A question we get asked quite a bit is how to explain Jumpchart to clients… so we worked a little something up:

(Client’s name,)

You’ve probably heard us mention Jumpchart in bits of our conversations- here’s a little more information on it as we move forward.

When putting together your website, there are certain steps we take as a studio to make sure we give you the best finished product possible. The first step is figuring out what order your site’s pages will go in, and what content will go on which pages. The next steps include designing and programming. Jumpchart is an online tool we use specifically for the first step of this process.

It gives us visual access to what the site will look like from a navigational and content point of view. We understand it can be a little tricky to imagine your site without design incorporated, but Jumpchart helps us optimize the layout and content of your site: the backbone. It gives us a really solid foundation to build on.

Here’s what will happen: You’ll receive an invitation to the Jumpchart we created for your site. When you accept the invitation you’ll be able to see progress we’ve made, as well as make your own suggestions in the comments section. You can even edit content on the actual pages. It’s like a meeting room between us- but we don’t all have to be there at the same time!

If you have questions, please let us know- we’re all about collaboration and communication.

Thanks!

You already know you can create Snippets- words or phrases you use repeatedly- throughout a Jumpchart project, but we’re introducing a Global Snippets- an upgrade we hope you find really useful.

Now you can create Snippets for use account-wide, improving your workflow by allowing you to access constant bits of information across multiple projects.

In a nutshell:

• When you share a project containing a Regular Snippet, the Snippet is then available to view, use and edit by whomever you share the project with.

• When you share a project containing a Global Snippet, the Snippet is then available to view and use by whomever you share the project with- but not editable by that person. It is only editable by you… and it’s available for you to use across each of your projects.

• You cannot see someone else’s Snippets unless they share their project with you.

For more info on how they work, check out the new support article we’ve added.

One of the best things about Jumpchart is how easy it is to reorder navigation. It makes laying out the structure for a website flexible- not to mention it’s client friendly.

We’ve made a few tweaks, and implemented our recent lucid revelation.

You can now:

Expand and collapse sub-sections, which becomes really crucial and productive when dealing with larger projects.

Use the new visual dots to the left of the nav to more easily denote hierarchal level. Also extremely helpful for larger, more complex projects. Keep Reading

If you’ve used Staction, you probably know we’re keyboard people. The mouse is great, but nothing flies quite as fast as our fingers on a keyboard. If you work in the web-dev industry, you probably feel the same. 

Outside of design related tasks, there’s very little that can be achieved with a mouse that can’t be achieved (usually faster) with a keyboard. Knowing your key commands improves the speed and fluency of interacting with your computer.

On that note, we thought we would share some of our favorite indispensable key commands. We bet you know a lot of them- but we also bet you don’t know all of them. So for the 5 seconds a day, 2.5 minutes a month, and 30.4 minutes a year we just saved you, you are most assuredly welcome.  Keep Reading

In Jumpchart, you can copy an existing project, give a new user full access privileges (so they can change as much as they want) and still maintain a clean master copy for your own use.

In Jumpchart, you can include un-rendered code in your content. Just surround your code with “@” signs and it’ll look like this: <h1>heading<h1>.

Here at Paste we decided that we’d like you to get to know us a little better. To do that, we’re starting a new string of posts called “The 5 Series.” In these short articles, we’ll give you little insights into our personal lives (but never TMI!).

And so, meet Brian, our main developer of both Jumpchart and Staction. Here are 5 desktop apps he uses most often.

1. Things.app
“I use Things on my Mac and iPhone to keep my life outside work organized. I keep wishlists, gift ideas, grocery lists and much more on it. The synchronization with my iPhone makes it perfect to take everywhere I go.”

2. Yojimbo
“I started using this to plan a trip last month, and haven’t been able to stop using it since! It’s my little box of collection of things I’ll need sometime in the future.”

3. Tweetie
“Again, I use it for my Mac and iPhone- it’s just the best Twitter client.”

4. Airfoil and Airfoil Speakers
“Whenever I’m working in the living room, this pair of apps works perfectly to stream music from my laptop to my media center that’s connected to my home theater system.”

5. Audio Hijack Pro
“I use this to mute the sound on Firefox. I hate websites and banners that play music!”

We’ve spent the past two years watching Jumpchart grow, and have seen some great developments in that period of time. It feels like watching a kid get another year older; we can’t wait to see what Jumpchart is capable of doing in the years to come!

So… Happy Birthday to Jumpchart!

Jumpchart is turning two, and to celebrate, we’re giving the presents instead of getting them. Tune in to our Twitter feed for all kinds of coupons and free stuff- it’s happening all month long!

You can follow us here: http://twitter.com/_paste.

If you take a look at the reasons we create web apps, it boils down to mainly one thing: organization. With that in mind, it makes sense that we keep organization simple. If we don’t, we get wrapped up in everything that had us disorganized in the first place. Simple. Is. Better. 

Veteran creative director Rich Barrett recently talked to readwriteweb about some of the online trends he sees today.  Keep Reading

It’s strange- we used to think we were in the business of creating web apps.

What we sell isn’t bundled up javascript, and glossy buttons… We sell a process. We sell conceptual ways to work and organize. 

The thing to keep in mind is that people are actually buying into something completely different when you think they’re buying nothing more than your product. They’re buying…

... the attitude of your company.

... the belief that the process you preach is better than the alternatives.

... the experience of participating in your brand. Keep Reading