I've been using Balsamiq to create mockups. I'm using the trial version, so I have all screens in one mockup instead of multiple files. I want to send an export of these mockups to my team so they can comment on them. They need to be able to easily add arrows, callouts, text, etc. I know you can do some of that in Balsamiq, but it isn't really made for these types of comments. I have used Paint.net and added these in separate layers, but it isn't the most easy to use application for some non-technical people. I like the editor in Snagit as it easily allows mark up an image, but that is a paid app and I am looking for a free tool (that runs on Windows).
This tool doesn't necessarily need a screenshot capture tool as there are plenty of options available, but this wouldn't preclude a tool.
The things I would like to be able to easily do are:
Add arrows to show what button was clicked to move from one screen to another
Add callout text to offer suggestions to reword a section or move an item
Use different color/size markup items
I've found Pencil, but that seems like overkill - I don't need full image editing, just the ability for someone to quickly and easily provide feedback.
Maybe you can try ForeUI, if you like it, please drop me a mail to vivi[at]foreui.com, I can send you a license for free :-)
Not free but if you already have MS Office with OneNote installed it's great for stuff like this imho. I think there's a free reader as usual.
If you really want quick and easy feedback use a pen and paper.
Print the screens and hand them out those on the team that need a say in the UI. Have them markup to their heart's content and hand them back to you. I know it makes me sound like a luddite, but it really is the most effective way.
Related
Is there currently any way, without Private APIs, or with, to extract the source code as an object to be able to interact with it, in the form of a UIWebView for example, or a UITextView or just a long string?
Scenario:
There is an enterprise developer. A company wants all IT managers to be able to see all source code, in real time, or otherwise, for feedback and/or interaction. Things like post-it style comments, or drawing will be left in areas that need improvement/alteration, etc. All managers should be able to see methods/functions and essentially all implementations as is.
I have a few ideas on how I want to implement this, but just thought it would be good to get some outside suggestions, because brainstorming never hurts. Is there any thoughts on where I should be looking for simplicity?
I was looking into creating iOS-apps (especially for the iPad) with the Adobe-Flex framework. It looks very promising to code apps this way.
Is it possible to create own controls/widgets? In the far future I might want to create my own kind of gantt-calender or whatever. Is something like this possible and are there any good tutorials/book out there?
Thanks in advance!
UPDATE: I want to create iOS Components that I can use in Flex. Controls, that are not aviable by default in Flex. Is that possible? By derivating or something?
UPDATE 2: In the meanwhile I found FlexLib to be useful. How hard is it to create stuff like this on your own? Especially for mobile devices. Are there any good tutorials, books, etc. out there?
Yes, you can create your own Controls in Flex. They are commonly called Components. I suggest you start by reading the Flex Docs on how to do so. There are also plenty of other resources out there. One is a screencast series that I created for The Flex Show. Here is episode 1.
You had asked:
How hard is it to create stuff like this on your own?
It depends on what the component wants to do. The commercial components we've built at www.flextras.com have taken from three to twelve months to build. Our Calendar is built from scratch, but most of the other components extend existing Flex Framework components.
The Flextras stuff are architected for reuse. A "single use" component for a specific app can be built in 1 hour [and up].
Once again, the purpose of a component will affect how long it takes to build.
#chiffre
Ok, maybe I am guessing wrong but "iOS controls" makes me think not to "flex controls".
Anyway with Flex 4.5.1 you can add any controls you want, the only thing that you must count (and this counts a lot) is performance.
Read especially about item renderers since scrolling list is not so fast on iOS and how you can make use of cacheAsBitmap.
Also keep in mind to always use light controls when needed if not extend base controls like UIComponent or Sprite and not Button if you just need a rectangle.
Here are some links
http://blogs.adobe.com/flashplayer/2011/06/adobe-air-2-7-now-available-ios-apps-4x-faster.html
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flex/articles/mobile-development-flex-flashbuilder.
Every time I need to create a menu or toolbar with actions I end up collecting some images extracted from different application and hand tuning them with the image editor. This is time consuming and boring (eventhough I admit that might be a refreshing break in some ocasions).
Do you know of any collection of such images? I would like to have at least images for all the menu items in the menu templates. They must be copyright-free. Thanks.
There are the silk icons (and others from famfamfam). Those are not copyright-free, but I figure you meant they needed to be unencumbered, free-to-use, etc. (Truly copyright-free stuff will be very, very hard to find.) The silk ones just require acknowledgement somewhere, nothing else.
#PA check this link.
my favorite famfamfam
and these questions in SO
Where can one find free software icons / images?
Free set of forms, icons, styles, etc for web-based admin interfaces
and so on.
We use IconExperience which is royalty free. You buy a licence for a company. They do two different libraries, one called V-Collections and the other X-Collections. There are various sections within them, that you can buy separately, but for V-Collections its $379 at most and X-Collections its $289.
I guess it is almost impossible to get "copyright-free" glyphs. Even Open Source is not copyright-free!
But if more-or-less-free-for-use glyphs are ok, then you might give glyFX's free icons a try.
Gnome has good icon sets and the licence is GPL.
http://art.gnome.org/themes/icon
You can search on Web. There are many sites with icons; I use these:
http://www.iconlet.com/
http://www.iconfinder.net/
http://icons-search.com/
http://www.veryicon.com
http://www.iconlook.com/
http://www.iconspedia.com/
Surely there are more.
You can search icons by name or cathegory, search similar icons, icons by packages,...
Regards.
A good website to track is Smashing Magazine I keep the RSS feed on my iGoogle page as the regularly have articles along the lines of 50 Beautiful Free Icon Sets For Your Next Design. They're a bit "graphic designery" if you get my drift but they do provide some really useful stuff.
Try the Fugue and Diagona icon sets. Again, they're not copyright-free, but can be used in exchange for attribution.
What's the best way to draw shapes interactively at run time using Delphi? I need to be able to select, drag and resize the shapes. This will be used to mark up existing images and documents.
This looks like a good starting point, but I'm wondering if there's a more complete library (preferably free) available that will save some time.
Update:
If you're going with a custom solution from scratch, I've seen another example on Delphi Central that might be an even better starting point.
I will recommend you, read some links on my site. Are explained and all the source code is available; You can see and get some usefull for you.
Plugin system in Delphi - Part 2
Not directly what you need, is a plugin system for Delphi. But all the samples are based on a drawing tool that uses Shapes (Creating, selecting, resizing). You can review the code and extract what you need.
Sample manipulating of "Maps and Figures"
Sample of how to create, select and move components at runtime (in this case with TImage).
- Select shapes visually: Shows different ways to select shapes visually.
The web is in Spanish, but you can generate an authomatic translation on the web itself.
Anyway the code is commented.
Regards.
Excuse-me for my bad english.
One freeware option would be TssControlSizer. Just change the "control" property to the control you want to manipulate resize/move.
Not sure if you've moved on now with this Bruce but if you haven't, it might be worth looking at TMS Components Diagram Studio - it's certainly cheap, and looks quite powerful from the demo.
I would use Flex Graphics (commercial, $499 for one developer, with sources, $1500 for site-license, with source code). When I bought it, it was a lot less than that. So I guess, I wouldn't pay that now. It's a lightweight 'drawing/cad' package.
But as I already own it, I could import a page from the original document as an image, perhaps rendered in PNG or WMF, and then mark it up with lines, etc.
You could think of it as a light "cad" package. It has most primitive shapes, and you can easily create your own new objects or shapes in Delphi classes, that could be "smart shapes" like the ones in Visio.
http://www.flex-graphics.com/
Another commercial component set that I have heard only good things about is TRichView. They have a TRichViewEdit that looks like you could emulate a document markup environment easily with it.
Please check here:
TCAD -2d graphics component for delphi
http://www.codeidea.com
wish can help you.
I'm looking for a VCL component for C++ builder. It should preferably have a toolbar with drag & drop functionality.
I want to define a building or area (which might not be rectangular) and split it into "rooms" (or areas, or whatever you want to call them). And I want to be able to put "doorways" (or passages, etc) from a room into its neighbours.
is there such a thing? Preferably free.
Thanks.
In case anyone wants to know the answer, I have verified with TMS that the diagram studio can indeed do this.
Although they said "You can use TMS Diagram Studio for that, it’s not that complicated to create new custom blocks, like L-shaped rooms", so I still need to verify that it can handle triangles & lost parrots (polygons).
Not that it is specifically built for room designing, but my best guess is that it is the closes you'll get without having to create the components yourself. Anyway TMS have a component pack called Diagram Studio. This allows you to add functionality to your application that somewhat simulates that of Microsoft Visio and other programs.
I don't know if this was truly what you wanted, but even though I haven't tried it myself my guess is that you can create your own room and door like shapes to be placed. It might worth a look. Atleast the feature list has this: