Michael's dashboard

Michael replied on September 18, 2008 18:05 to the idea "Show combo box open" in Balsamiq:

Great idea, I have wanted this too and usually resort to doing it manually.

Michael replied on September 18, 2008 10:38 to the problem "Dragging an object to the canvas edge should auto scroll the canvas" in Balsamiq:

Oh - I would venture to say that most of us are elastic band selecting UI and then realeasing mouse and then trying to drag them elsewhere on the screen. Is this what you had in mind?

Michael replied on September 17, 2008 12:58 to the idea "Print..." in Balsamiq:

I see this all related to the storyboard mode idea. I would image that on the print dialog, we could have a checkbox that allows you to print all of the pages/layers of the mockups.

Michael replied on September 17, 2008 09:10 to the idea "Storyboard mode" in Balsamiq:

Peldi,
Great question.

It came from a desire to link the mockups together. The developer thinks it will be valuable and important to string mockups together in such a way that when you click somewhere on the mockup, it opens another mockup. We was hoping to then edit the HTML and hook-up the pages with link or image maps.

Example:
Say we were designing a wizard UI with many steps and alternate paths. It would be helpful to provide a single file format that can be distributed over the web with hyperlinks that piece the mockups together in order.

I can see its usefulness, but worry that if implemented as is, it could add too much complexity and dependence. Also it requires someone to edit the html files. So I am not sure he has the right idea.

But the goal is still the same as my story board mode idea. Which is why I posted it.

Idea:
Maybe you could create some kind of page/layer option in Balsmiq. It would be another page in your notebook.



You work on a single BMML file, but you can put whole UI mockups on different pages/layers. Maybe a presentation mode (my earlier request) would show the first page, and you could click somewhere to progress to the next mockup page/layer.

These are just some ideas, but I do think a lot of us need to mockup user flow, not just single UI screens.

Michael replied on September 17, 2008 08:44 to the idea "Storyboard mode" in Balsamiq:

Today I gave a demo of Balsamiq desktop to my development team. One request came up was to provide an html export option:

This would produce an html file with the embedded png image inside of it. Even better would be able to export all as single html file.

Michael replied on September 17, 2008 03:32 to the idea "Is it possible to make text bold?" in Balsamiq:

Another great feature to add. Maybe you do this one when you do the font work?

Michael replied on September 17, 2008 03:28 to the idea "Print..." in Balsamiq:

Hoping you will reconsider. Its just a nuisance to have to:

1. Click export to PNG
2. Navigate to the location of the mockup folder
3. Thumb through all the versioned .png files
4. Open in a graphics program
5. Print.

Something as simple as print would really help people avoid the steps above. I have even resorted to printscreen on occasion.

Michael replied on September 17, 2008 03:24 to the question "Avoid having files names like my_mockup.bmml.bmml" in Balsamiq:

Thank you -

Michael asked a question in Balsamiq on September 17, 2008 02:09:

Presentation mode...

I was using Balsamiq Mockups the other day to demonstrate some some Mockups I had created to a large audience.

While doing so, I often used my mouse cursor to point and click, as to simulate and walk through the user experience for my audience. Obviously when I clicked anything, it selected it. If I hover the mouse over, I get that tool tip edit box. A few times I inadvertently nudged a UI component.

Tip: I figured out that I can select all and lock the entire mockup.

But wouldnt it be great if there was an option in the view menu called presentation mode?



This option would do the the following:
- Temporarily lock all mockups in session (all tabs)
- Hide the UI Library (or maybe only allow the Markup library)
- Hide the Quick Add tool
- Add a right click "End presentation mode"

* Presentation mode would automatically end if the user used any of the "Mockup" or "Edit" menus, or opened a .BMML file.

I think this would be a great little feature.

Michael replied on September 16, 2008 17:29 to the question "Avoid having files names like my_mockup.bmml.bmml" in Balsamiq:

Anyone have an opinion on this one?

Michael replied on September 14, 2008 04:25 to the discussion "Shell Scripts to Export Multiple Mockups" in Balsamiq:

Genius I tell you!

Michael reported a problem in Balsamiq on September 13, 2008 14:33:

Somewhat serious issue with Tabs Bar...

I found this issue while working with the Tabs Bar, but I suspect it may appear in other areas too. It will cause an issue with Balsamiq that will require you to restart.

1. Add a 'Tabs Bar' to your mockup



2. Change the active tab to One





3. Now try to change the active tab back to none. Notice that there is no way to set it back to 'None' it seems to not be possible:



4. Now it CTRL-Z a few times to undo your last actions.



Huh? There is now no content in the tabs.

Worse off is that now Balsamiq appears to be broke and not functioning as expected. You cannot use the quick add and toolbox filters. Some things do still work, but things are definitely broken.

Also notice that at some point the property panel does not appear correctly. Thiis happens if you redo. Its missing the borders and background. Kinda funky :)

Michael replied on September 13, 2008 14:07 to the question "Enhancement: Precise drag (ignore automatic snap)" in Balsamiq:

I have been using this, and I have to say I am delighted and very thankful this has been implemented. It's fantastic and makes it so much more easier.

You have to try it!!!

Peldi, la ringraziamo per l'attuazione di questo grande funzionalità

Michael asked a question in Balsamiq on September 13, 2008 13:54:

File upload UI widget

If you had asked me, I would have bet 10 bucks that Balsamiq already had a UI widget for HTML file upload.



It's easy enough to make one from scratch, but maybe one day you could add one.

Michael replied on September 13, 2008 12:58 to the question "Avoid having files names like my_mockup.bmml.bmml" in Balsamiq:

Maybe Balsamiq should ignore the .bmml extension even if you type it in as the filename. I think this is the way other programs work too.

Michael replied on September 13, 2008 12:57 to the question "Avoid having files names like my_mockup.bmml.bmml" in Balsamiq:

I often will create mockup names like:

wizard-page-step1.bmml
wizard-page-step2.bmml
wizard-page-step3.bmml
wizard-page-step4.bmml

To save me from typing, I have been clicking the filename and editing it. I guess i leave the bmml extension in the name, so it just appends a new .bmml extension to it.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Michael asked a question in Balsamiq on September 13, 2008 12:54:

Avoid having files names like my_mockup.bmml.bmml

I thought I was crazy - for weeks now I could not figure out why I am getting some of my mockups to have a .bmml.bmml extension. I even have a few that are .bmml.bmml.bmml.bmml

I now realize whats going on, but I wonder if anything could be done to avoid it? Maybe I am crazy?

Here is why it happens:

1. Create a new mockup
2. Click file>save
3. Type in the name as 'my_mockup'
4. Click [save]
5. Clone the mockup
6. Now click file>save-as
7. when the dialog appear, click the file you want to save it as (instead of typing it)
8. Notice the warning message telling you that it will overwrite it
9. Click [OK] to overwrite it

Now look what it has done:

Michael replied on September 13, 2008 12:36 to the idea "Print..." in Balsamiq:

Actually I find printing with the MS preview to be a real pain. It is intended for photos and it tries to stretch, crop, and rotate your mockups.

Print would just make good sense. :)

Michael replied on September 13, 2008 12:33 to the question "Idea: Add edit to the property panel..." in Balsamiq:

Right click with option to edit would do just fine as well.

Michael shared an idea in Balsamiq on September 13, 2008 10:29:

Enhancement: Selecting items on layers

Sometimes its hard to select something that hidden or that is encompassed by another UI widget. It would be great to enhance the selection of items that are behind or in the background. It even harder when the items are locked, forcing you to unlock all.

Example:
Image you have three UI components; A window, a box, and a button. The window is in the back, the box is in front of the window, the button is in front of the box. You want to select the the window because the box is covering it. Sure you can use a bounding box, or maybe move the component out of the way. But that is messy.

I have used some CAD products that let you drill-down to select items by holding down the right mouse button while left clicking the left button. Each subsequent left click selects the next item in the layer.

Another way to do this is to add a right mouse context menu. The menu would have the option for "Select next item" which would un-select the existing item, and select the next item in the layer order.

Either way, once I have my item selected I can use the property panel to edit it.

Note:
This enhancement goes with my earlier enhancement which would let you edit the text of the selected item without the need to double click it.

http://getsatisfaction.com/balsamiq/t...