stephen.friedrich's dashboard

A comment on the idea "Resize multiple components to same width/height?" in Balsamiq:

Maybe - I would need to try it out.
I can see a little problem right now: Usually one control already has the correct width and the others should get the same width. I need to be careful to only select all the others so that the resize still snaps to the width of the correct field.
If I select all fields, then I still have to start the resize thus modifying the one width that is already correct also and thereby loose the "reference width". – stephen.friedrich, on November 01, 2009 21:24

stephen.friedrich replied on September 13, 2009 20:52 to the problem "Handle read-only files better!" in Balsamiq:

Thanks for the very quick reaction!
The implementation is ok for me, but it feels very raw and could be enhanced it terms of usability:

It would be nicer to popup the safety question, _before_ the change is actually carried out.
If that is technically too difficult, then at least do not show the warning again, if I UNDO the change after closing the first dialog.

I think the warning should only occur _once_ - currently every change triggers it again and again.

If I do a “Save As” after closing the warning dialog, the new file will be shown (and trigger a warning on change) as read-only for a couple of seconds.

If, after the first change, and “ok”ing the dialog, I try and close the mockup, the warning dialog about unchanged changes occurs (rightly). If however I choose “Don’t Save”, then I get the warning dialog about read-only file again.

Another weird behavior: Open a read-only file, make a change, click OK on the warning dialog. Invoke “New Clone of current mockup” the warning is shown again.

stephen.friedrich reported a problem in Balsamiq on September 11, 2009 16:07:

Handle read-only files better!

Our mockup files are checked into a Subversion repository with "needs-lock" property set.
We did that because merging the xml files did not really work (and I wouldn't expect that).

However now it frequently happens that I (or one of my colleagues) open a mockup file and start to make some adjustments.
Only when trying to save Balsamiq complains about the read-only status.
At that point I have to get the Subversion lock to make the file writeable, but sometimes there were already changes in Subversion, so I have to update first
At that point I loose either my own changes or those from the repository.

That could be handled much better by having Balsamiq complain at the very first attempt to modify a mockup that is loaded from a read only file.

stephen.friedrich shared an idea in Balsamiq on August 31, 2009 19:27:

Resize multiple components to same width/height?

I can't find a way to _quickly_ set a couple of controls (say text fields) to the same width or height.

Other tools offer something that works similar to the "Align" options that the property inspector shows when multiple controls are selected:

Resize: [Min Width] [Max Width] [Min Height] [Max Height] [Min Size] [Max Size]

Choosing either option would adjust the width, height or both to the minimum resp. maximum of the selected controls.

So I could simply adjust the size of one text field, then select all text field, and quickly have all text fields properly sized.

stephen.friedrich started following the question "ComboBox inside a DataGrid" in Balsamiq.

stephen.friedrich started following the question "is is possible to display a drop down list element inside a table?" in Balsamiq.

A comment on the idea ""Lasso selection" of controls contained in other controls" in Balsamiq:

Yep, that's my point: Both modifier should work independently: SHIFT should add to the current selection. ALT should modify the drag on the background to a select. So ALT-SHIFT-Drag should start a lasso selection on a background element that will add to the existing selection. – stephen.friedrich, on May 11, 2009 12:49

stephen.friedrich replied on May 11, 2009 10:24 to the idea ""Lasso selection" of controls contained in other controls" in Balsamiq:

One more small issue I just noticed when I tried to continue work after posting my last comment.
If the Balsamic (for Desktop) window is not active and you try to shift-drag-select without activating the window before then the shift modifier is ignored.

stephen.friedrich replied on May 11, 2009 10:20 to the idea ""Lasso selection" of controls contained in other controls" in Balsamiq:

Thanks a lot! Small issue with the current implementation:
When there already is an existing selecting you cannot Shift-Drag-Select from within another element.
When I start the select outside of any elements it works.

However IMHO there is a general conflict with the meaning of SHIF for _adding_ to the selection.
Currently when shift-drag-selecting any previous selection is cleared.
It would be more consistent and more powerful if the newly selected elements would be added to the existing selection.

How about switching to ALT for the "start-lasso-selection-on-existing-element-drag" modifier?

stephen.friedrich shared an idea in Balsamiq on May 05, 2009 13:48:

"Lasso selection" of controls contained in other controls

I frequently find it cumbersome to quickly select multiple controls that are visually nested in another control (e.g. a rectangle in the background).
Quite often I just try to start a multi-selection by dragging, but of course end up moving the background control instead.

How about a keyboard modifier that toggles selection mode, so that I can start a "lasso selection" even when the mouse down happens to be on a component? (Maybe ctrl-shift, then drag.)

stephen.friedrich replied on May 05, 2009 13:35 to the idea "Ctrl+Shift+Tab to switch between mockups in reverse order" in Balsamiq:

Works fine.
However the first start of the new version only ever got as far as the "Settings things up" message then stalled.
I had to close the window and restart to the version working.

stephen.friedrich started following the idea ""Projects" that bundle multiple mockups." in Balsamiq.

stephen.friedrich replied on May 05, 2009 13:02 to the idea "Ctrl+Shift+Tab to switch between mockups in reverse order" in Balsamiq:

Definitely.
IMHO the second most important guideline for Balsamic should be to keep everything as orthogonal and consistent as possible.
(The most important one of course is to keep everything as lightweight as possible.)

stephen.friedrich started following the idea "Ctrl+Shift+Tab to switch between mockups in reverse order" in Balsamiq.

stephen.friedrich started following the idea "Allow one mockup to serve as a background layer for other mockups." in Balsamiq.

stephen.friedrich started following the idea "Export to PNG on save" in Balsamiq.

stephen.friedrich shared an idea in Balsamiq on May 04, 2009 14:00:

Middle click should close a mockup

Middle click on a mockup's tab should close the mockup.
IMHO this is a pretty common idiom nowadays.

stephen.friedrich shared an idea in Balsamiq on May 04, 2009 13:59:

Quick Add and Navigation with CamelCase

Camel case support.
My favourite Java IDE has a nice feature called "Camel Case" completion (that has now made its way into other IDEs, too).
During code completion and navigation it allows to quickly select multi word targets.
For example In Balsamic it would be nice to be able to type BuBa (or simply BB) in the "Quick Add" field to select "Button Bar".

Another place where this feature would be handy is my proposal to navigate open mockups, e.g. type "oC" to jump to "operator-configuration.bmml" (as opposed to operator-overview.bmml, operator-history and a couple of other mockups that all start with "operator").

stephen.friedrich shared an idea in Balsamiq on May 04, 2009 13:54:

Quick selection of specific mockup

I frequently have lots of individual mockups open, so that the tabs only ever display the first six letters or so.
There is no way for me to quickly select a specific mockup.

I find my self going through the file open dialog (even though the mockup is already open) just so that I can select with auto-completion or with a mouse click on a readable name.

Thoughts:
1) A menu "Mockups" that show all open mockups.
2) Maybe more the balsamic style: A quick way to type in the mockup's name with auto-completion.
3) The deluxe balsamic-style: 2) combined with a graphical thumbnail view of all open mockups.

stephen.friedrich reported a problem in Balsamiq on May 04, 2009 13:39:

"Escape" should cancel a drag operation

This is a minor issue, but nevertheless slightly annoying:
Quite often I start a drag when I haven't meant to (because either I wanted to start a lasso selection, but failed to notice that there is a component in the background or I was slightly off the intended cursor location).

Now pressing "Esc" should immediately cancel the drag. This is standard in almost any graphics software.

In Balsamic I have to commit the drag and the undo manually.