I'm the originator of the idea.
While there have been efforts to improve the Notes client and the sentiment is definitely in the right place (and 64 bit has been achieved a decent while ago now), this idea has not been (close to being) satisfactorily delivered in my opinion. I actually don't think anyone (outside of HCL) who has seen 14.5.1 thinks that it delivers fully on this aha idea. I don't think it's reasonable to say that this is shipped.
When we've been teased with NotesNext i.e. what we saw at Engage 2025 in the Hague, nothing less than that type of UI delivery will touch the edges of satiating anyone who has waiting for something as dramatic for so long. We really just want delivery of a big idea on the Notes client, dramatic, new lightweight with modern web technology. What is there today is not drastic, dramatic or modern enough.
One of the things I love about HCL is their openness to feedback and I really hope please re-open this idea pending that delivery! Given the original weight behind the idea I think that's more than reasonable. I appreciate that doesn't come necessarily easily or cheaply but it's needed.
I'm the originator of the idea.
While there have been efforts to improve the Notes client and the sentiment is definitely in the right place (and 64 bit has been achieved a decent while ago now), this idea has not been (close to being) satisfactorily delivered in my opinion. I actually don't think anyone (outside of HCL) who has seen 14.5.1 thinks that it delivers fully on this aha idea. I don't think it's reasonable to say that this is shipped.
When we've been teased with NotesNext i.e. what we saw at Engage 2025 in the Hague, nothing less than that type of UI delivery will touch the edges of satiating anyone who has waiting for something as dramatic for so long. We really just want delivery of a big idea on the Notes client, dramatic, new lightweight with modern web technology. What is there today is not drastic, dramatic or modern enough.
One of the things I love about HCL is their openness to feedback and I really hope please re-open this idea pending that delivery! Given the original weight behind the idea I think that's more than reasonable. I appreciate that doesn't come necessarily easily or cheaply but it's needed.
‘Shipped’?
64-bit is great.
Unfortunately, the rest of the results are very sobering and don’t come close to living up to what the headline promises.
What a depressing turn of events.
It doesn’t surprise me, though. How are users and developers supposed to be taken into account when product manager and the extended ‘development team’ aka. nashcom.de only see the Domino Server?
Who needs users anyway? And why on earth should developers be given a tool that makes it easier to develop applications? Oh, yes. And perhaps even develop them in such a way that established user interface concepts are combined with modern design patterns.
No courage to get rid of the old rubbish. Just adding more rot to the mix.
And HCL? Instead of ditching these incompetent, endless drivelers, they’re sent out into the world as perpetual babbling clowns.
To all product managers and product owners out there: here’s an example of how to ruin a product with utter incompetence.
What happened to this?:
https://domino.elfworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Notes-Next-scaled.jpg
After the build up, e.g. at last years Engage, this is a disappointment. We were led to believe there would be a "new" client. What we've got looks like a beta version of some ideas to improve the UI.
Blurry fonts.
Background colours of Tabbed tables has changed. After spending time making applications look better this breaks it and requires further design changes.
Font's on mail DB action bars are inconsistent.
When you enter some fields it adds a highlight colour to signify that field is current. Not a bad idea but when you leave the field it can remain highlighted despite the cursor being in a different field.
Yay! Can we get Dark Mode next?
Thanks!
The 14.5.1 does not feel modern in any way, new blue font looks out of place, and breaks any design the customer may for an application
The client has actually gotten worse: fonts are generally blurrier than before, and the new blue and white windows (Open Application, Exit Notes, etc.) are reminiscent of Windows 3.11.
The splash screen is the only thing that's nicer and more modern than before. And it's also a thing that makes no difference to the user experience.
Shipped?
After 8 years, some colors have been changed and using the restyler on the system templates, worsening their readability and usability, among other things with out-of-scheme colors.
The client hasn't even been modernized. Performance is the same (unsatisfactory), and all the bugs have remained where they were.
The idea needs to be reopened and addressed, properly and urgently.
Shipped? Not really!
The new icons and templates are inconsistent in design and color. It is still an Eclipse Client!
What about the new client you’ve been promising for years?
Instead, you continue to patch and tweak the same old client.
Created on July 16, 2018; almost a full 7 YEARS ago. And now, HCL is "Planning to Implement". Moving at glacial speed, HCL. How many other businesses moved away from Domino/Notes and never looked back? We've been free for 3 years now...
The Look & Feel is a general problem from long time: now the notes client have a mix of Eclipse object , Notes ad system object...
Eclipse (Composite Application) for rendering a content of email is so necessary for example?
A new UI/UX should be a new Design, so improve the design of NSF with more control component of UI (CSS? JS? Animation?) this should be the way....add in the limited actual render NSF more extension point for UI should be great!
With 12.0.2 it doesn't look bad. If it would be a drak and a bright theme and if we get rid of the crappy toolbar it would be pretty fair.
I don't think, that the general concept is that bad. Mostly all operation systems took over the old fashioned Notes desktop of using icons to start an application. Mostly all apps use actions, buttons and menus on top. That's great use.
Former look and feel changes, like the 'Open List' button (similar to MS 'Start' button) were not really accepted, because the old-fashioned desktop is way more handy. :-) - And then there was that attempt with the bookmark.nsf to provide an individual layout. But the latter is also nowhere in use. - At least not according to my observation.
However, there is still a lot of improvement:
Toolbar and its customization
users of other products envy us Notes user for a configurable and programmable button bar
look and feel should be improved
toolbars sometime mess up and change its order
size of buttons
Desktop and its customisation
having the availability to change the background to an image is only a first shot. That image should have more options like tile, stretch, etc. Images should not stretch, e.g. if using a photo.
HCL didn't ship ANYTHING new. It's still the same outdated, tired, confusing, and ugly interface we've been staring at for almost two decades. It gets more unstable and unpredictable with every "improvement". I don't know about the rest of the user base, but my company is in the process of evaluating a replacement. We've given Lotus, IBM and HCL plenty of time to bring Domino/Notes into the 21st century. ALL have failed miserably.
Notes needs to evolve and get a new skin. OR even better, have something that we can change it the look and feel in EVERY way, but can use the template as a base.
NOT just the color.
Don't be like IBM and other programs that TELL users what they want, we are listening to the users and this is it's biggest flaw.
9/10 th of what user care about is look, feel and ease of use.
The 11.0.1 and 12 are made for engineers.
If you want a good Beta testers for the client, get grandma/grandpa or a 10 years old to test, not someone who has used it for years and years.
IBM made this mistake for YEARS.... I hope HCL does not do the same.
More changes to come in 12.0.1 - a blog post will be published later this week.
I agree that it is now easier to upgrade and has a 64-bit version and that it is faster and lighter, but I disagree that the Notes client has had a drastic improvement in appearance, in my opinion the workspace is more modern.
It still needs to improve some things, but it's evolving...
What remains to evolve are the interface components of the internal applications that run on Notes (Tables, Buttons, Fields, Views Grid), just look at some templates and see how nothing has changed in recent years!
In Notes version 10, there was a slight change in action bars and buttons, but if we compare Notes with a web browser like Firefox or Chrome, we see how it changes the appearance of a web page containing a simple form without CSS or Bootstrap , in the latest Firefox update (https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/news/modern-clean-new-firefox-clears-the-way-to-all -you-need-online /) the fields have a rounded border, highlighted when the cursor is in focus, nice checkbox and radio buttons, new guide design, simplified context menus (Meanwhile the notes document properties window can't even be resized https://domino-ideas.hcltechsw.com/ideas/NTS-I-11 ). I know the Notes client is not a browser and you can't compare such different software to another, but what I expected would be a drastic change in the appearance of Notes would be something similar to what Firefox or Chrome has been doing during their updates .
Change should not be limited to the search field, menu, status bar or desktop! Most important are the applications running on the client; they must be changed in some way with new software versions. Perhaps something similar to what was available for Xpage with the Oneui Themes (oneui, oneui2 and oneui3), where screen elements could change with a simple change to the application properties. This would make existing and new customers understand how the HCL Notes Client is evolving and keeping up to date to meet the needs of modern times.
I’m running the latest V12 code. Basically, NOTHING changed. Oh wait, they removed the Notes 8 theme...