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

Even before Paste, we’d been designing sites for a long time. The roots of our company are in paid client work where we often go with our gut-as budget dictates no other option. With our own apps, we finally have the time, budget, and wherewithal to test our assumptions.

Recently we carved some time in our schedule to work on A/B tests for Jumpchart’s sales site. I can honestly say- and it’s me doing the design for most of this, I feel like I just got an education. Keep Reading

We published some updates to the help pages for Jumpchart, and our new app Paprika this week. Keep Reading

In life, there is usually piss on the seat.

But every now and then, you get lucky and things go your way.

In line at Starbucks yesterday, it actually happened to me. (Not the nasty thing, the lucky thing.)

Someone ahead of me paid for my drink. I’ve heard of this happening to other people, but I never thought it would actually happen to me, you know? Keep Reading

We decided to reach out and let our users know how other people are using our products. We talked to Steve Reed, a graphic designer in Las Vegas who uses Jumpchart to plan and build websites for his clients.

How’d You Find It?

A lot of people stumble across Jumpchart, but Steve was actually out looking for a solution- and Jumpchart landed in his lap.

“I was searching for a tool that non-tech-savvy clients could log into, build and manipulate a sitemap, and add simple content- that’s it. I didn’t want to scare them or have to spend time teaching them about some complex system. Jumpchart was exactly the solution I was looking for.” Keep Reading

Page Description Diagrams (PDD’s from now on) are not a new concept. But they’re pretty new to me. From what I’ve been able to source, the idea goes back to Dan Brown (Not the Davinci Code one).

My summary of the idea goes like this: when information architects, clients, account executives, and copy writers plan websites, they struggle to clearly denote the hierarchy that the marketing and architecture dictates without stepping on the designer’s toes. So they spend lots of time making interface wireframes that are either disposed of, or end up limiting the creativity of the design staff. Keep Reading

I’ll admit: my closet is a disaster.

I know my life would be much easier if I spent an hour straightening it up, but I always find other things to do instead. I’ll pick tasks that take less time, and don’t require so much thought. (WHERE is the absolute best place for these running shorts??) I’m not kidding, that’s how I justify it in my head.

So if you’re anything like me, getting organized is exhausting.

Here’s the catch, though. If you start out organized, then the organization is easy to maintain. But if you’re unlucky enough to be frazzled from the start, straightening everything out takes way more time and effort than it should. And face it, there are better things you should be doing with your time than detangling a web of information… or running shorts. Keep Reading

You’ve always been able to attach files to a page. You’ve always been able to leave comments on a page. Nothing’s changed there.

We’ve discovered that when people use Jumpchart, they want to go into a little more detail with the comments they make, or a file they upload. Being able to trace files back to their creator/uploader can help cut down on confusion later in the project.

We decided we could help out.

Now you can attach files to your comments. With this new feature, you can connect your name to a file you’ve uploaded to a certain page so everyone knows who added it and where it came from. Or you can use a chart, graph or other image to help get your point across.

We think this new feature will make your Jumpchart experience a little more productive- we hope you like it!