Microsoft Edge and PeopleSoft August 4, 2015
Posted by Duncan in Browsers, Look and Feel, PeopleSoft 9.2, PeopleTools 8.54, TW.comments closed
The Windows 10 upgrade was released late last week, and with it came a new web browser – Microsoft Edge. Formerly codenamed Project Spartan, Edge is the default web browser in Windows 10. Internet Explorer 11 is also be included with the new OS, but is basically unchanged from the version of IE11 found in Windows 7 and 8.1.
Although it might be a while until Windows 10 gains widespread enterprise adoption, it’ll likely have reasonably swift uptake in the home so Edge will start becoming an important browser for externally exposed PeopleSoft systems within 6 months or so.
First Impressions of Edge
It’s actually pretty nice. It’s clean, unobtrusive (unlike those Firefox skins) and snappy to use. It doesn’t work for all websites however – some sites give the following:
This is controlled by a ‘blacklist’ of sites however, so there’s no need to worry about your PeopleSoft implementation giving this message.
Edge and PeopleSoft
So, does it work with PeopleSoft? The answer is Yes, it certainly seems to. I’ve spent a fair amount of time noodling through some ‘difficult’ pages and they look OK to me. I compared with HCM 92 Image 13 – the latest at time of writing – and both Fluid and Classic UIs look great.
Ideas vs Execution March 18, 2014
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel.comments closed
I received a sobering lesson today in the value of good ideas, versus the execution of these ideas.
Four years ago I read a great post on status boards, and on the train the next day I mulled over the possibility of building something similar in PeopleSoft. This is the image that started my thoughts racing:
This was around the time that PeopleTools 8.50 came out, and I believed that a similar looking status board could be easily created using some query pagelets, some styling and a custom portal. Failing that, I could just knock the whole thing up in iScripts. It’d take probably about a week’s work to build. This status board could then be displayed on a big screen mounted on the wall in whichever department had commissioned it (be it HR, Payroll, Recruitment etc). Not homepage dashboards, but a department-wide dashboard that continually updated.
I pitched my idea around at work but lacked the tenacity to drive it through. In short, I didn’t execute and the idea withered.
Fast forward 4 years to today and I’ve just read an interview on the Zapier blog with the founder of Geckoboard. He read exactly the same blog post as me and had a similar idea, however he executed on it and built a thriving company on the back of his efforts.
The value of the idea was trivial, compared to having the conviction to execute on it. A sobering lesson indeed.
PeopleSoft and the Leap Motion July 31, 2013
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel, PeopleSoft.comments closed
I had the chance to play with one of the new Leap Motion controllers today. My first instinct was to play some games with it, however my second instinct was to see how well it works with PeopleSoft …
PeopleSoft App Store February 6, 2012
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel.comments closed
It’s been a long time coming, but the PeopleSoft App Store is finally ready to see the light of day.
The intention is for users to be able to browse a central repository for PeopleSoft apps. There’s plenty of precedent for this type of site with the Android Marketplace or Apple AppStore on mobile platforms, and the Salesforce AppExchange or SAPs App Store (which was even longer coming than this site!). Top blogger Jiju has spoken about this also, although the concept is broadly similar his ideas are very different.
I’ve put a few small-ish ‘apps’ live already, and the intention is to add many more apps and improve the site as time goes on (I’m aping the Facebook “Done is better than perfect” philosophy).
Have a look and let me know what you think.
Self Service at Pret – Technical Details September 7, 2011
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel, PeopleTools, PIA, Strategy.comments closed
I posted a video yesterday showing some of the work we’d done at Pret and thought I’d add a little more technical detail and some clearer screenshots. (more…)
Self Service at Pret a Manger September 6, 2011
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel, PeopleSoft, Strategy.comments closed
I’ve been a little quiet over the last year or so as I’ve been working hard helping my colleagues at Succeed implement PeopleSoft at a retail client here in the UK – Pret a Manger.
It has been a challenging project and we’ve all worked really hard. The end is in sight now though, and we’re proud of what we’ve delivered.
It has been refreshing to work with a client that isn’t afraid of customisation if it improves the user experience for their employees. And Pret really have held the engagement of their Self Service users as of paramount importance.
This short video shows some of the highlights:
Portal Greeting on Tools 8.50 May 21, 2010
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel, PeopleTools 8.50, PIA.comments closed
I’ve posted before about using the Portal Greeting / PIA Welcome message to display something useful here. I’ve recently come to implement this on a client and discovered that the method I suggested no longer works for Tools 8.50.
Pleasingly, it’s now actually slightly easier to achieve (and will appear on all pages, not just the Home Page).
Open up App Package PT_BRANDING, the Class BrandingBase and search for the string ‘add &addjs’. Immediately preceding that line, add the following line of code:
&greeting = "User: " | %UserId | " on Database: " | %DbName;
(Plus some comments identifying the customisation etc.)
This will do the trick, but the end result looks a bit big and blocky. It’s a piece of cake to alter the greeting style to achieve a much better looking result.
Open the PSHOMEPAGE Freeform Style Sheet, locate the greeting style class and replace it with this:
.greeting {
color: #FFFFFF;
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;
font-size: 10pt;
margin: 0 0 0 70px;
line-height: 24pt;
}
The end result will look something like this (I’ve also added bold tags around the UserID and Database for clarity):
Restyling/rebranding HR9.1/Tools 8.50 January 12, 2010
Posted by Duncan in Look and Feel, PeopleTools 8.50.comments closed
I’ve spent a couple of days doing a rebranding job on one of our v9.1/Tools 8.50 environments and it’s a lot harder than it used to be pre-8.50.
Previously, if you had a rough idea of how it all fits together and knew the colour scheme that you were moving to you could do it in a day or two. Now however, I think it’ll take a bit longer. Here’s why: (more…)
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