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!

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