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Iplotz - balsmiq alternative (iplotz.com)
20 points by subbu on Jan 27, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 31 comments


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

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


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...


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.


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!


I've dropped you a mail. I hope it's helpful.


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.


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


Is it a bug that when I click the big "try it now" button on your homepage it plays me a video of your app, rather than letting me try it?


I'm not sure what you're referring to. The different "try it now" links on balsamiq.com should all open http://www.balsamiq.com/demos/mockups/Mockups.html - if you found anything different then yes, it's certainly a bug.


oh yes, thats right then :)

I assumed try it now gave me a demo (as in, I use your webapp) rather than a tour.


It does give you a demo...that link _is_ my webapp...not sure why you think it's a tour?


strange - you're right. Maybe I was being daft. Works fine now I've whitelisted your domain in FlashBlock


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


Oh and BTW, I am actively working on a hosted version of Mockups...give me a couple of months. Email me at peldi@balsamiq.com if you'd like to be invited to the alpha/beta (I can't accept everyone, so make your email convincing!) :)


Heh, no comment! ;)


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


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...


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.


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.


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"


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'?


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 ;)


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


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.


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? :)


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


iPlotz was upgraded last night and the masters feature is already there - within the next day we will also have a feature where you can import and export your own sets of graphics (like stencils in omnigraffle)


Wow great. Thanks for that.


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


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


Register before you try? No, thanks.




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