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Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

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Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#4
post #3

I think this needs some more explanatory text. It's a nice quick mockup generator, it would appear, but it oddly exports not HTML, but rather a nodeJS application, which seems insanely heavyweight for a simple form builder.

Ok - I've found a github repo for this: https://github.com/mozilla/napkin#readme

which doesn't help much, but it does seem to have an overview document that helps somewhat:

https://github.com/mozilla/napkin/blob/master/docs/overview....

It looks like links and forms can be linked inside the mockup generator, and it's that linking that they are trying to preserve by exporting a node.js app. I'm not sure that I'd care enough, to lock things in in this fashion, but perhaps it's a nice tool if you are already planing an app using Node/Express

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#8
post #6

An overlay requiring me to "Sign in" before I can even know what the hell the site is about? No thanks.

I noticed a comment in another story earlier today that it's a kind of call-to-action, which apparently is getting more popular. But then again, so is overlay pleading in general. "Shut up and give me your email address."

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#9
post #6

An overlay requiring me to "Sign in" before I can even know what the hell the site is about? No thanks.

As a quick overview, Napkin is a wireframing tool inspired by Balsamiq, Mockingbird, and Axure. It allows you to quickly mock up individual pages, known as screens, by means of a drag-and-drop interface. What sets it apart from the competition is its interactions. Rather than creating a prototype and telling others where a certain link leads to or that some page requires authentication, you can directly show them. The elements that you can add to a page have these interactions built in, and you can see them in action when you preview a given screen. When you're done working, you can export a whole project to a node.js express application as a baseline starting point for development.

Napkin was created as a Mozilla summer intern project. You can find a presentation about it at http://ventures.karthikv.net/napkin/

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#10
post #6

An overlay requiring me to "Sign in" before I can even know what the hell the site is about? No thanks.

As a quick overview, Napkin is a wireframing tool inspired by Balsamiq, Mockingbird, and Axure. It allows you to quickly mock up individual pages, known as screens, by means of a drag-and-drop interface. What sets it apart from the competition is its interactions. Rather than creating a prototype and telling others where a certain link leads to or that some page requires authentication, you can directly show them. Th…

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