Lotus Notes Basics - Text Fields and Rich Text Fields

In the last blog entry I showed how Lotus Notes forms have fields on them which allow you to input information.  Today we'll begin looking at the various types of fields, starting with plain text versus rich text.

A plain text field allows you to enter characters, but you can not apply any formatting (colour, size, font, style, etc) to them.  You can't enter pictures, tables, or attach files.
An example of a text field is the subject line for an email.

A rich text field allows you to enter just about anything.  This can be both good, and bad!  It is good when you use pictures to tell a story.  When you add tables to display information.  When you use sections to display content.  An example of bad use of a rich text is when you attach a 20 MB presentation to an email addressed to 100 people! ;-)
An example of a rich text field is the body of an email.

The type of field is decided when the developer builds the application.  You can not change this.

Here is an example of plain text versus rich text.