

Iplotz - balsmiq alternative - subbu
http://www.iplotz.com

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gabrielroth
Branding problems: the app's name is spelled two different ways (iPlotz /
Iplotz) on its own homepage.

Also, 'plotz' is Yiddish for 'vomit'.

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markvtc
it doesn't actually..it means to explode or burst from anger or laughing, as
in "I can't laugh anymore or I'll "plotz." or as someone from Brooklyn said,
it meant to plotz (lay down for a rest) after having too much sex. Different
meanings from different people, but hey, it's all publicity. Doesn't matter
really, I took the domain name 3 years ago, without knowing Yiddish meanings
till very recently. A short domain name is so hard to find these days, and if
ifart can do well, why not iplotz..:) I suppose I could have called it
ibarf...

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pistoriusp
Registration to try a demo, no thanks.

I'm really interested in using something like __balsamic __that is not as
"sluggish." I've noticed that this Power PC doesn't do very well with Flash,
but I find it Balsamic especially slow and therefore frustrating to use.

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balsamiq
Hi pistoriusp, Peldi here from Balsamiq. I'd love it if you could send me an
email (peldi@balsamiq.com) with more details about the sluggishness you have
found with Mockups. Preformance tuning is a way of life and I constantly make
little improvements, but having a set of files or steps that are still slow
even in the latest version
<http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups/desktop#download> would greatly help
me in finding and fixing the bottle-necks.

Thanks!

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volida
I don't think Balsamiq is sluggish. Maybe it's about how the UI is organized.
Something about when giving a new interface layout makes somes users feel
uncomfortable. Therefore you could experiment giving more UI layout choices.

e.g. I would prefer the toolbar to chooce elements to be on the left.

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noel_gomez
I agree with the elements on the left or right instead of the top. More real
estate there than top

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ph0rque
Peldi, you _know_ your app is successful when competitors are introduced as an
alternative to it.

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balsamiq
Heh, no comment! ;)

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marcus
The weird thing is that they only did a web version considering the fact that
your income distribution is so heavily desktop biased.

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markvtc
I was always going to work on the online version first, since I had to solve
my own problems getting ideas and concepts across with developers in USA,
India and Australia. Since it's written in Flex it's easy for us to create the
desktop app, which is what we are working on now...

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amix
While Flash looks pretty good, the feeling just does not feel right. I have
not yet used a full Flash application where I have said, wow, this is really
better than DHTML+JavaScript. The experience just feels sluggish, plus it's
hard to scroll, copy paste and that like.

I hope in the future that JS + Canvas becomes a serious player so things like
Iplotz and balsamic can be implemented with ease.

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amjith
I don't see any good comments or criticism about iplotz. I realize that
Balsamiq is a sweet-heart for many HN readers, but come on, that shouldn't
stop us from welcoming a competitor. I liked the Iplotz app. They have a very
polished look and I really like their full-screen mode which lets me work
without distractions. Their sharing feature is definitely a good one when
working with multiple people, (definitely beats emailing files back and
forth). I especially liked the controls on the left rather than the top. The
properties box for the UI control was very intrusive, I don't want a solid box
blocking my wireframe. I like the task manager that is built into the app,
which is useful when sharing tasks with your team members, especially when
collaborating with someone remotely.

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volida
I've tried it a bit, and had already saved. Then I tried to upload on the
server and during upload I tried to view another page. And everything
dissaapeared.

Now when I refresh I get a dialog box "server reporter error"

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statictype
It seems like there's too much paper work required to actually get to the
point where you're doing a mockup.

Maybe they're solving a type of problem different from 'just design a
prototype ui'?

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ktharavaad
Decent app, but it just seems buggy and unpolished compared to Balsamiq, you
can really tell by some of the little bugs that are in the program ( try
sending 2 items to the back multiple times, or switching pages and see your
undo history disappear ) as well as its memroy footprint and lagginess when
compared to balsamiq.

On a somewhat related point, this shows how a single american programmer can
make a better product than a whole team of outsourced indian programmers. The
wireframing/prototyping application space seems pretty hot lately with the big
boys jumping on too ( catalyst, expression sketchflow ). Maybe I'll write
something ;)

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Jem
I don't want to register to use something I can find hassle-free elsewhere.

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subbu
What I like about Iplotz is its ability to create multiple wireframes. But I
hope either peldi or Iplotz guys replicate Omnigraffle's master/canvas
feature. Have one master template and then create multiple canvases using this
master. This is probably the single-most productive feature (IMO) in
Omnigraffle for application prototyping.

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balsamiq
Hi subbu, here's how you can do templates/master pages today in Mockups:
<http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups/help#templates> \- it's a bit of a
hack, but it keeps the app really simple...and we're all hackers here anyways
right? :)

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subbu
Thanks Peldi. It doesn't matter if it's a hack as long as I can get things
done :)

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Angostura
It doesn't seem like a balsamiq alternative to me, really. More like an
alternative to Protoshare

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unohoo
isnt DabbleBoard (<http://www.dabbleboard.com>) for the same thing (& much
more) ?

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DenisM
Register before you try? No, thanks.

