Design & Development Digest : zurb

Creative Design Tools for Non-Designers

'Net Features : wm-designdev — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:10:00 GMT

Face it; you're not a Web designer. You may try your digital best, but hey, you've never been trained in the art of virtual aesthetics. But that’s okay, because we can't all be Web Van Gogh's. However, for those of us that run websites...(read more)

Deliver Responsive Emails with Zurb

'Net Features : wm-designdev — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:00:00 GMT

Mobile has changed everything. In fact, in 2012 most Web workers were focused on projects like building applications and launching mobile-optimized websites. But going into 2013, Web workers need to focus on other mobile initiatives, such as building...(read more)

Build a Prototype, Test it with Solidify

'Net Features : wm-designdev — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 21:00:00 GMT

Testing is probably the most important aspect of website development, because it provides developers and site owners with evidence of how user-friendly specific design elements are. However, sometimes the testing process can prove to be time consuming...(read more)

Quickly Test Mobile Design Elements with Plunk

'Net Features : wm-designdev — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:20:00 GMT

Usability is everything – especially when it comes to mobile. But creating a design that is truly user friendly requires an abundance of testing. This is where Plunk comes in handy. Plunk is a free Web app from ZURB that enables users to create...(read more)

Getting Feedback with Influence

Allison Howen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:46:00 GMT

Have you ever asked for feedback from your peers about a design or presentation, but quickly gotten way too many comments back?

In fact, sometimes people even start picking out and commenting on aspects of your design that you didn’t even ask about to begin with. To solve this problem, the developers at Zurb have launched a new app called Influence.

Influence is the mother-app to Reel, a presentation app that Website Magazine wrote about in September. Reel is great for making a quick presentation; however, Influence is better for sharing that presentation and getting back the exact feedback that you were looking for.

When starting to add content to Influence, the first thing a user must decide is what device they want their content to be seen on, either a computer, phone or a tablet. Just because phone is chosen, doesn’t mean that you won’t be able to view the presentation on a computer. However, all of the content will appear as if it is on a phone screen.

The next step is, of course, to upload the content that you will eventually send out to your peers. Slides can be made up of JPG, PNG, GIF, PPT, PPTX or PDF files. Once the content is uploaded, users can choose what type of feedback they wish to receive from their peers. Options include thumbs up/down ratings – with the option to allow people to comment and explain why they liked or disliked the slide, the ability to allow annotations, ask for final comments, and allow voters to keep their feedback anonymous. There is also a feature called presenter mode, which will be rolling out in the app within the next few weeks. This feature will enable users to control what others can see on their screen when viewing the presentation.

After the content is uploaded and the feedback settings are optimized, users can save, publish and share their presentation with others. Then users can review comments, ratings, views and notes through a sorting option on the presentation report.

Currently the app is in private release, but those that are interested can try it for free by signing up for the service at Zurb. Check out our (brief) presenentation to see how Influence works!