

Show HN: myBalsamiq, the web app version of Balsamiq Mockups - balsamiq
http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/mybalsamiq

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balsamiq
Hi all. It was three and a half years ago that I posted a "review my startup"
message about Balsamiq Mockups to the old Business of Software forums[1], but
it sure feels like a few lifetimes ago.

I have grown a lot, our company has grown, the Internet has grown. The bar is
definitely higher now.

One thing that hasn't changed is my thirst for honest, qualified feedback from
smart, technical people.

So, if you have a little time today or this weekend, it would be great if you
could take a look at what we built and tells us where we could improve.

We put a lot of love into it, but we know there are some rough edges and can
take the criticism.

I wrote a little announcement post too that gives a little more info.[2]

Thanks so much HN crowd! I'll be checking in here in the next few
days...unless everything crashes of course... :)

Peldi for the Balsamiq team.

[1]
[http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.643216.2...](http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz.5.643216.22)

[2] <http://blogs.balsamiq.com/product/2011/11/10/mybalsamiq/>

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westiseast
Hey there!

I used Balsamiq a lot before when it started, and then bought a licence for
the Desktop app later which I still use.

One comment off the top of my head - Chinese input doesn't work on the Desktop
app - did you fix this? I know this is probably an edge case...

I just signed up - it was quick and easy (the site felt exceptionally quick
actually, maybe just got lucky). Signup was pretty smooth, although if you
made it shorter I wouldn't complain. Can't I fill in my full name later? Or my
company name after signup, not before?

Warning bells did go off when I was on the 'Plans and pricing' page, and I
almost didn't sign up until I noticed the little text "no credit card details
needed". It seemed like I'd be asked for my credit card details, and I hadn't
noticed the 'start free trial' button, even though it's big.

The UI was good. Really good. I was trying to be critical, but the instant
simple things were really intuitive. I didn't really push it by trying to do
anything complicated, but those first few steps were easy. I'm familiar with
the mockups interface from the desktop version, so not much to say there.

The only thing where I got lost was - in the actual mockup, and you want to
get back to your project page. There's a big 'save' button, but not a big
'Save and close' button, or just "back to projects manager" button. I had to
look around.

If I'm being really picky now, the intro video was a bit boring - I'd give the
highlights first, and the step-by-step guide after the first 15 seconds of wow
me awesomeness.

Would I pay? Yes, if I was still doing this kind of work regularly. For now,
the Desktop licence is serving me fine.

Long response, hope it helps. For anyone else reading, I also have to say that
Balsamiq customer services are INCREDIBLE. No affiliation with them, just a
really satisfied existing customer.

~~~
balsamiq
Hi westiseast, thanks for the kind words and detailed feedback.

Re: inputting Chinese. Select "Use System Fonts" from the View menu and it
should work fine.

Re: plans and pricing, we'll make the "no credit card details needed to sign
up" message bigger.

Re: the big close button. I had a feeling this was going to come up. I have to
admit I too look for it sometimes. We'll add one for next week's update.

Re: the video, we agree, we plan on re-doing it, shorter.

Re: our customer service. That is SO nice to hear, thank you.

Thanks again, Peldi

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BrandonSmith
My team has had the pleasure of using myBalsamiq during its pre-release and it
truly is a joy. Highly, highly recommend.

Awesome features:

1) Being able to take our collaboration to the next level with comments,
notifications, etc. directly associated with individual mockups and access
controls.

2) Archive vs. Active is a useful model to keep mockups around after exiting
that mockup portion of the development lifecycle.

3) Prototype view!!!

4) Versioning. Propose alternate version.

Potential improvements:

1) More generous asset constraints.

2) Tighter sync between desktop and myBalsamiq. Something in the spirit of an
interface in the desktop to easily navigate myBalsamiq project and mockup
hierarchies and take a mockup offline to edit. myBalsamiq + iCloud. Don't
forget easy syncing of assets. (A lot of our users can't get over no keyboard
shortcuts.) 3) Site-wide BMML templates? Cloning works, but seems to only be
within the current project. Work around seems to be download BMML and upload
into other project.

~~~
balsamiq
Wow thanks so much Brandon!

Regarding your improvements: 1.Now they're at 10Mb per file. How big would you
want it? 2.Sync is our end goal:
[http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/portal/articles/232919#...](http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/portal/articles/232919#roadmap)
3.That's allowed, upload your BMMLs in your site assets and they'll work as
global Symbols. Symbols support is not done yet, we're actively working on it.
<http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/portal/articles/234139>

We'll get there! :)

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josh33
I have a department of 10 project managers who report to me. They all have
balsamic licenses and use them regularly. It is out method of choice or
communicating interface requirements to our development teams in India and has
saves us many times. We now have a 5 full-time UX resources who do more
Photoshop interface work, but we still get solid mileage out of your product.
Thanks! I'll check this new web app out.

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IanDrake
Wow, looks fantastic. I can see a world of new opportunities to use balsamic.
Great job! (again)

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phishphood
Awesome. Is this still in flash or html5?

~~~
balsamiq
The only flash bit in it is the mockups editor.

