Robert Brooks Lotus Blog

For those of you who have been reading my blog lately you will notice I have changed the formatting. That is because I have chosen to switch from the Quickr Blog Template to the Lotus Notes blog template. I tried....I really did...but could not get the blog function of Quickr 8 to do what I wanted and needed it to do.

I started with the best intentions. I wanted to show the world what a fantastic product Quickr really is so I decided to put my  blog up on a Quickr server. Unfortunately the blog function of Quickr seems to be it's weak point. RSS feeds are finicky at best and difficult to get working. Changing a blog style or placetype is not an option or if you wish to modify the .css file for the site you can but it is not overly intuitive on the best way to go about doing that.

The Notes blog by comparison is VERY easy to use. When you first initialize the site a wizard walks you through the initial set up and the default .css file has comments behind each area suggesting what might be changed to customize your site. RSS, Meta data, and tagging are all a breeze in the in the Notes blog interface and clearly marked in a manner that will help a novice coder make required changes. Nothing is hidden.

Please make sure you understand I am NOT BASHING QUICKR. It is a fantastic product for document management, work where you are functionality and project management that has the ability to pull together disparate data into a meaning manner. Unfortunately the blogs still require some work and being a somewhat technical person I understand some of the challenges the developers are facing bringing blog technology to their Quickr/QuickPlace architecture. I am sure Lotus Development will overcome these challenges, but for now....better to use the Notes version of Blog.