotes ups the ante for other Web mail providers with its Domino Offline Services IDOLS) 1.0. We reviewed a beta release of 5.03, which is now shipping. Its sleek, functional user interface accesses three main framesets: mail, calendar and to-do lists. DOLS enables Web browsers and other applications, called subscriptions, for offline use and provides the ideal environment for Web mail users: anytime, anywhere.
DOLS requires configuration on both the server and the client. We installed an API extension on the server and set appropriate user rights to enable DOLS. We then created a new database using a DOLS Sample Mail template and set it for action as an "offline subscription." When our browser viewed the new database file, the mail frameset included an "offline" button in the lower left-hand corner. Right-clicking on the button installed a "subscription" to the Web site (16 MB) with a driver that runs Domino applications offline, within a Web browser. ActiveX controls and Netscape plug-ins install DOLS and initiate offline services. Once installed, the browser-together with a new Sync Manager-let us make offline, local changes to mail, calendar, contacts and so on. Those changes were synchronized with the database on the server to account for newly received mail or appointment requests, for example.
Lotus iNotes' search functions also raise the bar, with two options to help find messages: The first, "use word variants," expands searches to include variations. For example, searching for "error" will include "errors." Fuzzy searches, the second option, allow for misspellings. Either search requires a full-text index to the database. Note that this must be done by an administrator, and it can take up to approximately 20 percent of the database size. Also note that documents in excess of 6 MB (including attachments) are not indexed.
The calendar frameset is loaded with options and can be viewed in a variety of formats: one or two days, one week, two weeks or one month. Clients can schedule a meeting and create a new appointment, anniversary, reminder...