Software Development
Manage Your Money Online
Feb 14th
Manage Your Money Online is a new start-up I am working on that aims to make it easier for all of us to take care of what we spend our cash on on a daily basis, without all of the complicated stuff that is normally associated with managing money. It’s got a lot of cool features, and is currently under wraps as we develop the code. If you would like to register your interest, why not head along to the site and enter your details?
What Is The Difference Between Sketchflow and Balsamiq?
Jan 21st
While prototyping my new website I have had the chance to have a look at Balsamiq and Sketchflow. After seeing Balsamiq, I was scratching my head wondering how Sketchflow could be any better.
Before embarking on your own evaluation, it’s worth noting the differences between the two. Balsamiq concentrates on allowing you to create mockups of your screens for whatever they may be for – desktop or the web. Sketchflow, which is part of the Microsoft Expression line of products (and part of Blend) is designed to allow you see the flow and interaction between the UI and the user, and provding that ‘back of a napkin look’ to much the same as balsamiq. With both tools, the point behind the sketched look is to encourage debate from your stakeholders. This would be harder to do with a more polished UI and also gives you the flexibility to create changes without much pain.
So the difference between the two is:
Balsamiq concentrates on mocking the UI. Sketchflow concentrates on mocking the UI and user interaction.
Another nice feature of building your mocks in Sketchflow is the ability to package them up and send them to your stakeholders.They can then look at your mocks using the Sketchflow player (included with the package, so they do not need Expression Blend installed),Interact with the sketched UI, add notes and annotations, and send the package back to you. You can then import those details back into your mocks and repeat until a decision is reached. Balsamiq gives you the ability to send around PNG images, and in some cases this will be enough, but I preferred the Microsoft approach. Balsamiq does provide more UI elements, and I hope Microsoft adds some additional sketched UI elements to Blend.
While you would be forgiven for thinking that Sketchflow is more orientated towards WPF and Silverlight UI design, it can be used for anything, and hey, we have been scribbling of napkins for years. One last thing, I really think Sketchflow deserves to be a separate product, and with a bit more polish, could go a long way, and be my choice for mocking a UI for years to come.
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What is Microsoft Silverlight?
Jul 4th
Microsoft Silverlight is a technology that allows you to create an RIA (Rich Internet Applications);that run in a web page.
When the silverlight plug has been installed into a web browser, browsing to any site that has Silverlight application in it will cause the browser to download and execute the application in the Silverlight plugin. This could be used to display anything from a menu system, advertising banners, games or video. It is really up to the author to decide how creative they want to be.
Another way to look at Silverlight is that it is akin to Adobe Flash. The most compelling thing about it is; if you are already writing applications using the Microsoft .net platform, you are going to be able to pick Silverlight up and run with it very quickly. Silverlight seperates logic from presentation by using XAML for the layout and display, and code behind files such as .cs and vb, to implement the logic and drive what the application needs to do. Silverlight is based on the Microsoft.NET Common Language Runtime.
Now that I have finished the look and feel of my website, I'm going to create a few simple Silverlight applications to enhance it and give it a bit more eye candy, and share with you how each application has been put together.
See you for part one in the next post.
Progwizz is a software developer who has been writing code for the internet and the desktop for the last ten years. He is also pretty good at server configuration and IT, and has a weakness for gadgets.