The following are the changes in the new version:
Domino Designer moves to Eclipse: With Lotus Notes 8.5, the Domino Designer is now hosted on the Eclipse platform for Notes 8.5. As a result the Eclipse application development platform provides the same Eclipse elements that are included in the Lotus Notes and Domino client. XPages are one of the design elements available from the Applications Navigator.
8.5 XPages: Also included is a XPage Designer element that lets you create Web 2.0 enabled pages based on the JSF technology. Specific features of XPages include:
- AJAX enabled
- Fully extensible using custom controls
- Support for web clients
- Full support for styling using CSS
- JavaScript scripting language support for client-side and server-side action
- Direct access to Java libraries on the server
- Easy page design using pre-built controls
Themes in 8.5 for XPages: Also with 8.5 are themes available for XPages. These are used for server-side customization of HTML. Themes can be set globally and applied to all applications or a single application on a server.