Tuesday, February 21th 2011
Cleaned up editor
We redesigned the editor to make better use of space, provide fewer distractions and give you more room for the editor. Check it out!
Context-aware HTML code completion
Quplo's common sense code completion now understands the context of what you're writing, and provides you with tag suggestions based on that. For instance, if you're inside the <head> tag, we'll only suggest tags that can actually be used inside that tag. See below.
Auto-suggest for media files
Quplo now also auto-suggests javascript, css or image files based on what you've already created or uploaded!
More Less
We fixed the indentation issue for our Less CSS support. So there's no reason whatsoever not to use it anymore. If you're still writing vanilla CSS: stop.
Steroids
We've made quite a few changes to speed up the quplo development environment as well as the prototypes that it serves. Images (scaled and original size) are transferred a lot faster, as well as any html, css and javascript that you write.
CSS3 Web font support
Before, you weren't able to upload any custom CSS web fonts. Now you can. Want to make your own? Head over to Font Squirrel!
Small changes
- The tabs at the top of the editor have been removed in favor of a small "prototypes" link
- Extra options for creating a new prototype or sheet have been moved to an expandable area
- We no longer auto-create sheets from .js files that you upload.
- Besides typing <var name="foo" value="bar"/>, you can now also write <var foo="bar"/>. Let's hear it for proprietary formats!
Wednesday, October 27th 2010
Reusable HTML parts are now easier than ever
Quplo has this unique feature called "reusable HTML parts". You simply define a 'part' tag, give it a name, and then write it anywhere in your prototype. You could even pass it variable data using the 'var' tag. But we've added the ability to simply pass it any arbitrary xml, so your part can work with that. It makes prototyping even more flexible:
The above example can also be found in the updated 'write' example sheet. To add it to your prototype, open the 'write' pane on the right of the editor and choose 'View example sheet'.
All this is backwards compatible with the original way of passing vars to a part. It seems there was an issue with that too by the way: only the first var was passed. We fixed that.
Goodies updated
We've added the Yahoo! YUI library to our Goodies list and updated all default version numbers to make use of the most stable versions of each framework. Also, the required CSS file for jQuery UI is hosted, as are all the images for it. When you choose jQuery UI from the Goodies list, the css link is included:
Better Less support
It seems our Less integration lacked proper support for operations and comments. We fixed that.
Temporary local storage now allows XML
The 'set' and 'get' functions already allowed you to store values during a session and retrieve them. You can now also store XML in the session, such as a user variable, and retrieve it. Check out the 'functions' example sheet.
Monday, September 13th 2010
Free upgrade to Freelancer!
We wanted to give all our beta users an opportunity to try out a higher tier plan for free: Freelancer. So we offer everyone a free upgrade for the remainder of the beta, which should last another few months. This is what you get:
- Create 3 prototypes instead of 1
- Work on prototypes with other people by inviting them
- See change history and revert any unwanted changes
- Protect your prototypes with a password that only you and your client know
To upgrade your account now, click here:
Less CSS
We've added Less CSS as a new page type! Read the blog post for full details.
Small changes
The broken client signin screen has been fixed, proper 404 messages are shown when surfing to a non-existent prototype, and you no longer need to fill out your current password when making slight changes in your settings screen.
Tuesday, August 31st 2010
Lots of new stuff
We just published a lot of new features that we've been working on over the past month. Here's a list of the most important ones:
Backfire
We've added a fantastic new goodie that you can include in your prototypes: Backfire. Backfire allows you to save CSS changes made in Firebug or Webkit inspector. Check it out, it's really cool.
Export to ASP.NET MVC2
Our colleague Jaap at Q42 built a converter that takes your exported Quplo prototype and transforms it into a fully working ASP.NET MVC 2 solution. We're just getting started with export/convert features and are looking for your feedback into what languages you'd like to see next.
HTML5 Boilerplate
You can now create new prototypes based on the HTML5 Boilerplate template. We wrote a blog post about this feature a little while ago.
Improved "Redesign" prototype template
When creating a new prototype based on the "Redesign a website" template, you now automatically get a custom.css sheet added to your prototype, including a link tag in the head section so you don't have to do that yourself. This means that when loading up a Redesign template for the first time, you can just head straight to the custom CSS sheet and get started redesigning!
Numerous other improvements
We improved file upload feedback messages/errors, fixed some display issues throughout the editor, added support for uploading pdf, doc and docx files, improved the design of the "invite a person" screen, and fixed bugs across the board.
Tuesday, July 27th 2010
flow documentation
We just published the first draft of our flow documentation, which we hope will help you when working with the language. Our intention is to update this document over the next few weeks based on your feedback, so please let us know how we're doing via our UserVoice or any of the other contact methods listed on our support page.
Wednesday, July 15th 2010
We're live!
Have a look at quplo.com! This also means that you can share your prototypes with colleagues, partners and friends if you've got a Freelancer, Standard or Max account! Just go to the People tab and follow instructions.
More goodies!
We've added Slimbox, a lightbox clone for jQuery or Mootools. See a demo.
Also, there's reset.css and loader icons for your enjoyment.
Monday, July 5th 2010
Goodies!
Added a separate Goodies page with pre-installed goodies such as jQuery, MooTools, Google WebFonts, famfamfam icons and more. When you're working on a prototype you can see the new "Goodies!" link on the right.
Image cropping and scaling on-the-fly!
The files page now has the right information and examples on how to scale and crop your uploaded images on-the-fly. The functionality was already there, but now you know how to use it!
Recently worked on...
We've put your recently used prototype at the top of the prototypes tab.
Small layout redesign and text changes
The header layout with different tabs has been changed slightly to give you more breathing room while using quplo.
The welcome page has been updated.
Small bug fixes
- Image cropping starts from top/left instead of halfway.
- Renaming a prototype was broken. Now it's fixed again.
- Code completion had some issues with showing the right values.
- Code completion will also position itself much better.
Wednesday, June 30th 2010
Prototypes can now be archived and restored
When you reach your prototype limit, you can now archive your prototype so it won't count towards your limit. Archived prototypes cannot be viewed or worked on, but you don't have to export or delete your prototypes anymore if you want to try out something new.
Navigating between your sheets is now even more keyboard friendly
When you open the sheets panel by mouse or keyboard you can now properly use the up/down/left/right cursors to navigate between all your sheets. Also, pressing a-z cycles through your sheets starting with that character. A single press of Enter opens it up, but pressing Ctrl+Enter opens it in a new tab!
Automatic screenshots
When you create a new prototype based on an existing website, a screenshot of that site is made to use as initial prototype visual.
Bug fixes
- Renaming of sheets is now case sensitive so you can rename "Pages" to "pages" properly.
- The password restriction (requiring you to only use A-Z, a-z or 0-9) has been removed. Logically :-)
Tuesday, June 22nd 2010
New ways to create prototypes and sheets
You can now add a sheet or a prototype based on a different website. We call it "redesign a website" and it will import all HTML from the URL you enter, fix any non-well-formed HTML and present you with a new sheet (or prototype) containing that page. All images, stylesheets, scripts and other resources will continue to work.
Common Sense Code Completion
The code completion feature has been improved to automatically suggest tags and attributes specific to flow, quplo's prototype markup language. We've taken care to ensure that the order of suggestions make sense and help you write code more intuitively and more quickly. You can read more about the design of Common Sense Code Completion in our blog post.
Adding new sheets
We've changed the way you add new sheets to your prototype. Previously, you were given a vanilla javascript prompt in which you could enter the name of your sheet. Now, you're directed to a new page where you can name your sheet and choose a template, including the redesign feature mentioned above.
Bug fixes
- HTML comment tags now work as intended. Writing a HTML/XML comment within a <page/> tag will output correct comments to your prototype's viewing state, whereas comments written outside of a <page/> tag will not show up anywhere and are just for your use during development.
- Several copy issues throughout the account area have been corrected.
Tuesday, June 15th 2010
Basic code completion
flow tags now autocomplete! Try it yourself
by typing "<pa" in the editor and see what quplo comes up with.
Small bug fixes
- Using the tag page/layout/... inside a var now works properly.
- If the cursor is at line 1, Viewing will still open the first page available.
- The image in the client login page scales to 150x150 again.
- Minor CSS tweaks