Brian Jamieson's dashboard

Brian Jamieson replied on November 01, 2009 19:07 to the idea "Add a border around the tabs" in Balsamiq:

I like it. I think that adds some nice flexibility to the tabs control.

Brian Jamieson shared an idea in Balsamiq on September 04, 2009 13:21:

Add a border around the tabs

Sometimes I want to use the horizontal tabs as primary or secondary navigation, and I always end up adding a rectangle behind the tabs themselves so that the tab control borders connect to the header and body boxes.

So two options would be good:
1. toggle a "tray" around the tabs. This would be a separate border that goes around the tabs and connects to the tab panel. Optionally it could have it's own background color, distinct from the panel color.
2. toggle the visibility of the panels. Sometimes I am doing a more complex layout in the body, and I just want to represent the tabs without the overhead of the panel.

Brian Jamieson replied on September 27, 2008 20:01 to the question "How do I find the current version available on the website?" in Balsamiq:

A build number would solve my problem, but I would rank this pretty low on the list.

I do want the release notes, but I would be fine waiting for the auto-update feature.

Brian Jamieson marked one of Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni's replies in Balsamiq as useful. Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni replied to the question "How do I find the current version available on the website?".

Brian Jamieson asked a question in Balsamiq on September 26, 2008 19:35:

How do I find the current version available on the website?

In the absence of an auto-updater, I sometimes want to check and see if I have the latest version. But I always have trouble finding the current version on the website.

Brian Jamieson replied on September 18, 2008 13:58 to the idea "Select a UI Control added via Quick Add" in Balsamiq:

Ah, shift+arrow is what I need. Still working on memorizing the shortcut list :)

Brian Jamieson replied on September 18, 2008 13:19 to the idea "Select a UI Control added via Quick Add" in Balsamiq:

Ooo that's a tasty workflow. 5 keystrokes to add a widget and put me back in control, and I don't have to touch the mouse.

As I play with it, I'm wondering if an accelerator on the arrow keys would be a nice feature. Hold down the arrow key for more than 1 second and the movement of the widget doubles in speed. Have to think about that one some more; might be situations where it gets in the way.

Brian Jamieson replied on September 18, 2008 13:13 to the problem "Dragging an object to the canvas edge should auto scroll the canvas" in Balsamiq:

For the resize I think the basics are working. I'm not seeing the first limitation you describe on the desktop version; not sure why. I do see the second one, where I get a weird continuation of the resize that gradually tapers off. It's actually kind of cool looking; I'd call it a feature.

Another limitation I am seeing appears to be that I can't drag top and left. That is, if I have an object larger than the canvas, I can't drag the right side of the object back to the left side of the canvas and get the auto scrolling.

So it's a little quirky, but I think there is enough value in the behavior you have implemented to release it.

The big one for me is supporting the move; I tend to move stuff around more than I resize.

Brian Jamieson reported a problem in Balsamiq on September 11, 2008 13:48:

Dragging an object to the canvas edge should auto scroll the canvas

When I have a canvas larger than the window, it is difficult to drag an object to a part of the canvas not currently in view. I have to drag the object to the window edge, drop it, scroll the canvas as far as I can without losing sight of my object, then drag it again. The window should scroll automatically if I drag my object outside the window edge.

Brian Jamieson started following the idea "Zoom Zoom" in Balsamiq.

Brian Jamieson shared an idea in Balsamiq on August 27, 2008 20:05:

Select a UI Control added via Quick Add

After adding a UI Control from the Quick Add, I would like that control to be selected. Sometimes I have trouble finding the control that gets added, because it shows up in a busy part of the canvas. If it was selected I could jiggle it with the arrows, making it easier to find.

It would also make it a little more consistent with the interaction of dragging a control from the library to the canvas. Dragging puts the control in edit mode, but I think that is overkill for the Quick Add; selection would be sufficient.

Brian Jamieson replied on August 27, 2008 17:17 to the question "Pencil icon" in Balsamiq:

Info, Warning, Error, Alert

Brian Jamieson shared an idea in Balsamiq on August 27, 2008 15:21:

Guides would be a useful addition.

The object alignment functionality is great, and makes it easy to quickly layout a design. But I would like to have guides to help define some global layout markers, and have objects align to the guides. I usually need a gutter around the edges of containers or between columns, and with objects that aren't left aligned it's very difficult to maintain a consistent alignment. For example, I might create a form with right aligned labels. If I put two forms on a page it's currently pretty hard to get consistent label alignment across the forms.

Brian Jamieson started following the idea "Fixed canvas size option" in Balsamiq.