[Lotus Notes Sucks: Example 25]
Changing Your Password
Problem
About every three months or so I get this message from Lotus Notes as soon as it starts, before it lets view my workspace.
Analysis
My first reaction to seeing this message is, "So what?" It turns out that if I don't change my password by 11/26, I won't be able to open my mail until someone resets my password.
A dialog box such as the one below would be better:
Doesn't this dialog box make more sense? It tells me what is going on, why I need to change my password, and provides me with an opportunity to change it.
Here's the fun part. Every three months or so, someone from the corporate Lotus Notes technocracy sends a mail message to everyone that describes how to change his or her password. Why? Because nobody can remember how to do it. But how difficult can it be?
- Just select Options on the Tools menu? No.
- How about on the Edit menu, select Preferences? No.
- On the Actions menu, point to Tools then select Preferences? No.
- On the File menu, select User Preferences, then click the Security Options button? No.
- How about on the File menu, point to Tools, then select User ID? YES. But there is more! Enter your password, then click Set Password. Enter your password again (third time), then enter your new password. Get it right, because if Lotus Notes doesn't like your new password, it will tell you so, but won't exactly tell you what it didn't like. Enter your new password again. Click OK. Did it work? Lotus Notes won't tell you if you successfully changed your password, just if you did not successfully change your password.
User Interface Guideline Violations
- Forcing the user to do more work than necessary.
- Not helping the user fix the problem.
- Forcing the user to deal with stupidity.
Update 6.5.2
This version actually asks if you want to change your password. It even offers to randomly-generate some passwords for you that you can choose to use, such as w8g9xKGh and t2RQVpcT—which no human being in his right mind would choose. Not unless he writes it on a piece of paper that he then tapes to the bottom of the keyboard...
Conclusion
Lotus Notes sucks.