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Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

napkin.noodletalk.org

21–30 of 39 posts

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#21
post #20

Looks interesting, but I think it could use more explanation of how it works and what it creates. If anyone is interested in other tools, I built a Twitter Bootstrap prototyping tool called Jetstrap ( http://jetstrap.com/ ). It lets you build bootstrap pages with a lot of control.

I like this a lot. Please keep developing it.

Glad to hear that! It just opened up to signups yesterday, so it's really new. If you have feedback feel free to email me (email in profile), and you can help shape it!

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#22
post #6

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

Yes, it would be better to let you use the site as a guest, and then require signing in only to save your work.

But I’m glad they use BrowserID for sign-in, at least. Since I was already signed in to BrowserID, the actual sign-in was super easy – a pop-up window opened, I clicked one button, and I was in.

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#23
post #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…

I don't think it's so much to keep working on the prototype afterwards, but to be able to export it out of the tool (Napkin) and still be able to easily show someone your prototype.

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#24

Looks interesting, but I think it could use more explanation of how it works and what it creates. If anyone is interested in other tools, I built a Twitter Bootstrap prototyping tool called Jetstrap ( http://jetstrap.com/ ). It lets you build bootstrap pages with a lot of control.

Please, please, please add Haml support! This is awesome!

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#25

I imagine this is not meant for UI Designers. The layout creation process feels impractical and the drag and drop with the side menu to add internal elements is a bit confusing. Overall, its got some cool ideas. I like the export to Node.js feature. Anyway, it may be easier to pick one design pattern ( i.e. Drag and Drop or control by side menu)the mixture is kinda clunky. The cross-hairs on the draggable elements is…

You make a good point about the consistency of design patterns; it can seem confusing. I'll be sure to address that.

I also understand what you mean about the cross-hairs. I'll switch to cursor: move, as this seems more appropriate.

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#26
post #6

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

This strategy of collecting email addresses without delivering anything first never seems to die down.

The reason is simple: it works. Many people will hand over their email address with no guarantee of anything in return. A shockingly large number of people will do that. And then the opt-in spam begins. It's a never ending email campaign for who knows what. Does the spam work? Surprisingly, yes. Enough to be worth paying to keep sending it out. Legalised spam.

Is an email address worth something? Gather enough of them and yes, absolutely it is.

This is all pure speculation. Or is it?

If I had a dime for every site that collects email addresses without delivering anything first...

As if Mozilla didn't have enough data about users already.

Anyway, if you wanna see what this thing is here you go:

http://github.com/mozilla/napkin/zipball/master

Unzip the file and start reading.

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#29
post #6

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

Yes, it would be better to let you use the site as a guest, and then require signing in only to save your work. But I’m glad they use BrowserID for sign-in, at least. Since I was already signed in to BrowserID, the actual sign-in was super easy – a pop-up window opened, I clicked one button, and I was in.

This was my first real encounter with BrowserID, and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the experience was.

Re: Napkin - A Rapid Web Prototyping Tool

#30
I tried using it on Windows Chrome 23, but not going well. I get into creating screens, but can't for the life of me figure out how I can start drawing those screens. I seemingly can only edit the name of the screen or delete it.

Also, the page is too wide for my 1366x768. See http://imgur.com/kzIqN

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