Roy Leban's dashboard

Michael, once again you have proven to me that my customers have better ideas than I do, and that giving them half-baked features is not only nothing to be ashamed of, but something that results in the best possible software for everyone. Thanks so much, I'll fix / add all of these tomorrow (I hope)! – Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni, on October 01, 2008 21:39

Woot! Great to see this coming along. A few observations/suggestions:

1. Preview forces the image to expand to the preview size, which makes a small icon turn into a blocky mess. Preview should shrink-to-fit, but not grow-to-fit.

2. When exporting to PNG, the resulting image shows a gray-ghosty "X" paceholder behind the image wherever the imported image was using a transparent background.

3. Right now, import functionality is by way of the image component, but would also like to have it via button, icon, and icon-and-text-label. Basically, would like to have an import option everywhere you currently support icons, since external icons were my main reason for wanting this feature.

4. The last-used quick-select is a really nice touch.

Hi everyone. I have been working on this, and while I haven't fully finished the feature, I wanted to give you a chance to test what I have so far, since you've been wating so long!

You can download the "prerelease" version here:
http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mock...

Only the "File" and "Web" panels work, I still have to finish the Flickr panel and the attachment panel for the Confluence and JIRA versions.

I'll keep publishing updates at that location as I work, so check back there once in a while...

As always, I welcome all feedback and bug reports on these forums (maybe we should start new topics about them, as this one is pretty long...)

Hi there, so I started implementing the feature. I have a question about the "select image from file" panel design. I'd love your input: http://getsatisfaction.com/balsamiq/t...

Peldi, what about storing the picture inside of the .BMML file (or make it BMMLX like Office 2008)? The new .BMML would act as a zip file and store the xml and bundle the pictures. This is similar to how Office 2008 files work (.DOCX) and how OSX apps work (not news to you I'm sure).

What do you know, I'm working on it RIGHT NOW! :) – Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni, on September 22, 2008 14:05

Peldi,

This design looks good, and I agree with your last proposal about the link/embed discussion.

I hope we will get that feature implemented very soon!

Yup, that's the plan! – Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni, on September 10, 2008 16:13

I think the linking is the way to go - seems to keep the app lighter, and most folks can create an image repository elsewhere that they can link to. For the confluence plugin, you might also consider linking to attachments within the wiki, similar to how the WYSIWYG editor allows you browse and embed attachments links via the "Insert/Edit Link" button.

don't know if you are aware of this - but Office 2007 files and ODF files just follow the zipped XML+resources model. Change a .docx or .odf extension to .zip and open it up and see. Definitely a good model to follow, very flexible and extensible. – jonathan, on September 09, 2008 20:04

It seems to me that this discussion is about two different topics -- the ability to embed (or link to) a picture and the ability to have a custom control. I think the picture tool is most useful for icons and the like and I think the option of sketchizing/auto-mogrifying pictures is interesting and would help make imported icons and pictures not be so jarring.

For custom elements, I think something else entirely is in order.

For custom elements, I think something else entirely is in order. I think you can do something that comes pretty close to providing custom elements that have the ease of use and functionality that the built-in ones do. Basically, I'd like to take a group of elements (or maybe a saved mockup) and turn it into a named custom element. I think you need a few things to make it practical to draw elements like the current set. I'll admit that I hate to suggest them.

1) Diagonal lines (or polygons)
2) Arcs
3) Triangles
3) Precision alignment (1-pixel movements instead of 2-pixel movements)

When you create a custom element, you get to specify three things:

1) A name
2) A scaling option, from this list (with some examples)

Fixed Size (YouTube video)
Resizable, proportionally (HDTV image)
H Stretchable
V Stretchable
H&V Stretchable
H Replicable (button bar)
V Replicable (vertical button bar)

3) The default text

Finally, here's how I would handle text.

* If there is only one text object inside the custom element, it becomes the editable text for the custom element. Comma or return causes replication for replicable custom elements.
* If there is more than one text object inside the custom element, the text is not editable (optional: allow them to pick which text object is the editable element; the others are static).

Thank you Netflix!!

Our pleasure, Lambie! It *is* exciting to see customer empowerment work. – Amy Muller, on July 01, 2008 19:07

Party in this thread. – Thomas, on July 01, 2008 08:09

I am so happy N-flix came to their senses. Thanks GetSatisfaction. Every dog has his day, and i just had mine!

Thanks so much to Amy, Thor and the rest of the GetSat Team. You've truly helped make my dreams come true. It's a testament to the power of the internet! – michael lambie, on July 01, 2008 07:49

Word. – Eric Suesz, on July 01, 2008 06:04

I called it: Netflix wasn't ever serious about removing them, but now they look like they listen to users (otherwise why give such an odd VERY far away date like 1 September?). Victory truly for Netflix, to convince users they matter :)

Yay! The crowd screamed and Netflix responded. Excellent.

Bravo! Couldn't have done it without the bloggers...

Give the bloggers a hand, Netflix Listened: http://www.searchmarked.com/netflix/w...