When we were laying out the mockups for Jumpchart, we went through 24 separate drafts. Each one borrowed from the last, but they were to a large degree 24 totally different designs. The biggest leap we made midway through was the edition of the persistent edit button.

We were having a recurring issue with where to place the main edit button. Wherever we put it, it would be inaccessible in certain scenarios. Of course it was just a scroll away, -but it felt inconvenient.

The decision to add the floating edit button was an evolutionary decision. It was an opportunity for us to throw in our two cents on form design, and functionality. We feel it’s successful for several reasons:

• People explore with their mouse. As they explore, websites reveal their functionality through a variety of cues. Motion takes a dominant role in hierarchy.
• The moving edit button encourages people to dive in, and start trying out the application.
• No matter how long your page is, it’s always accessible.
• It’s out of the way until it’s needed, -letting you focus on the content.

During the beta, the persistent edit button has been one of the most argued features of Jumpchart. Like with most things, people either love it or hate it at first. Argue if you will, but it’s one of the intuitive leaps that we’re most proud of in Jumpchart.