BTW, I meant Conflence as well - Jira is Atlassian's issue tracking software. I get all the made up words confused... :-)
I'd be interested to hear what you mean by integration with prototyping tools - I poked around a bit, and visio has a web viewer and axure suggests the following (which are not as nice): http://axure.com/CS/blogs/axure/archive/2007/03/06/Distributing- Prototypes.aspx I just export any images either as web-friendly images or, if people may need to see something move to understand it, as Flash. You're right in that they do fall out of sync, in which case you end up having to go back in and update and rexport the images. That's another reason I like FW, because you can store multiple screens in a single document rather than having to open (and keep track of) a whole bunch of separate documents. It's then one step to reexport all the images (save frames as files, or save pages as files). As far as actively managing the information architecture goes, you're right about that - it can be quite a pain. For that reason, as well as printing, I have moved towards working with one very long page rather than having a large number of cross-linked pages. In the case of an app that requires a lot of documentation, like a desktop app, I will try to separate some things based on what part of the program they are in (menus, notifications, preferences) rather than by functionality (don't do this with dialogs though). I initially tried separating them by functionality, but that did not work well for the developers, as they ended up skipping from page to page. You need to talk to the developers and break it out in a way that is not disruptive for how they work. establishing a standard naming convention for pages is also helpful for managing a large number of pages. overall I would say one of my biggest complaints about mediawiki is the lack of any built-in contextual navigation, letting you know where you've been and where you are in relation to everything else (breadcrumbs are a 3rd party extension). So I have definitely had this problem - we may well look into confluence. Michael On Dec 28, 2007, at 6:08 PM, Dmitry Nekrasovski wrote: > Regarding the use of commercial wikis for documentation, I've had > good success using Atlassian's Confluence (http://www.atlassian.com/ > software/confluence/ ). The markup is reasonably usable, and there > is no need to do much template customization (at least for general- > purpose textual specs with a few image attachments here and there). > > I like wiki-based documentation for reasons mentioned by Michael, > as well as for ease of contextual cross-linking. That being said, I > have yet to find a good solution for integrating wikis with > prototyping tools like Axure and Visio. > > For my current project, I've ended up creating a set of prototypes > in parallel with the wiki-based specs, and making verbal references > to prototype screens/flows in the specs. This is clearly not ideal, > as the two can easily fall out of sync. I'd be interested to hear > if anyone has come up with a solution to this issue. > > Another drawback to the use of wikis for documentation is that > their information architecture must be actively managed and pruned > to avoid duplicate and outdated content. Again, any thoughts on > addressing this would be appreciated. > > Dmitry > > > On Dec 28, 2007 4:57 PM, Michael Tuminello <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > mediawiki (mediawiki.org). also open source - runs wikipedia. > obviously very scalable. :-) I have also used pmwiki, because I > needed password protection, but I ended up happily back with > mediawiki after some issue. > > as far as commercial wikis, i have heard good things about jira, > which adobe is apparently using. > > here are a gazillion others: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wiki_software > > > I have plenty of examples, but nothing online at the moment. I'll > see if I can dig something up that wouldn't be proprietary > information (I think I may be hard pressed to do this, but I'll poke > around). > > > > Michael > > On Dec 28, 2007, at 11:33 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > We have been experimenting using dokuwiki, an opensource wiki. But > > requieres an aditional effort of customizing the template for the > > wiki. > > > > Which wiki do you use to use? Do you have any online examples of > > documenting Interaction design using wiki? > > > > Jorge Marquez > > Usability consultant at everis > > > > > > Enviado desde mi BlackBerry® de Vodafone > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: "Nick Iozzo" < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > > Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:03:56 > > To:"Michael Tuminello" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"IxDA list" > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Documenting interaction design > > specification > > > > > > We have also begun to experiment with a wiki for the reasons you > > stated. > > > > For drawings we have used Visio. Because Visio has such > > customization and automation ability, it has been the best so far. > > If you dig in and create some custom templates and stencils, then > > you can really move fast. > > > > As an aside, I just figured out how to create glue points for all > > objects in the stencils. All of the widgets have one. This allows > > me to glue the labels to the form elements and the form elements to > > each other. When you building the UI everything snaps into place > > with perfect and even spacing. > > > > We have been using an object oriented approach to our wireframes > > and specs (a description of which will be out on our blog after the > > holidays). But this approach allows you to easily deal with > > complexity. > > > > We looked at some of the prototyping and specing tools out (Axure, > > iRise, ProcessView Composer), but have not found any that can > > handle a great deal of complexity. > > > > For example, one of our clients has a page within the booking > > process that is made up of 12 modules. Not all modules will always > > be displayed, some will be displayed based on the role you play. > > The form they can take on can be different based on your role, > > actions you did on a prior page, actions you have taken during a > > prior session, or actions you are taking on that page now. When you > > do the math, you end up with over 14,000,000 possible states to > > that page. I have not found any of the prototyping or specing > > tools that can handle this. > > > > Nick Iozzo > > Principal User Experience Architect > > > > tandemseven > > > > 847.452.7442 mobile > > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > http://www.tandemseven.com/ > > > > > > > > > > From: Michael Tuminello > > Sent: Fri 12/28/2007 8:03 AM > > To: IxDA list > > Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Documenting interaction design > > specification > > > > > > I like wiki. Wiki and mostly Fireworks, because it does both > vector > > and bitmap, and exports to a number of formats (and the frames and > > pages are very handy for working with graphic screens that change > > only partially - think states of an app, or webpages). For > diagrams > > I sometimes use Keynote or Omni Graffle. I will also > occasionally do > > an animated demo in flash. > > > > some of the things I like about using a wiki: > > > > versioning - mediawiki saves all the old versions so I can rollback > > or just diff against an old version > > easily accessible to everyone > > only one copy of the doc, and the most current one is always in the > > same place > > > > there are a number of things that are not great (must upload images > > rather than cut and paste, restricting access can be a pain...) but > > overall I am a wiki-holic. > > > > I also find that thinking in either an outline format or a numbered > > list format (common wiki formats, at least on mediawiki) is > > surprisingly helpful. specifications are not the kind of thing that > > you want to make more verbose than necessary. > > > > HTH - > > > > MT > > > > > > On Dec 28, 2007, at 12:40 AM, Sachendra Yadav wrote: > > > >> What tools do you use for documenting interaction design > >> specification. > >> > >> I create the interaction model for screens and the flow diagrams > and > >> in MS Visio and import them in MS Word where the interaction model > >> and > >> flows are described in detail. > >> > >> Is there a better, more efficient way to do this? > >> > >> Cheers > >> Sachendra > >> ________________________________________________________________ > >> *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* > >> February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA > >> Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ > >> > >> ________________________________________________________________ > >> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > >> To post to this list ....... 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