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Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

pentotype.com

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Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#31

Post by gotrythis »

wkornewald wrote: post #27
gotrythis wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been designing software for 20 years, reviewed over a dozen wireframing tools, and I still use Photoshop. But Photoshop sucks for low fidelity comps and creating interaction guides. For the low fidelity comps, I bought myself a LiveScripe echopen so I could draw out things and import them for manipulation, instead of throwing out paper, etc, but I haven't explored it to its full potential yet. The benefits are t…

Thank you, also for the note about the LiveScripe echopen. How essential is it for you to have live audio recordings? We'd like to start with screen flows, but we want to support more stateful element changes in future releases, too. Would you like to do a Skype call with us in the next few weeks and talk a little bit more about your workflow?

The audio recordings are a god send. I sleep with that notebook and take it everywhere. I don't lose any ideas because of it.

Yes, we can do a skype call. I'll contact you.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#33

Post by miles_matthias »

twanschik wrote: post #15
miles_matthias wrote: post #14

That looks awesome. For most of the video I couldn't help but think about how I could do the same thing on Google Docs, but your "Export" and "Simulate" features are obviously your money makers. And I would definitely pay for this product and use it a ton. Great work! From a technical perspective, great choice sticking to browser technologies instead of native apps. I think it fits your product extremely well and I l…

Thanks, really happy to get your feedback. So, if i understand correctly you don't need the collaboration part About the transfer part: We often use our iPad on the go and we thought that it's more likely that you have your tablet on the go (compared to a notebook). However, it's always good to know if other people do have an iPad on the go too. Thanks

No I definitely would use the collaboration part. Google Docs does collaboration very well. I was just saying that your product doesn't offer anything new or different without the transfer and simulate features.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#34

Post by gotrythis »

twanschik wrote: post #29
jaysonelliot wrote: post #28

I've been doing UX for fifteen years, and I feel like I've tried every software solution, but nothing beats paper for concepting. My wireframing tools end up being used for documenting ideas, but they're terrible when you're generating ideas. The problems in this video are exactly the problems I face. The only place I had a problem with the solution was the idea that drawing on a tablet is the same as drawing on pape…

On our Bamboo tablet the feeling is a lot better than on a iPad for example. But we're optimistic about iPad and Android tablets getting closer to the paper feeling.

Your comment got me searching and I found this:

http://adonit.net/product/jot-touch/

Looks pretty darn close to feeling like paper. Pressure sensitivity doesn't matter for your app, but their other stylus options are fast and accurate too.

Any chance your app will work on my touchpad?

[EDIT] They also have JotStudio coming out. The app works with the pen and "overwrites the default finger offset, giving you 100% accuracy with the world's most accurate stylus."

They have an SDK so you can also support their pen. Sigh, I guess I need to buy an iPad3.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#35

Post by johannesd »

derekja wrote: post #32

Looks very nice indeed. I'm a big fan of early testing on wireframes rather anything higher fidelity. I hope you include an android tablet version rather than just ipad!

As pentotype is a web app, it only requires a browser. In principle, it will work on all high performance tablets, no matter which OS.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#36

Post by johannesd »

gotrythis wrote: post #34
twanschik wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On our Bamboo tablet the feeling is a lot better than on a iPad for example. But we're optimistic about iPad and Android tablets getting closer to the paper feeling.

Your comment got me searching and I found this: http://adonit.net/product/jot-touch/ Looks pretty darn close to feeling like paper. Pressure sensitivity doesn't matter for your app, but their other stylus options are fast and accurate too. Any chance your app will work on my touchpad? [EDIT] They also have JotStudio coming out. The app works with the pen and "overwrites the default finger offset, giving you 100% accu…

We really want to make pentotype offer an experience like on paper, so we also keep an eye on pens that improve the drawing accuracy.

Do you mean an HP Touch Pad? We don't have one, so we cannot say anything about that currently. It depends on its JavaScript and Canvas performance in the browser.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#37

Post by ed209 »

twanschik wrote: post #11
ed209 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't found my ideal route from wireframing to prototyping. I'd be interested to give some feedback. I'm a designer by trade @ed_lea Your concept sounds great!

Which part do you like the most? Do you need to communicate with customers? Or do you like the way the software let's you draw freely while still giving you benefits of software like copy&past?

speed. seems like I can try various options quickly. It would also be nice to snapshot your work so that you can go back an compare an old idea to the current idea.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#38

Post by antlers »

Well guys it all looks very nice. I'm just afraid you misjudge the situation. If I'm already working with electronic device why should I draw anything, not just drag&drop UI elements? It seems to be waste of my time.

Merits of paper are huge and can't be overvalued.

- Paper has no limits, because it has extremely simple user interface. No predefined style, rules and guidelines. No predefined interaction. - Paper is vastly collaborative - easy to share, easy to pin on the wall and discuss with team mates.  - Paper doesn't bond you. You can always easily throw away what you have designed in 5 minutes. You don't need to focus on details! - Paper teaches designers that what they have in mind matters, not tools

Your tool doesn't address those advantages of paper properly.

Adobe created similar app and doesn't achieve much.

Besides, problem with conversion from paper into digital wireframes is already resolved. UXPin notepads and UXPin App are quite popular in the UX world.

Check out the video: http://youtu.be/-7VitOBVfCE

You can start your design process on paper by sticking UI elements on paper to the notepad, take a picture of it, send it to the app and it will be auto-converted.

So while your website looks nice and the video is great, your conception seems to miss the point.

Sorry about that. I wish you all the best.

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#39

Post by wkornewald »

antlers wrote: post #38

Well guys it all looks very nice. I'm just afraid you misjudge the situation. If I'm already working with electronic device why should I draw anything, not just drag&drop UI elements? It seems to be waste of my time. Merits of paper are huge and can't be overvalued. - Paper has no limits, because it has extremely simple user interface. No predefined style, rules and guidelines. No predefined interaction. - Paper is v…

We've learned about the benefits of UXPin from our customer interviews. However, we've also learned a lot about the disadvantages of UXPin and paper in general.

We agree with you that paper has a lot of advantages. That's why pentotype aims to keep all the benefits of paper. At the same time we'll enrich the paper experience with the interactivity of software.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We'll take them into account to make pentotype even better. ;)

Re: Ask HN: Review our Startup: Wireframing via Recognition (video)

#40

Post by antlers »

wkornewald wrote: post #39
antlers wrote: post #38

Well guys it all looks very nice. I'm just afraid you misjudge the situation. If I'm already working with electronic device why should I draw anything, not just drag&drop UI elements? It seems to be waste of my time. Merits of paper are huge and can't be overvalued. - Paper has no limits, because it has extremely simple user interface. No predefined style, rules and guidelines. No predefined interaction. - Paper is v…

We've learned about the benefits of UXPin from our customer interviews. However, we've also learned a lot about the disadvantages of UXPin and paper in general. We agree with you that paper has a lot of advantages. That's why pentotype aims to keep all the benefits of paper. At the same time we'll enrich the paper experience with the interactivity of software. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We'll take them into…

All right!:) Cheers for your reply.

I don't believe UX designers will leave paper. We are not using paper now because we have bad software, we are actually using paper because we sometimes want to keep ourselves away of computers (tablets counts as well).

90% of UX designers use paper (according to research by Todd Zaki Warfel).

Adobe learnt that recently. They did app very similar to yours and didn't succeed much. Personally don't know single UX designer using it. And they put a lot of money into marketing.

http://www.adobe.com/products/proto.html

It looks shiny and cool, but it's useless in UX design process.

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