December 19, 2013 at 02:49Released from Axure RP PRO 7 Beta
Released beta 7 version of the program for the rapid creation of interactive prototypes Axure RP PRO . Owners of previous versions can upgrade for free. In this post I would like to go over the innovations that pleased me the most.
It was nice to watch how during the beta updates were released with enviable frequency, which made the program even better.
Close attention was paid to the interface. A huge number of hot keys appeared for the main actions, a quick transition was added using tabs between elements of a separate screen or between the screens themselves (ctrl + tab). The number of switchings between the keyboard and the mouse has decreased, and the distance between the controls within the framework of common user scenarios has decreased.
Added a lot of actions that the user can perform in the generated prototype and receive feedback. Double click, long click, mouse over an element, swipe, keystroke. Events with a browser window: resizing, scrolling, right-clicking and so on. All these and many other actions are now at the services of designers.
The list may turn out to be impressive, but I promised to tell only about the most interesting.
Actions with dynamic panels:
- You can pull the first state of the dynamic panel to the work area;
- Now you can do with all widgets what previously could only be done with dynamic panels: hide, move, change z-index;
- In the “show” event for the widget, you can specify one of the types of behavior that previously took a lot of time to emulate: lightbox, drop-down menu, transfer to the top layer of the scene. And now you can make it so that when a hidden widget appears, everyone else moves downward by a distance equal to the size of this widget.
The Preview button has been added. Now you can watch intermediate results in a browser without generating a prototype. Moreover, changes are applied instantly.
Added the ability to attach any fonts, but this is more likely for the UI than for the UX. But many will be pleased, yes!
In the generated prototype, all clickable elements can be highlighted.
Now all the links in the browser line look human. You can give the client a link to any page of the prototype, no longer bothering with a special button in the site tree.
Since prototypes are now generated according to the html5 standard, the corresponding styles have appeared: internal and external shadows for widgets (including text ones), the transparency level of any widget (including pictures), the background for dynamic panels, and so on.
Here, almost everything turned out to be useful.
- Default values for text fields that disappear when you click on them;
- Types of text fields (email, phone, url and so on). This is necessary so that the desired keyboard appears on mobile devices when you click on them;
- Automatic width and height of text widgets. This was not enough for us from the very beginning. Now you do not need to set the width of the text widget by eye with a small margin for different browsers;
- Actions in the dynamic panel can now access objects outside this dynamic panel. That is, now I can do it without a tambourine, so that when I click on a button in one of the states of the dynamic panels, something happens in one of the states of the other dynamic panel on the same page (or in the wizard, if you like).
Yes, adaptive prototypes can now be made. For each adaptive view, you will need to draw a separate version and indicate at what width the browser window will be displayed.
Probably a good thing, but so far I do not see any way of application use. In a nutshell: they allow you to emulate lists with filters and page navigation. But in practice, it turns out faster to draw up lists the old fashioned way in statics and on the masters.
I want to end the review on the fact that I have listed only a tiny part of the changes in the seven. I have been working with this version since the first beta and compared to 6.5, the speed of work has increased by no less than 40%. This is a worthy indicator.
The cost of the standard version of the product is $ 289 and this time it costs this money. As usual, you can use the free version for 30 days.
Oh yes, I almost forgot! Service for publishing axshare prototypesNow it’s free and all restrictions imposed on non-pro accounts are now removed. You can publish 1000 prototypes up to 100 megabytes each, customize the input page and the domain on which the prototypes will be placed.
In connection with the release, the official Axure website has been completely updated . Appeared new video tutorials (while the total duration - about an hour) and rewritten the old articles.
If you have difficulties with English and have questions about work, contact me in the group , it is warm and comfortable there and everyone is ready to help each other.
I also periodically post tutorials on common tasks on my YouTube channel .
It was nice to watch how during the beta updates were released with enviable frequency, which made the program even better.
UI
Close attention was paid to the interface. A huge number of hot keys appeared for the main actions, a quick transition was added using tabs between elements of a separate screen or between the screens themselves (ctrl + tab). The number of switchings between the keyboard and the mouse has decreased, and the distance between the controls within the framework of common user scenarios has decreased.
Interactive
Added a lot of actions that the user can perform in the generated prototype and receive feedback. Double click, long click, mouse over an element, swipe, keystroke. Events with a browser window: resizing, scrolling, right-clicking and so on. All these and many other actions are now at the services of designers.
The list may turn out to be impressive, but I promised to tell only about the most interesting.
Actions with dynamic panels:
- You can pull the first state of the dynamic panel to the work area;
- Now you can do with all widgets what previously could only be done with dynamic panels: hide, move, change z-index;
- In the “show” event for the widget, you can specify one of the types of behavior that previously took a lot of time to emulate: lightbox, drop-down menu, transfer to the top layer of the scene. And now you can make it so that when a hidden widget appears, everyone else moves downward by a distance equal to the size of this widget.
Prototype generation
The Preview button has been added. Now you can watch intermediate results in a browser without generating a prototype. Moreover, changes are applied instantly.
Added the ability to attach any fonts, but this is more likely for the UI than for the UX. But many will be pleased, yes!
In the generated prototype, all clickable elements can be highlighted.
Now all the links in the browser line look human. You can give the client a link to any page of the prototype, no longer bothering with a special button in the site tree.
Styles
Since prototypes are now generated according to the html5 standard, the corresponding styles have appeared: internal and external shadows for widgets (including text ones), the transparency level of any widget (including pictures), the background for dynamic panels, and so on.
Widget properties
Here, almost everything turned out to be useful.
- Default values for text fields that disappear when you click on them;
- Types of text fields (email, phone, url and so on). This is necessary so that the desired keyboard appears on mobile devices when you click on them;
- Automatic width and height of text widgets. This was not enough for us from the very beginning. Now you do not need to set the width of the text widget by eye with a small margin for different browsers;
- Actions in the dynamic panel can now access objects outside this dynamic panel. That is, now I can do it without a tambourine, so that when I click on a button in one of the states of the dynamic panels, something happens in one of the states of the other dynamic panel on the same page (or in the wizard, if you like).
Adaptive views
Yes, adaptive prototypes can now be made. For each adaptive view, you will need to draw a separate version and indicate at what width the browser window will be displayed.
Repeaters
Probably a good thing, but so far I do not see any way of application use. In a nutshell: they allow you to emulate lists with filters and page navigation. But in practice, it turns out faster to draw up lists the old fashioned way in statics and on the masters.
I want to end the review on the fact that I have listed only a tiny part of the changes in the seven. I have been working with this version since the first beta and compared to 6.5, the speed of work has increased by no less than 40%. This is a worthy indicator.
The cost of the standard version of the product is $ 289 and this time it costs this money. As usual, you can use the free version for 30 days.
Oh yes, I almost forgot! Service for publishing axshare prototypesNow it’s free and all restrictions imposed on non-pro accounts are now removed. You can publish 1000 prototypes up to 100 megabytes each, customize the input page and the domain on which the prototypes will be placed.
In connection with the release, the official Axure website has been completely updated . Appeared new video tutorials (while the total duration - about an hour) and rewritten the old articles.
If you have difficulties with English and have questions about work, contact me in the group , it is warm and comfortable there and everyone is ready to help each other.
I also periodically post tutorials on common tasks on my YouTube channel .