It’s finally time to spill the beans about our latest feature releases. We came up with some improvements that we think will make your life much easier.

Content and Design Merge in Jumpchart

Jumpchart has always been about putting content first, and that hasn’t changed. But now Jumpchart can play an even more active role in your website project by letting you seamlessly transition into the design phase.

In the sleek new design section, you can upload mockups to the project, collaborate on them with your clients and team members, and get straightforward approval from the person in charge. We’re big on tracking revisions, and you can do that here, too. Upload as many versions as it takes to get the job done; switch back to an old version at any time. For more information, check out the support article on design mockups.

There’s something else we thought would make Jumpchart a more well-rounded tool for website planning…

Store Project Details in Jumpchart.

It’s easy for things to get lost in the e-mail shuffle, but now it’s even easier to keep track of it all. Passwords, deadlines, launch details, quotes- you name it. If it’s important to your project, you can store it in the new Notes section of Jumpchart. Never waste time searching your inbox again. All collaborators can comment on the notes, or add notes themselves. Organization has always been important to us, but we took it to the next level with this new feature. To get a deeper idea of what the new Notes section can do for your project, read the related support article.

We’re really proud of the new features we added to Jumpchart. We think they’re really going to change the way you do your job for the better.

Jumpchart 3 is more than just a superficial new look for the app. Its redesign is a far-reaching rethink of the way the app works. Plus, we’re quite happy to say, it lays the groundwork for the next several feature releases which will make Jumpchart even more invaluable to you in the website planning process.

Here’s what’s new:

• Redesigned look. More so than ever, Jumpchart feels like a place.

• Faster. Jumpchart is now 20-30% faster. Which means you are, too.

• Add multiple pages. Now you can “quick-add” multiple pages to the hierarchy of your site. Get more done by doing less.

• Redesigned navigation area. The navigation panel is faster and, well, better.

• New content insert bar. Formatting content has never been easier- or more convenient.

• Personal e-mail messages. Now you can add a personal touch to your project invitations.

• Keyboard shortcuts. A robust new set of shortcuts to make you more efficient.

• Better print style sheets. Sometimes it helps to feel the paper in your hands.

See it here!

Client communication can be tough. On a large, complex project it’s crucial you bridge the gap between client and designer. A fantastic way to do this, and get everyone involved, is to collaborate over content. Organize content first and you’ll be surprised how smoothly the rest of your project will go. Here are five reasons why you should use a content wireframe on your next project. 

1. Opens lines of communication right away. 

First things first- the content of the site. Great design begins with the words on each page. You have to make sure they’re functional, relevant, and in the voice of the client. Most of the time this requires the client’s involvement- or at least approval!  Keep Reading

Jumpchart is designed as a tool to collaborate with lots of people. It’s made to bring lots of users, and lots of content together in a pretty rapid and orderly way.

For the most part it works really well doing just that. There are cases though where Jumpchart can turn into a total cluster of client edits, and never knowing what is approved. This has been a sticking point for us for a very long time.

Non-Destructive Editing.

We thought about lots of ideas to help with this:

• A revisions page.
• A better, more robust RSS feed of edits.
• More complex permissions.
• Sending more robust, and more often email notifications.

Thankfully we pushed past all of our initial ideas. About a month ago we started working on a full-on versioning system. We think this will help ensure that:

• You know exactly who changed what, when.
• You never lose old content.
• You can quickly and visually see what has changed on a page.

Code
This change has been an incredibly disruptive one to the underlying code for Jumpchart. In effect, the “page” which used to have supreme importance in our structure has been replaced by the “version”. It’s not just semantics though. It actually changes tons of the functions that drive Jumpchart, and even more of its database. Everything from the permissions system to the account system to the editing system was edited or rewritten. Big stress, but worth it.

Design

For a while now we’ve been doing something we don’t like to do. We’ve been “carving” little spots for new features. When we relaunched Jumpchart with a wider content area, and and improved nav bar we thought we had allowed lots of space for new stuff. We were really wrong. We ran out of space after about 2 revs, and unfortunately just started looking for the least evil place to stick things.

Today that’s all changing, as we’ve totally redesigned the footer. Now we have tabs to house each of the main page-level functions in Jumpchart. We think it cuts down on clutter, and helps reorganize the whole experience. Not to mention we have an ideal vertical space to store versions in now.

Moving On.

We’ve always charged for pages in Jumpchart. The page being a common benchmark for how big of a project you’re working on, and therefore how much our tool is worth to you. It also maps fairly logically to our cost in providing it to you -the more pages, the more use, the more space in the database, bandwidth, etc.

Now the page is replaced by the version… Which might make you worry that versions count against your page total. We’re very happy to say that all of our Super and Deluxe accounts will now have versioning built in at no extra cost, and that versions do not count against your page total. In effect, we’re storing every instance of your data at a page level, indefinitely across all your projects starting today at no extra cost for our top 2 accounts.

We busted our butts on this one, but we think you’re going to really dig it. Go check it out now: https://www.jumpchart.com/examples/

There were an apparent 23 versions before this, but this is when it really started to take shape.

Check out this workflow:

“...so many people want social media enabled blogs and content management and WordPress+WooThemes gets us a few steps up the ladder towards great sites without the pain.
1. Install WordPress
2. Install an appropriate WooTheme
3. Apply our own styling
4. Select the appropriate plugins
5. Import content from Jumpchart
6. Polish it up and integrate with anything else
7. Launch for a happy client
Explaining to people the benefits of WordPress and WooThemes gets us most of the work we pitch for. It won’t be long and we’ll need another WP developer to cope!”

It’s in the comments over at WooThemes. Sounds pretty slick.

“Designer Luke Wroblewski argues that “using dummy content or fake information in the Web design process can result in products with unrealistic assumptions and potentially serious design flaws.” He also explains how these designs usually fail when real content is added.”

“‘Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it’s decoration.’ – says web designer and author Jeffrey Zeldman.”

Lots more here

We know everyone’s process of creating a website is a little different, and we think it’s fun to share a few of those processes, revealed to us by our users. The different backgrounds, needs, jobs, and daily lives of our users lend a unique experience to each.

In Dee Teal’s case, she didn’t always know she wanted to build websites for a living.

Dee is a freelance web developer. In a previous lifetime, she worked as a personal assistant for a non-profit organization. Keep Reading

“Collaboration is Cooperation on steroids.”

—Randy Nelson, Pixar University

When people ask us what Jumpchart is, our answer is always, “It’s an online collaborative wireframing app.” But recently we got to thinking: What is collaboration, really? A common definition lands somewhere in the neighborhood of, “Collaboration means working together towards a common outcome.”, which isn’t a bad definition. But it isn’t the most correct definition either. So, the question still stands: What is collaboration? And how does it help you get your website project organized in Jumpchart? To answer those questions a little etymology will be helpful. Keep Reading

Nobody would build a house without a blueprint. No factory would build a car without a plan. A plan is the starting point for any solid project. Without a plan, you’re sure to wind up somewhere you, well, didn’t plan on.

Our heritage is in a company that builds bespoke websites for clients. Since the beginning of our business, we’ve always adhered to the idea that regardless of the vehicle we choose to use to tell it, our job was primarily that of a storyteller.

In the case of websites, we use pages, text, and images to tell that story. Keep Reading