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I am starting to use Mockups more and more, and while I find the ability to move the mockups tabs around to determine the order of the output to PDF, it is very cumbersome when you get say 20 files, and need to storyboard them in a partucular order.
Could we look to have a feature that allows us to manage the order of the mockups in a more logical way (a tree perhaps) - and load/save that tree so i do not have to recreate the same list in the same order each tim I start again?
I’m
frustrated
Organizing tabs is a pain for many mockups in a project
Official
Response
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Hi all. I understand your frustration, if all you see is this thread you'd think that we're completely ignoring this very popular feature request.
In fact, even though we haven't been good at communicating it, it's quite the opposite.
Projects is a very important feature, and we've been actively working on it. In fact, if you use myBalsamiq, it's already there. It's not perfect yet, but it's definitely there. That's where we've been developing the feature first. Once the dust settles on it, we fully plan on bringing the same feature to the Desktop.
All of you who are interested in this feature, please try myBalsamiq: http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/... and help us nail down the design of the Projects feature there because that's what will come to the Desktop one day (with sync between the two).
In the meantime, a few points:
- http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/... is still the best practice and it works for most people
- Mockups is NOT a full-fledged prototyping tool. If your project starts having 100 wireframes or more, you're probably using the wrong tool. In our manifesto we go as far as saying that in most cases you might be using the wrong process: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mock...
- here's an article on how to specify interaction without ending up with 100s of wireframes: http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/...
So, forgive us for not moving faster on this, but we're a small company and we like to do things in little, thought out steps.
EMPLOYEE
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EMPLOYEE
1Andy, we actually do have a new project browser that is being used for myBalsamiq that allows you to view all mockups in a project in right sidebar as a list or as thumbnails. This will make it much easier to manipulate the list. This design should make it to desktop when we implement projects in that version.Comment -
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I’m
hopeful
So, being a pain then - any rought idea when that will be (1 month, 3 months......)?-
Peldi just got back from the SXSW conference and will likely be able to answer this when he's rested and conscious again. :) I'll ping him for a respone.
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Probably not in the next couple of months. We're working on components first, but it is planned.
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I’m
frustrated
I have just started using Mockups and its a great tool with lots of potential. One of the 1st major limitations I have run into is how to manage a UI design project where I am creating 50 on up to 100's of screens (this is typical for the enterprise level applications I design). As Andy has pointed out it becomes VERY painful to manage the set of screens (mockups) at about 20 to 25 (I have a 23" wide screen set to 1440x900). For a project I just started I am at 30 screens and the labels on the tabs are averaging about 3 letters visible. In about another week I expect I may be down to 1 letter and forced to remember where they are by general relative location or I may have to relabel every screen (mockup file name) to a number (also very painful and only a short-term solution).
We need the means to manage a larger set of screens (mockups) and the horizontal set of tabs as is just does not do it. As a new user, have I just not found the means to manage my tabs/project yet?
There are a number of ways this problem can be solved but it is related to another issue which is, there is no concept of a "project" (referenced in other topics).
I would be happy to be part of the solution. Given a majority of the users appear to be UI designers, UX,,or HF (as I am) we should be able to come up with a great solution. What are the particulars of the UCD process you use for adding needed functionality? I would very much like to take a look at the project browser that Michael mentions...having it sooner than later would be important to me as well as the other 50+ UI designers in the company.-
Don't forget about using "control-tab" to quickly flip through your screens. Keep them in order of your UX progression and then you don't hardly have to actually use the tabs--just logically flip from screen to screen.
Also of note, you can go backwards through the stack just as quickly with "control-shift-tab". -
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tonejac, that does not solve the problem. They need containers or subprojects (like I just mentioned).
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I’m
very frustrated
The tool is not scaleable.
Here is what the mockup tabs at the bottom of the screen look like while running on my laptop (14" screen also at 1440 x 900). Obviously this is not unusable. :-)
Surely someone else must have already encountered this problem?
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I have this problem too. I expect tabs across the bottom to be part of the same file, as in Excel and Visio, and I want a Window menu for the different files. (I have a trial version of the Mac product. Not interested in the Web product — at least, not at present.)
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I hear you, Elizabeth. This is a different model for organizing files that's compressed for the simplest use case.
What happens when the number of tabs reaches a threshold (I think 9), is that a pop up menu appears to navigate the mockups.
The current file tabs is not ideal for any but the simplest case. We're aware of that. The project browser is the next big feature that we have on our product roadmap for Mockups, so as we've said in this thread, it is coming. -
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Dan, what we have working in the web product is essentially a scrolling vertical sidebar with a list of thumbnail images and filenames, much like you'd see in applications like Powerpoint or Keynote. I'm at a conference, so cant post a screenshot. If no one posts a screenshot for you, I'll try to post something when I return from traveling. I think it will suit most peoples needs.
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It would be great to see a screenshot and also know when it will be available for the desktop version.
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I’m
hopeful this will address the propblem
When will the solution for the web product be available for the desktop product?
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Hi Dan, no ETA at the moment, we're implementing the web version now. Once we have a solution that works there, we'll bring it to the desktop. I know this is important, I need it as well! :)
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Hi there. Here are the mockups of the 3 different project views which we are implementing:
Grid view: https://our.mybalsamiq.com/project/17...
Story view: https://our.mybalsamiq.com/project/17...
Map view: https://our.mybalsamiq.com/project/17...
Column of thumbs view: https://our.mybalsamiq.com/project/17...
That said, you're right that Mockups was not designed with large projects in mind. Maybe you'll be better suited by Omnigraffle, Axure, Catalyst or Sketchflow? They cost 10x what Mockups does, but they're also a lot more powerful. A lot of UX professionals use Mockups in conjunction with one of those tools: Mockups to get the idea down and iterate fast (wireframes), the others to build prototypes.- view 2 more comments
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Hi Peldi
Just started using Balsamiq looking for something that would get me sketchy mockups in very little time and without feature bloat. I love it and am definitely going to buy it - such a good price for someone like me who doesn't need a tool like this all that often.
I just wanted to add that in my work at least, it's very unusual to need to create just one or two mockups. Even a very small project would have at least 6-10 screens, usually with a master of some sort. I don't need the fidelity or features of bigger tools like Axure - I use InDesign or HTML when I need to do something more sophisticated. So being able to easily apply a master (I've seen the workaround and that's a good interim solution), and manage multiple mockups (even as pages within one file, rather than separate files perhaps) would be a much loved feature.
Just my 2c,
Jessica -
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A little late, but I think I would use the Map version more than the others, especially since it helps me keep track of the screens I haven't done, yet.
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I often create projects that consist of multiple (10+) mockups and I have to review and jump between them quite frequently. It would be great to save a bunch of mockups as a "project", so I don't have to open each one separately. It would also be great if I could change the order of open mockups at the bottom of the screen to match the order in the application.
This reply was created from a merged topic originally titled
"Projects" that bundle multiple mockups..-
Hi Sven - While the project feature is not there yet they are working on it. I have not heard when it will be availble in the desktop version. Right now in the desktop version you can change the order of tabs by dragging them around...I do that to get them in a relative order to screen presentation, but it does not work for branching and subscreens. Hence, why I have asked for heirarchical management of mockups in a left pane area that is scrollable. Having some tabs on it would also be helpful in grouping so as to reduce verticle scroll in 30+ mockups.
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I’m
frustrated
Even a simple fix, like allowing the mockups that are open to be stored in a user-named file for later loading would be a short term solution.
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I’m
excited
So with the changes planned will this also allow for a project or solution file to be saved. So you can just open the one file and all mockup reloaded in the correct order. Or are we still going to have to reopen every mockup one at a time? -
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Hello friends! I know this is not the projects feature you all need, but in today's release we decided to not show the .bmml extension in the tabs, to save some space. I fully realize this is not what you're looking for, but I still wanted to share this small step in the right direction with you. http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mock... to try it out.
As for projects, we're making progress. All I can ask you is for patience. We're going as fast as we can, and we want to do it right. -
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Hi all, I just implemented something that will help managing many mockups on the desktop: http://community.balsamiq.com/balsami...
Test it here: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mock... -
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I’m
annoyed!
I have this problem too! The funny thing is it wasn't a problem before, but something has cahnged :(
Earlier, if I named my mockups with 01, 02 etc infront of the actual filename in the order I wanted them, they'd pop up nicely in Balsamiq in the right order, and generating pdfs was easy peasy. This was how it worked out of the box for me, hadn't fiddled with any settings. Then all of a sudden (might have happened after I had to reinstall my whole pc, can't quite remember..) the mockups won't rearrange themselves alphabetically like before, and I'm stuck with the same problem as you guys.
Tried to solve it by linking 01 to 02 through a "meaningless link", 02 to 03 etc, but didn't work...
Hoping for a fix soon! -
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I’m
frustrated
The original question was about moving files around so the PDF export was in order.
I number mine 01. 02. 03. etc but the PDF export has the pages all out of order.
What is happening when I select many mockups to open, is Balsamiq seems to load them all at once and put what ever loads first at the front. It should load them all and still maintain the order. Ie the same as in the folder view.
Mine jump from 01. to 07 back to 01.1 etc
Should be an easy fix I think-
What about a "sort alphabetically" command hidden somewhere in the mockups tab bar? That would work right?
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Hi all. I just made a little change that might help a bit. If you want to open mockups that live in the same folder in alphabetical order, you can do so easily this way:
1.open the first mockup
2.right-click on the tab and select "Open Others in Same Folder"
3.voila'! We now open them in alphabetical order.
http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mock... to try it. It will go live in our next release, in a few days. -
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The option to open files alphabetically is now live: http://balsamiq.com/blog/2010/08/06/c...
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I think a simple text view listing each page and any linked objects on the page with their target would be a simple and compact way of representing the layout. You could click on a page name to navigate to it, and easily change the links by selecting the target page from a dropdown. This would be easy to navigate and still manageable for a large number of pages.
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I’m
happy
i would just like to say one thing that these questions and answers will help in evolution of a more advanced Balsamiq software . i dont know whether there is any version for testing this product to state changes according to our requirements but these questions and answers can be more systematic.
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I’m
sad
This feature is broken in the latest release....
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jwatch.org, are you on 1.8.12? It should be working in that version. It would open all other files in the folder AFTER the currently opened tab. So if you have 3 files:
1.bmml
2.bmml
3.bmml (this one is open)
4.bmml
And you have 3.bmml open, and then select "Open others in same folder" it will open tabs after 3.bmml in this order:
3.bmml
1.bmml
2.bmml
4.bmml
Does that make sense? -
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I’m
relieved
I was opening all my mockups at once and they weren't loading in order. I was using the pre-release and today upgraded to the 2.0.4 release, and the problem seems to be fixed. Export to PDF is also working, but I rebuilt the problem page so that may have been the fix.-
Glad you're back in business. ;)
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What's happening with this issue? As of now there's no viable solution to distribute mockups to stakeholders. To create a storyboard in PDF is too much work as it's more or less impossible to create order in the sequence of tabs. Using alphabetic or numbering or both is ok for a couple of pages but not for a site - you'd be spending your day re-numbering tabs and reconnecting links.
An intermediate solution would be to have a possibility to export coloured links to PDF, that would give viewers a hint of where to click.
What's the latest on this issue?-
I don't see the point in having coloured links. An UI should be usable intuitively without special hints ("this is a clickable link") for the users, only available in the PDF and not the final product.
For me having the mouse-pointer turning into a hand when pointing onto a link in PDF is exactly what we need/use. -
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Peter, where we are is that Projects is the next major feature for Desktop, with Symbols out of the way. We have sketches for organizing pages, which should scale well.
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2Stakeholders like the PDF because they are interactive and printable.
If using the interactive PDF "online", the sequence of screens (and therefore the sequence of tabs in Mockups when generating the PDF) should not matter. But some stakeholders like having the screens in the "correct" order for print and discussion.
One way to have the screens / tabs in the correct order for the PDF would be to name the files accordingly and use the "Open others in folder"-Link by rightclicking n the respective tab. For applications with more than a few screens, this could be quite annoing and you could spend your day updating the links to the renamed screen.
The correct order can be achieved in another way:
1) File -> Open..
2) Click on the screen's names in the order you want them to be ordered as tabs (holding the Ctrl-Button)
3) Copy the list generated in the field "File name" (eg. "mockup 2.bmml" "mockup 3.bmml" "mockup 1.bmml") and save it somewhere. You can then paste this list into the "File name" field whenever needing to open the screens in order.
For printing it would be great, if the Mockups-PDF-Generator could (optinally or generically) add page numbers directly. Otherwise these have to be added in a batch (adding document footer with page number) using Adobe Acrobat Pro.
Having the ability to add the screen's name or path into the mockup is nice, but could give the user an (unwanted) hint.- view 3 more comments
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good thinking, sir! Bit of a kludge for now, but works great - thanks Mänu :-)
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As elegant a kludge as it is, sadly it only works once you've reached a critical mass of screens. In the initial stages, where we are adding new screens, etc., it's still easier to just open all the screens and move them around. Not so much an issue when working on one project since it does keep track of the last screen order used, but it forgets when opening another set of screens.
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Hello everyone,
Here is Peldi's roadmap:
-A Web App (myBalsamiq)
-Projects on the Desktop
-Seamless sync between Desktop and Web
-APIs for the Web App
-an enterprise version of the Web App
-an iPad application
-a better skin for the app and for your mockups, a better font and
hundreds of other little details
We are very, very close to releasing myBalsamiq. A concerted effort is being made to iterate the software to reach a high degree of quality--as is always our goal.
Projects on Desktop are the next thing on the list. Dev has the experience with the myBalsamiq Project Model and always reads your requests and suggestions. I know it has been awhile, but Projects for Desktop are relatively close. Your thoughts, comments, suggestions and recommendations mean everything to us. We all long for Projects on Desktop--and soon, they will be here. :) -
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I’m
frustrated about this functional change
Well, I wonder why you (Balsamiq) didn't go back to the "order by file-name" algorithm. You introduced the new (unsorted) behavior over a year ago and for me, it's one of the last unresolved bugs (for me, I see no benefit in the current sort order).
I think all of your changes where for the good, but not this topic (just my opinion).-
Hi Andi, Fortunately a boat load of issues (including this one) will be resolved with one fell swoop when 'Projects for Desktop' feature is released--in the very, very near future. So sorry for the inconvenience at this point.
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Hi Louanne, we discussed that some12 month ago... (http://community.balsamiq.com/balsami...) Let's see, what the future brings :-)
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I’m
happy
Just wanted to post a screenshot of the new mock-selector. Awesome. -
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I’m
happy
1I am running into this issue too. As I am gaining greater and greater confidence in the decisions made on the UI ideas presented I am having a really hard time managing so many files without being able to see the names. A "project" would be great for me, I just need a few files open at a time and then when ready I want to export the entire project to PDF. The mock selector is marginal at best for me. -
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Hang in there just a little while longer and we will bring you Projects for Desktop.
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I hope it does not arrive too late for my current project. I'm rapidly building out now.
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Interesting solution. It looks to me that presentation and organisation are the main goals here.
Do I need to click somewhere to see the list of project or are they shown while I'm editing the mock-up?
If they are not shown in parallel you really missed the trick here. For people who work with large sets of files, it is important to see them, and access them easily. In this case efficiency and performance are the main factors. I need to see all file names, and change them whenever I need them. If I go to another screen that no longer shows what I was working on, I lost context.
This could have been easily addressed by automatically expanding or allowing me choose how much to expand the projects bar at the bottom to display more than one line of projects. Much in the same way you can do with the Windows taskbar. -
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Hi Eddie,
What happens is that when the number of tabs reaches a threshold (I think 9), a pop up menu automatically appears to the far right of the list of tabs to help you navigate the mockups. Certainly not the ideal solution, but we thought it would be helpful until we deliver Projects for Desktop, which will solve a myriad of problems. Thank you for your post! -
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What about my question about Projects?
Do I need to click somewhere to see the list of project or are they shown while I'm editing the mock-up? -
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So sorry about that. The list of projects are shown when you select File->Open. Other then that, we do not have a list of projects within Mockups.
A project--in Mockups terms-are the working directory containing you .bmml files in addition to the 'assets' subdirectory containing images, symbols or other .bmml files.
You may find this tutorial helpful called 'Working with Projects in Mockups for Desktop' http://balsamiq.com/support/tutorials...
Thanks for your post, Eddie.-
Using the filename is problematic. Reordering the tabs is painful and breaks links. It would help if there was a "rename file" option, but I hope that the projects support is coming quickly.
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Hi Mr Joseph Tate. We released a "rename without breaking links" feature recently, which should help: http://blogs.balsamiq.com/product/201...
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You got your wires crossed again, that is not "Projects for Desktop".
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I'm sorry. I do not understand your comment. This thread is concerning Mockups for Desktop which would be directly related to the question of Projects for Desktop. Please let me know where I am going wrong in understanding your question. Thank you, Eddie.
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If you read your previous posts you will see that you are talking about Projects for Desktop, something I believe is being imported from myBalsamiq? Your link points me to how projects work on the file system (???).
Maybe someone else is better suited to answer my question?-
Calm down a little. :) If you read closely you'll see that Projects for Desktop hasn't been delivered yet. In the meantime the concept of "projects" is a directory based solution, which Louanne's link does apply to. There isn't another option at the moment -- it's in development still.
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This Eddie dude sounds like a jerk. You're making perfect sense Louanne.
(*unsubscribes from email notifications*) -
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I don't mean to be a jerk, and I apologise if that's what I'm coming across.
Maybe I should rephrase my question then, I'm clearly not expressing myself well enough. Give me a sec. -
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I’m
frustrated
This is still a severe nuisance in our projects.
Can you please just to the "File" menu at least add a command option to sort all open mockups in alphabetic order?
The work around presented here do not really work well.
When working with large projects with +250 mockups in them, we use numeric position based number series in front of all all mockup names to be able to sort/group the mockups by logical entities, if one could sort all at the moment open files it would solve this issue in easy way.
The position based number scheme in front of mockups file names was also kind of forced upon us since one cannot have many folders in one project, but it works fine so it is not a big issue. And having gotten used to it we would probably use similar naming schemes anyway. :-)
Looking forward to a resolution to this nuisance one day...-
Hi Mikael, whoa 250 mockups? Are you sure we're the right tool for you? http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/...
Anyways, we could keep tacking on little features to help here, but I'd rather keep working on myBalsamiq which has projects in it. Once myBalsamiq ships, we'll bring projects to the desktop, done well. -
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Hi Peldi, I was a bit skeptic first too, but actually I must say that Balsamiq has worked very well for us also for this fairly large project. The secret is of course in how you structure your files using position based numbering for the different logical sections in the design, and since we have to work in a flat file structure we also added in the naming structure some dummy text section divider files to make it easier to locate the files. We have also linked most of the files so we can simulate the solution and walk through the designed business process that we are going to implement. It has been a great way to document it all, get our own people very involved in discussing the process, designs overall, while still also keeping track of necessary details and functions needed on all screens. Naturally we are going to use the mockups also for development and implementation with our solution provider(s). Despite my minor nags, Balsamiq has really helped us to move our project to a completely different level.
We are also working with the designs in DropBox to be able to collaborate, that was good tip on your home pages by the way - thx!
myBalsamiq certainly looks very interesting as well, we look forward to its release. -
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I’m
frustrated
"Once myBalsamiq ships, we'll bring projects to the desktop".
No offense intended but you' been saying that for how long? 2 years? :-(-
None taken. It's taking a while, longer than we all want, but we're going as fast as we can, all the while starting up our little company. If we could do it faster without compromising on other things, we would.
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I’m
patient.
Hi All,
Yes I'm finding large mockup management a bit of a challenge, and would love to see project management on the desktop sooner than later. But I side with Balsamiq on this - anyone running a startup knows that ambition sometimes exceeds desired delivery dates - that's part of small business. Given the choice of using a tool with better file management or one that works extremely well, I go for the latter. There are some great suggestions in this thread (I've been doing what Mikael does and that works pretty well), so it's worth reading the positive stuff.
In the meantime, keep up the great work guys, and we are all obviously salivating for PM for the desktop.
Cheers,
Ben -
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Just created a topic about this and then found this one - so, me too - any update as to when?-
Mockups for projects is one of the releases were focussed on this year, after the release of myBalsamiq, which is imminent.
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I’m
newcomer
I still don't see any project features in the desktop edition, any idea on when this feature is shipped? -
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Hi Tim,
It is a very high priority. Lot's of design already done for myBalsamiq.com which is near launching. Sorry I don't have a better, more precise answer, and sorry about this inconvenience. We all see your comments (via email) so it never hurts to ask and nudge us. :) -
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I’m
confident
@louanne: tnx for the great product and support! can't wait to see "projects" in my desktop edition.
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+1 project in desktop version! -
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I could desperately use this feature as well. +1 for project support in Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop.
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I've been watching this thread for a year now. Surprised we haven't seen the feature added based on the demand. I haven't updated Balsamiq in a long time, pending this feature, thinking it would just be a couple months. I know I pretty much need to restart my education on the product from scratch given all of the other changes. :)
Isn't this one of the #1 requests at this point?
Regards. -
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1I've been watching this thread for a year now, also, and have to add that I stopped recommending this product to folks only because it doesn't have even the simplest project organization capability. (BTW, an alphabetic sort is completely useless).
I understand Balsamiq has their own priorities, but simple marketing suggests that when those priorities don't line up with the end-user priorities, then the product becomes an easy target for replacement. What I don't understand is how the folks at BalsamiQ can actually justify NOT supporting this very frequently requested feature? -
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I second Larry's opinion. I love working on Balsamiq but as soon as the design begins to get concrete and I start detailing interaction, I am forced to move to a more manageable tool because otherwise I end up having to handle 100+ balsamiq files. The worst thing is naming those files- I run out of sensible numeric order very very often and it becomes worse when it is collaborative. A simple answer would be atleast a Powerpoint like organization where it is so much easier to have a sequence, it is easy to add slides and move them around, seeing a thumbnail and most importantly, I do NOT have to name each slide! -
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Hi all. I understand your frustration, if all you see is this thread you'd think that we're completely ignoring this very popular feature request.
In fact, even though we haven't been good at communicating it, it's quite the opposite.
Projects is a very important feature, and we've been actively working on it. In fact, if you use myBalsamiq, it's already there. It's not perfect yet, but it's definitely there. That's where we've been developing the feature first. Once the dust settles on it, we fully plan on bringing the same feature to the Desktop.
All of you who are interested in this feature, please try myBalsamiq: http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/... and help us nail down the design of the Projects feature there because that's what will come to the Desktop one day (with sync between the two).
In the meantime, a few points:
- http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/... is still the best practice and it works for most people
- Mockups is NOT a full-fledged prototyping tool. If your project starts having 100 wireframes or more, you're probably using the wrong tool. In our manifesto we go as far as saying that in most cases you might be using the wrong process: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mock...
- here's an article on how to specify interaction without ending up with 100s of wireframes: http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/...
So, forgive us for not moving faster on this, but we're a small company and we like to do things in little, thought out steps. -
EMPLOYEE
