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Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

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Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#121

Post by vivster7 »

rckoepke wrote: post #100
vivster7 wrote: post #84

Its still very much in development, but we're building https://whiteboard.systems/ Its based on the idea that for most system diagrams, you just need boxes, text and arrows. everything else is superfluous. Its collaborative by default so you can invite someone to join you with the URL. The tools aren't discoverable yet, so to use it: - option(⌥) + click to create a box - option(⌥) + drag to create a grouping box - se…

As you requested feedback, it's dead simple and I like that. Speed and low friction is super useful in a lot of situations. I have just some "bugs" I guess (Windows Chrome): - Can only add text to a box immediately after selecting it. Move it first, then cannot add text. Probably should be a blinking insert symbol to indicate when you can edit text or not, as this would at minimum make the state "discoverable". Perso…

appreciate the feedback.

we fixed a bug so text should always be editable if the box is selected. and the "delete" key should also work now.

agree the blinking cursor is the standard for indicating if something is text editable. Its proven a bit tricky to get right, but hopefully, we'll have it working soon.

Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#122

Post by meristem »

nikivi wrote: post #2

I love https://excalidraw.com Christopher Chedeau did a recent talk on nice challenges they had building it in the open https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fix2-SynPGE I want to build a plugin for Figma to embed Excalidraw inside Figma as I use Figma for all my design work already.

That would be great.

(Also great--if I could chat with simultaneous collaborators in figma when we do not want to or cannot be in videoconf simultaneously (I do a lot of parallel design))

Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#123

Post by wildrhythms »

jtolds wrote: post #44

Here's the best set up I've used so far: 1) Get the cheapest iPad that supports the Apple Pencil. The 2018 non-Pro was this for me last I looked. 2) Get the Google Jamboard app (not the Jamboard hardware, it is not at all worth it). 3) Share the "jam" with yourself on a different device (a nearby laptop) 4) Screenshare the laptop. Things I think any virtual whiteboard scheme needs to have: 1) You need to be able to s…

OMG this is my exact setup. I bought an iPad Pro a year ago and figured might as well get the fancy pencil with it... it's by far the best tech purchase I've made in a long time. I use this device every day. The Jamboard app especially is great because I can join the same link from a laptop and present my drawing over HDMI.

Jamboard pro tip: if you open the "board switcher" drawer and press the three dots, you can change the background to grid or dot paper. Game changer for sketching diagrams.

Another great app for drawing is Procreate, which gives me layers, and has better drawing tools, like morphing my crooked lines into straight lines and perfect circles. Nice for sketching interfaces.

Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#125

Post by jameskraus »

vivster7 wrote: post #84

Its still very much in development, but we're building https://whiteboard.systems/ Its based on the idea that for most system diagrams, you just need boxes, text and arrows. everything else is superfluous. Its collaborative by default so you can invite someone to join you with the URL. The tools aren't discoverable yet, so to use it: - option(⌥) + click to create a box - option(⌥) + drag to create a grouping box - se…

There is a bug where the box will be drawn offset a bit to the right and down of my cursor. The interface is mostly good. I wonder how the whiteboards are persisted. Are they autosaved? So they expire? Can they be exported (to some data format, to SVG, to PNG)?

Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#126

Post by jtolds »

wildrhythms wrote: post #123
jtolds wrote: post #44

Here's the best set up I've used so far: 1) Get the cheapest iPad that supports the Apple Pencil. The 2018 non-Pro was this for me last I looked. 2) Get the Google Jamboard app (not the Jamboard hardware, it is not at all worth it). 3) Share the "jam" with yourself on a different device (a nearby laptop) 4) Screenshare the laptop. Things I think any virtual whiteboard scheme needs to have: 1) You need to be able to s…

OMG this is my exact setup. I bought an iPad Pro a year ago and figured might as well get the fancy pencil with it... it's by far the best tech purchase I've made in a long time. I use this device every day. The Jamboard app especially is great because I can join the same link from a laptop and present my drawing over HDMI. Jamboard pro tip: if you open the "board switcher" drawer and press the three dots, you can ch…

i spent a long time researching various writing devices, such as the reMarkable, the microsoft surface, the ipads, wacom, etc., and the ipad (in my case, the non-pro) at the time at least really had the best ratio of pixel latency to price. it really wasn't even a competition. writing on an android with slow pixel latency or something is really jarring, but yeah, the apple pencil setup is truly great.

Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#128

Post by Scipio_Afri »

jtolds wrote: post #126
wildrhythms wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OMG this is my exact setup. I bought an iPad Pro a year ago and figured might as well get the fancy pencil with it... it's by far the best tech purchase I've made in a long time. I use this device every day. The Jamboard app especially is great because I can join the same link from a laptop and present my drawing over HDMI. Jamboard pro tip: if you open the "board switcher" drawer and press the three dots, you can ch…

i spent a long time researching various writing devices, such as the reMarkable, the microsoft surface, the ipads, wacom, etc., and the ipad (in my case, the non-pro) at the time at least really had the best ratio of pixel latency to price. it really wasn't even a competition. writing on an android with slow pixel latency or something is really jarring, but yeah, the apple pencil setup is truly great.

What makes an ipad with the pen better than a microsoft surface book or surface pro? I'm looking at buying pro 7 or book 3 for taking notes in onenote and whiteboarding.. so these is definitely a relevant post to me.

Re: Ask HN: What collaborative whiteboard are you using?

#129

Post by pmiller2 »

iso1631 wrote: post #10

I use a real whiteboard on my wall in shot of the camera

I'm surprised I had to scroll down so far to see this. You could distribute individual whiteboards to every engineer, and even have a dedicated webcam/tripod setup, for next to nothing.

It's not "collaborative" in the sense that remote people can erase stuff on your board, but, I don't think that's a big deal. The "erase API" just becomes "Hey, @iso1631, why don't we get rid of X and replace it with Y?"

I suppose if you wanted to try and automate it, you could do so pretty easily with some custom software that just overlays photos of all the boards. The amount of image processing would be pretty trivial.

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