There are reasons why. You see, although Paste is a huge part of our lives, our profits, and our vision of the future; it’s not what we spend most of our time on. Some of you may know this, but we’ve never broadcast it. Our main business is as a design studio called Entermotion.

This business has thrived since 2001, and it’s our bread and butter. Quite honestly, without the revenue from the studio, we couldn’t do what we do with Paste. But it’s tough to pretend to be all-in on one thing when you’re part way into something else.

This means the blog is often stagnate. Features are sometimes delayed. Support is fast, but not as fast as it could be. Etc. You’re distracted, you don’t do your job as well as you could. It only makes sense.

How did we get here?

When we started Paste, we didn’t do it on purpose. We made Jumpchart because we needed it, and decided to make it a product after the fact. When Jumpchart started to get a following, we decided to spin it off under it’s own brand. We didn’t want to confuse out new customers. and we really didn’t want to confuse our existing clients. We could almost hear it… “Are you working on my project, or your own stuff?” “Are you going to hit the deadline, or work on Jumpchart?”

Even now, the decision sort of makes sense. But fundamentally the path forward was based on an untruth. We pretended that we were two companies, but in actuality, the same employees split their time.

Not being able to be 100% open to either audience meant we often didn’t bother talking to them at all. Regardless of the justifications, it was a bad decision to “split” the businesses.

Cut to today

Today we know several new facts that might have changed our minds back then had we known.

• Our design clients actually only respect us more knowing that we actually build the applications that help people plan websites worldwide.
• We have over 100k accounts in Jumpchart! (many of which are dormant, —but still) and the reason is because we built what we need. Many people also need what we need.
• The Paste users we have don’t care at all if we actually also design sites as a business. They don’t see us as competitors, but as fellow peers in their industry. That much more capable of creating tools to help them do their job.

Moving forward

We’re sick of having multiple blogs email newsletters and etc. to update. We’re one company (currently with 15 people) that build client websites, identity packages, and also web apps. We’re proud of that fact, and we don’t see a reason to gloss over it anymore. We want you to know what we deal with, what we suffer with, what we’re trying to do, and what we’ve just failed to achieve.

Honesty. Plain old. So look forward to a different tone here. We can’t promise to update any more often than usual, we’ve got a lot on our plate. Documenting that is not the top of the list. But when we do talk, expect more gravity. We’re a small business with a lot of challenges. A lot of goals, a lot of ambition. We fail more often that we succeed. And we think it’s going to be a more fascinating story to read.

“Collaboration is Cooperation on steroids.”

—Randy Nelson, Pixar University

Both cooperation and collaboration spring from the same latin origin, collaboratus, which means: to labor with. However; like many latin–based words still in use today, there are substantial differences in their historic and present-day meanings. The words collaborate and cooperate paint very different mental images. Even their choice in example sentences sheds light on the modern distance between the two words. You cooperate with the police, while you collaborate on intellectual endeavors. Cooperation signals that you are working with someone based on an obligation — the guy is a co-worker so you have to cooperate with him, no matter that you think he’s the spoon in the knife drawer. Simply working together towards a common outcome is merely cooperation, and we tend to agree with Randy Nelson on the subject. Collaboration carries with it a higher purpose. You collaborate with someone because you both understand that there is something more important at stake and you are putting your trust in each other to bring something good to the table.

This distinction is an important one to us. We built Jumpchart around the mantra that planning a website project actually constitutes the most crucial (and time consuming) portion of work towards reaching a launched site. We also believe that thorough planning, with the close collaboration of the client, can effectively side-step most project roadblocks and emergencies. Does it work? Well, we can only speak of our own experiences but the simple answer is, yes. Since we’ve started using Jumpchart (21 months ago) we have never had to restart a project from scratch. Never. We’ve also shortened the overall time it takes us to complete a project start-to-finish and vastly simplified our workflow. The reason for all of this? Collaboration.

With Jumpchart, we’ve been able to significantly reduce the number of steps in the build process based on that secret ingredient: Collaboration. Jumpchart not only allows, but encourages, the client to help with the process of planning and constructing a semi-working wireframe of their site. They can move content around, create links, add images and files, even click around in working copies of their wireframe. You’d be surprised how much of a difference this makes to the overall project- clients don’t have to wait around until someone emails them with a list of required content, they don’t have to wait until the design team shows them how their site will work with stacks of mockups, they don’t have to wait period. It’s immediate gratification, and who doesn’t like that?!

Another added benefit of enabling direct conversation is that it gives the client a sense of ownership in the project. We’ve gone over this a hundred times before but we’ll say it again because it’s so important: clients who feel ownership are clients who will fight for your agency. They will back up your work in their internal meetings and they will push to hire you again in the future. They become your evangelists within their own organization.

From the beginning we’ve tried to make Jumpchart as open and transparent as possible. Allowing your clients to work right alongside you may seem terrifying at first but we would encourage you to give it a try, even if only on a small scale at first. True collaboration can completely transform the way you run your business, making you more efficient and in the end, just plain happier. The old adage, “Two heads are better than one”, really is true. Collaboration is just another word for how you have to put those heads together.

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.”

Steve admitted it’s a rather giant leap from their old system, which involved shooting word documents back and forth via e-mail. He advised anyone who is still doing this to, “Seriously, stop it.” and warned how tricky things can get when dealing with a design by committee situation, or outdated versions of Word.

“Now,” he said, “everyone gets access to Jumpchart!”

How Do You Use It?

Steve found a way to solidly implement Jumpchart into phase two of his website building process.

“I use a brief online form to collect information, some of which involves a potential list of main navigation items for the site. Next I set them up a fresh, new Jumpchart and create some new pages and subpages based on the information from the form and possibly some other sections that I would recommend. The next step involves collaboration with the client. If they have a good idea of what they want I ask them to log into Jumpchart and write a brief sentence on each page describing what kind of content they are envisioning. We then go into greater detail as we address each page individually.”

He also took the time to create a video intro to introduce clients to Jumpchart’s interface. It’s here if you want to check it out! It helped his clients feel more comfortable being in control, and they can move pages around and play with the basic wireframe to test the feel of the navigation.

You Use the Export Feature, Right?

“I use the export feature to transfer the entire sitemap along with all the content we’ve been working on over to WordPress. Jumpchart generates a nice little .xml file I can upload to WordPress and have all my pages greeted, with their subpages and all the other necessary content we’ve put together. This process is smooth and it just plain works.”

“Jumpchart is like the Twitter of Website Planning”

Steve appreciates such features as the public view option so his clients can play around with something that feels more like an actual website. He also uses the comment section frequently- he has conversations with his clients specifically about each page, and the e-mail notifications help them all stay on top of the latest ideas. But what’s his favorite feature?

“I really like the general simplicity of it all; it’s what lead me to Jumpchart over all the over services out there.”

Boilerplate Info on Vectyr.

Located in Las Vegas, Nevada, Vectyr was formally known as “Suspended Studios” and made its transformation on January 1, 2010. Although Vectyr is advertised as a graphic design firm, they take their work deeper than aesthetics. They work with a lot of people who are unfamiliar with the web, and who are looking for guidance. Vectyr builds a solid strategy for the flow of the content, and directs the visitor to accomplish the goals set forth on the site. Steve Reed is the founder of Vectyr, a hard core designer at heart, and a ninja in his spare time.

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.

It’s the same with web projects. Whether it’s a website you’re building, or a web app you’re developing, it’s going to require organization… and probably files of some sort. You expect it, you know it’s coming, and you know what it’s like to have 80 files in your lap and think “Crap, where does all this go, again?”

Here’s how I think: I have this page, and this content needs to go on this page. And I also have this file that is related to this page… oh, and this picture, too. If they were physical things, I would set them next to each other, to show that they go together. But they’re not, they’re digital. They still need to go together- otherwise they’ll end up like my closet.

Enter Jumpchart.

As you might already know, Jumpchart is a website planning tool that makes it super easy to keep everything together- files attached to their pages and all. You can even leave a comment on a page- and attach an image or file to help illustrate your point.

Jumpchart brings the clarity to web projects, and it brings sanity to my brain. After working on a project the other day using Jumpchart, I went home and cleaned my closet. True story. I’d spent several hours having all my information available, collected, and in logical places so I could find what I needed quickly and easily. Then I went home and dug through three drawers, ransacked two shelves, and plowed through a pile of shoes to get ready for my afternoon run. It took three times as long as it should have, and I’d had enough.

So I know I work for Paste, but as someone who came into this company after Jumpchart was born, I feel like I can speak objectively about it. Organization cannot be taken for granted in a web project, and it cannot be well-implemented late in the game.

Put things where they go as you get them, so you can focus on the quality of the site, instead of the quantity of loose files you have pertaining to it.

This is so true. I think it’s especially true for someone who really loves your app, and doesn’t know how they ever did without it. For example, lovers of Jumpchart have to appreciate simplicity, and organization. Lovers of Staction have to understand the importance of communication with a minimal amount of clicks, and want the ability to do things quickly. We create apps as extensions of ourselves, knowing (hoping?) that others like us will get a kick out of them, and find them really useful.

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.

Use the modal approach to reorder. Instead of having the always-present reorder handle, you now click on the “Reordering” button, work your magic, and hit save. This is nice because now there’s the the option to go back in the event of a (gasp) mistake. If you’re continually playing with the structure of a site, then wishing you could “undo” the last three moves… it gets tough to remember exact previous placement. No more worries- now you don’t have to.
For more detailed information, check out this article.

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. 

(BTW. These are Mac shortcuts, but the PC equivalents are usually close)

In iTunes, you can quickly move forward or backward within a song by hitting command + option + arrow.

Hitting command + right bracket ( ] ) takes you to the next page in the iTunes Store.

Open your iTunes Preferences panel by hitting command + comma.

Visit the help section of iTunes for many, many more like this.

In most other programs you can hit command + (arrows) to navigate around on the page.

Use command + shift + (arrows) to navigate between tabs.

In many applications, command + option + shift + v removes the formatting from the text you’re pasting, and matches the style of the target document.

Use command + r as a quick way to reply in Mail.app.

Command + delete removes entire lines at once.

The combination command + option + arrows will hop whole words.

We use command + shift + d to send mail in Mail.app.

Don’t worry- we wouldn’t forget to throw in a few shortcuts for Staction and Jumpchart:

Jumpchart:

If you want to add a page to your jumpchart, just hit Control + a.

Control + x will open the export panel so you can export to WordPress.

Want to add a file? Just hit Control + l.

To make a comment on a project you have access to, use Control + m.

To go to the next page in the site structure, hit Control + k. To go to the previous page in the site structure, use Control + j.

Staction:

Control + r quickly refreshes the page, bringing up any new content in the browser version. In the AIR version, Control + r quickly lets you reply to another post.

To edit a post in Staction AIR, right click on the post. The options to reply to an entry, edit an entry or delete an entry will pop up.

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>.