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Michael Matti started following the idea "Mockups tab order..." in Balsamiq.
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Michael Matti replied on November 14, 2008 16:32 to the problem "Grouping suppresses images during command line export" in Balsamiq:
Nailed it in the latest update. Thanks for your persistence ... -
Michael Matti replied on November 13, 2008 18:00 to the problem "Grouping suppresses images during command line export" in Balsamiq:
Hmm ... this is weird: I just installed NEXT.154, created two simple image+label groups, and command-line generated the PNG. The grouped imported images are still missing in the output.
Should e-mail the BMML? -
Michael Matti reported a problem in Balsamiq on November 11, 2008 19:25:
Text color changes don't survive command line exportJust hit another of those command line export oddities: if you assign a color to a text label, or change its state to disabled to gray it out, the applied color is lost when the mockup is command line exported to a PNG. It's pretty much the same problem as with command_line_png_export_ignores_vertical_curly_braces_color, and turned out to have the same workaround: bump the font size from the default 13 to 14.
So, for what it's worth, there's a weird consistency to the color dropout problem. Haven't had a change yet to experiment with other components, but with text labels and curly brace text both afflicted, there seems to be an underlying issue. -
Michael Matti reported a problem in Balsamiq on November 04, 2008 19:28:
Grouping suppresses images during command line exportThis one had me scratching my head this morning: If you import an image and then group it with another component, the image won't be included in any PNGs generated from the command line.
Specifically, I brought in a 16x16 PNG icon and grouped it with a label component, to create an icon-and-text-label element that needed to appear repeatedly, across several mockups. When the exports were generated from the command line, all the labels were showing in the PNGs, but the imported icon images were missing. When I tried un-grouping one of the image-label hybrids, sure enough, that image reappeared when the PNGs were regenerated.
Bear in mind, everything looks fine within Mockups when the BMML file is loaded -- this problem is confined to command line exports. -
Michael Matti replied on November 04, 2008 15:50 to the idea "Flickr image import suggestions" in Balsamiq:
Sweeeeet! This actually immediately useful, since one of my projects includes a catalog selection screen that's intended to show thumbnails of listed items. I'd been dropping in image placeholders, but now I can call up a series of tag-appropriate images instead. It's also nice that shift-dragging maintains aspect ratio on resize, while "Auto-Size" snaps things back to the original dimensions.
Also, is it just that Flickr is more responsive today, or have you done something to speedup redisplay when switching between tabs? The lag is less noticeable right now.
One last idea for something to add: an optional border around the imported image, same as offered by the Canvas and List components. Depending on the image and the surrounding context, that can be a big help. -
A comment on the idea "Flickr image import suggestions" in Balsamiq:
Funny thing is, if you go to Flick and enter a search for halloween[space]pumpkin and halloween[,]pumpkin, the result set is exactly the same. Not sure why that difference matters in the Mockups import dialog, but the outcome should definitely be an "and" operation between the keywords: halloween AND pumpkin. As far as the other query settings, my own preference for fixed values would be tag matching and ordered by most interesting (interestingness). That would cover my needs 90+% of the time. – Michael Matti, on November 03, 2008 22:12 -
Michael Matti shared an idea in Balsamiq on November 03, 2008 20:55:
Flickr image import suggestionsAfter digging into file-based imports for a couple of days, thought I'd turn my attention to the Flickr-based side of the image import dialog. Hadn't explored it before, and was happy to see that it's based on Flickr's search API, so you can enter a couple of keywords and get a raft of (mostly) appropriate images. The more I played with it, the more potential it showed for prototypes, proofs-of-concept, etc. But a couple of issues cropped up:
1. Delimiters: You get wildly different results for "halloween,pumpkin" and "halloween pumpkin" -- the former yields 30 photos, while the latter brings only one. Might want to add a note about delimiter syntax, to remove guesswork and unhappy surprises.
2. Full-text versus tags-only search: the Flickr API supports either, but there's no choice in the import dialog, and no indication which variant is being used. There's a huge difference in full-text and tags-only searches, and I've always found the tags to be more useful. Would be good to have a choice, along with a most relevant/recent/interesting radio control set. Just a matter of tapping their API.
3. Grayscale option: Most Flickr photos are in vivid color, while Mockups is -- by its nature, and appropriately -- a mostly monochromatic tool. This means that imported Flickr images wind up looking out of place, even if the image is perfect for the mockup. All that color can be downright distracting. Since Flex/Flash is pretty capable with image manipulation, could we have a checkbox to render the imported image in grayscale? That would instantly blend it in better with the rest of the mockup.
4. Keeping images in memory: I sent a note about this regarding file-based images, then said it didn't matter when I brought up Mockups on on faster, fatter pipes. Now it matters again, and the speed of the local connection is not a help: Whenever you tab away from a mockup that has a Flickr-based imported photo, the image is dumped from memory. Switching back to that tab results in a long delay as Flickr is re-contacted, re-queried, and the image is re-transmitted and re-loaded. It's reasonable to go through this when loading a BMML file from disk, and it needs to call Flickr for the images, but it's a bit more annoying to go through it when you just happened to change tabs and return. -
Michael Matti replied on November 03, 2008 18:12 to the idea "Ability to add Custom Icons" in Balsamiq:
Hey, I'm not working on it -- that's Peldi's job! But on some earlier thread I had asked him about bolting the image import dialog to the icon and icon-with-label components as well, so I wanted to make sure that approach sounded right to you, too. -
Michael Matti replied on November 03, 2008 17:48 to the idea "Ability to add Custom Icons" in Balsamiq:
Miggl, would it work for you to have the new import-image function available through the icon properties panel? That's the approach I've been imagining... -
A comment on the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq:
NEXT.147 is behaving nicely at work this morning, so you may have swatted the last import bug. Will report back if any more images break. Also, it looks like the reloads-on-tab-switch are a lot less annoying when you're on a local hard drive or intranet pipe. Sort of a "blink" whey you switch tabs, so it's no longer a concern. Appreciate your persistence through the weekend in chasing this stuff down. – Michael Matti, on November 03, 2008 16:55 -
A comment on the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq:
Also, just found a quick, reliable way to generate broken images: 1) import a few to a new mockup (I pulled from two different sub-directories, in case that makes a difference). 2) Click "New Clone of Current Mockup" -- in the new one, none of the imported images will show. 3) Now click the tab for the mockup you started from -- you'll see "Image not found" errors where they'd properly displayed just a moment before. – Michael Matti, on November 02, 2008 21:07 -
A comment on the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq:
OK, just tested again from the home Mac under NEXT.144. "New Clone of Current Mockup" still results in "Image not found" errors. Also, noticing some sub-optimal behavior when switching between mockups that include imported images: the images seem to be unloaded from memory whenever you switch between tabs, resulting in a delay, visible placeholders, and "loading" labels when you re-select a tab that was foreground just a second before. The effect is probably magnified by the VPN link from a slow home connection, but this still doesn't seem like the best behavior. Will create a file or two from home and pull them up on the Windows box at work tomorrow. – Michael Matti, on November 02, 2008 18:53 -
Michael Matti replied on November 01, 2008 15:18 to the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq:
Here's an update on image retention, now that I've had a chance to load NEXT.139 on my home Mac. Should mention that what follows is not a made-up test scenario: I frequently VPN to my employer's servers to continue work on files that were created under Windows. That platform agnosticism is one of the great features of Mockups.
Pulled up one of the files from two days ago, that were giving me the trouble I'd described. No surprise, every imported image was broken. Pulled up one of yesterday's files -- the last one I'd saved before leaving work. This time, all the images loaded. Cool -- wasn't sure that the full paths as defined by the Wintel machine would be correctly parsed/reinterpreted by the Mac (especially because of the VPN routing).
Finally, with yesterday's fully-functional mockup in view, I performed a "New Clone of Current Mockup." Every single image winds up broken in the clone.
Puzzling. -
A comment on the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq:
This happens on a Wintel box -- I also have Mockups installed on a Mac at home, but haven't had a chance to test the problem there. Also, another observation, as I'm fixing the broken items from yesterday: I'd mentioned that the image names are still listed in the property panel. The full set of images for that mockup are also on the recent imports pulldown. When I re-import an image, it's then listed twice in the recent items list. Which means, if an image occurs twice in the mockup, I can correct the second one by selecting from the recent items list if I guess right about which one has the path that works. – Michael Matti, on October 31, 2008 17:00 -
Michael Matti replied on October 31, 2008 16:27 to the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq:
Hmm... sorry to report, it isn't fixed for me. I've downloaded NEXT.139 and have the same problem I encountered yesterday. Haven't quite figured out the underlying logic that breaks the images, but it seems related to importing items from two different directories. When I first tried the new import feature, I was pulling in icons from a single source directory. Trouble cropped up when, needing a different sort of image, I added a separate folder dedicated to the non-icon items. If I create a new mockup, then import an image from the second directory, then open an older mockup that was using items from the first directory, the older mockup suddenly can't find its imported images.
If you select one of the images, it is correctly identified by name in the properties panel, but you have to re-select it from the upload dialog to get it to "take" again. So it seems to be some sort of path retention problem. -
Michael Matti started following the problem "opening bmml file doesn't retain uploaded image" in Balsamiq.
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A comment on the problem "Truncated UI label in image import dialog" in Balsamiq:
Ack! Sorry I missed your earlier post -- and I even browsed around first to see if it was mentioned before. And your screenshot even included an arrow. :) – Michael Matti, on October 29, 2008 16:06 -
Michael Matti gave praise in Balsamiq on October 29, 2008 16:03:
Thanks for those improved bottom tabsJust a tip o' the hat for NEXT.130's intelligently-resizing bottom tabs. Had items scrolling off the edge just yesterday; this makes a big difference when juggling a handful of files. -
Michael Matti reported a problem in Balsamiq on October 29, 2008 14:03:
Truncated UI label in image import dialogThis one's truly trivial, but you asked us to bear down on the new image import feature. When the import dialog comes up, the first "File" label in the top button bar is truncated to "F...":
When the mouse pointer rolls over the button, the full label appears. Verified on both Wintel and Mac, and it's been there for several of the NEXT.x versions. Figure you'd want to fix that before 1.5 goes gold.
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