From Mockup to Fabrik : Balsamiq ?

[tali]

Hi,

How do you prepare a Fabrik application ?
Directly with Fabrik or with some previous mockups ?

For the matter, is Balsamiq2Fabrik still in the race for 3.1 ?
Is it useful - or better use paper cards or some other tool ?

I'd like to have your advice taken from your experience.

 

[felixkat]

I don't believe Balsamiq was carried over to Fabrik 3.

I just draw things on a bit of paper and do it direct on Fabrik. Sometimes I just hack around on the development server until I'm happy!

 

[alastairwalker]

My favourite tool for painting screens is

http://www.mockupscreens.com/

Its a winner - use it! The price tag may be initially daunting but it is a great investment. And the support is excellent.

An example of the use of this tool for painting screens in the context of FB usage can be found a:

http://www.spilab.co.za/files/Fabrik-Tutorial-Master-Detail-JM-32-Version1.pdf

I created this tutorial as part of my journey into learning FB.

 

[tali]

Thank you for the hint. Can mockupscreens generate fabrik list, forms & elements ?
Blasamiq used to do it for the previous versions.

 

[alastairwalker]

No - it cannot. If you need that kind of tool capability, rather turn to integrated development tools like Windev or Alpha5.

 

[tali]

Problem is that neither Windev nor Alpha5 can generate fabrik.

My question is whether mockups help fabrik design - or if it is better to do things directly in fabrik.
In my approach, fabrik is a requirement

 

[alastairwalker]

Yes - that's why I recommend it.

Painting screens is simply part of developing the specification. It is far more efficient to develop the design (and specification) using tools where changes can be made quickly. Once you commit design to an implementation tool, changes will always take longer to make i.e. the cost of refactoring become significant.