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Interesting idea, and a good one. However, even though it is supposed to be an "Open Architecture"; Notes / Domino is still an IBM fully owned product.

So, any such standards body would ultimately have to be overseen by IBM, as would any of their recommendations / candidates / etc.

I think such a standards body would be a very good thing; but it would only have value if it were fully backed by IBM.

-Devin.

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Standards are always good, until you want to do something that they don't allow ;) hence your favorite phrase, "roll your own". But they do make for easier transition for the developer coming behind you to pick up on your line of thinking.

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<lurk> Is this what you mean? http://www.openntf.org/Projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/.Domino%20Framework </lurk>

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@Devin:
I absolutely agree. One of the things that we brought up during the Remote Residency/RedWiki was that if IBM expected non-IBMers to be authoratative maintainers/moderators of the content, they'd need to make it official. I bring up that example to further illustrate your point: if the vendor doesn't back this, it's a failure before it starts. Maybe if we can get enough community interest in such a thing however and properly propose it to IBM...

@Mike:
Well, "standards" and RAD are two totally different things. In my suggested context, "standards" would be industry and community tested and agreed-upon techniques and methods to performing a particular function or to get a specific result. Also, and possibly more importantly, tracking and informing on deprecated techniques and methods.
This would not replace the often-found need to "roll your own", but rather provide guidelines for doing so. Just like with the W3C, you can choose to stick to the agreed-upon standards to ensure that

1. you don't run the risk of implementing something that will wind up breaking should you upgrade, and
2. you can rest assured that other developers that walk in blind to your applications can at least get an idea of what's going on - provided they too are versed in the LNDCA (Lotus Notes and Domino Community Advisory... maybe?) standards.

Decide to deviate from the standards... well, some amazing things are done in Web Development when you ignore the W3C that in-turn sorta become their OWN standards... but this'll hopefully get people to stop slamming </form> at the beginning of their Domino Form Design Elements...

@Brett:
Well, not really - while that's (I presume, haven't checked it out) a good enough place to start, it doesn't really address the core issue: development techniques and methods. What a "standard template" allows us to do is to have a jump-point. That jump-point might allow for said developer to get a good foundation (and hopefully learn some good techniques along the way), but they'll eventually slide back into their typical development techniques. No, what I'm suggesting is something that will allow the developer to learn, expand their understanding of the products, expand their understanding of the how, why, who, and wheres in Lotus Notes and Domino Development. Something that will allow the developer to both grow as a developer and evolve their applications, while not being tempted by the "this is the new l33t h0tn3ss!!" that often plauges development communities.

... and that's not to say that we shouldn't continue to push the envelope (don't get me wrong here), but establishing ever-evolving standards will (in my opinion) allow us to confidently move forward with our development.

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@Brent H - don't you mean...

</lurk>is this... <lurk>

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@Nathan:
Brent originally did that, I just thought that it was a markup typo so I changed it. My bad...

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I've asked for this ever since I got started with Notes. The documentation from Lotus barely skims the surface. To really do anything takes a LOT of trial and error, searching the Internet, and plain dumb luck.

And I sincerely hope you're not just talking about Domino development. Notes client development is still very much alive and well. :-)

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