[wallflower]

The Eclipse Update system is horrid (especially when your copy of 3.3 is ancient). Nice work - it is one of the better Eclipse plug-ins I have used.

Some points - since you are hosting this in Eclipse, it seems that you are focusing on developers. Most graphic designers won't touch Eclipse. Also most developers once they experience another IDE (IntelliJ, for example) find it harder to return.

Maybe nitpicky but when I drag an object like a container or button into the screen canvas, it messes with my flow when I get an immediate edit box for the text attribute. I'd rather double-click to edit.

Comparing with Balsamiq, one thing that I don't like about Balsamiq is you can't yet have named groups of items (e.g. all the navigation elements). Being able to have a reusable user-defined library of custom groups - e.g. new "Edit screen for editing Foo in module X" would differentiate mockup tools from the spawn of Visio.

Grouping logically would be the difference between bitmap type editing and Illustrator-type editing. It would be nice to be able to have an outline tree view of elements organized in a hierarchy by UX intent.

[peter_severin]

I think the update system got better in later versions although there are sill some usability problems and I am not a big fan of it.

I realize that Eclipse is not for everyone. But a plugin for IntelliJ or some other IDE is a completely different product. FWIW there is a "standlone" version of WireframeSketcher that you can get through Yoxos: http://wireframesketcher.com/install_details.html#yoxos

I'll see what I can do about the immediate edit box. Obviously an option for it could be a solution. I'll see if there are more requests for it.

Take a look at master screens. I think it might be what you are looking for. You can reference screens from other screens and create reusable units this way. Changes to referenced screens are propagated automatically.

I plan to add editing inside groups. I think your idea of logical grouping is good. It was actually this issue that was stopping me from adding the possibility to put in Outline the complete contents of a group. Logical hierarchy would give much more appropriate results.

[wallflower]

Just tried master screens. Did exactly what you said it would do. Nice feature. Would be nice to have a poor man's layer system where you can quickly toggle the visibility or at least dim the master screen(s) so they kind of become the background/grid.

Suggestion - include some sample screens built to your best practices and a couple storyboards using those screens.

[peter_severin]

Yes, I've had other requests for dimming masters. For now you can overlay a semi-transparent panel to achieve the same effect.

Better samples, better screencasts - all this is on my list. But like for any coder it takes some great effort for me to spend my time on website/marketing. But I'll get there I promise.

[wallflower]

Nice side project. Your investment in the coding really shows off.

In case you did not see Dan Grover's response about the work breakdown on his Etude sheet music iPhone app:

"Were you the only one developing it? How long did it take? Love the app and the video on the webpage, by the way."

"Luckily, I have a precise answer to this because I have this weird habit of tracking every minute of my time on my own projects. Here's the breakdown on Etude in hh:mm

Actual iPhone app: 210:11

Song converter: 72:52

Store (UI + server side): 82:23

Building site and designing marketing materials: 44:52

I did most of the work, but I did contract some of the graphics I had trouble with to a designer, and I've taken someone awesome on board to work with music companies and other "strategic" stuff for the future."

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1196308