Axure Community Site

Axure RP 5.6 for Mac Beta is Now Available

Dani — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:12:00 GMT

Hi Everyone,

We just released the beta version of Axure RP for Mac. It is available for download here. And we are still targeting the end of March for the final release.

The beta expires April 15, 2010. A valid beta will be available until the final release of 5.6 for Mac, so your work will not be interrupted.

Axure for Mac requires the following:

Mac computer with Intel processor
Mac OS X 10.5+
1 GB Memory
200 MB disk space
For specifications, Microsoft Office Word 2004 (with compatibility pack) or Word 2008
For prototypes, Firefox

What to expect:
The beta has all* of the features from Axure RP 5.6 for Windows including shared projects. It also has a number of UI enhancements like a new properties pane and redesigned interactions dialog.

If you've been using the alpha (thank you!), you'll notice a new formatting toolbar and the formatting pane has been moved to the annotations and interactions pane. Also, the default folders for widget libraries has been moved to ~/Documents/Axure/Libraries.

The .rp files are compatible with Axure RP 5.6 on Windows.

*Features not in the Mac version:

Word 2000 generator (the newer Word 2007 or DOCX generator is available)
CHM generation for prototypes
Spell Checker (native Mac spell checking while editing text works)

Known issues:
Safari compatibility has not been fully tested. If you notice anything in prototypes that do not work in Safari, please let us know.

iWork Pages crashes when opening the generated specification. Word is required to open the specification. But once saved in Word, they do open in Pages.

Shared Projects can be stored on a Windows (SMB) network drive or SVN server, but not a Mac share or through https.

Performance tuning is in progress.

How can you help?
Please submit bug report dialogs that pop-up in the application. Any information that might help us repeat an error is really helpful. You can send those to support@axure.com along with any bugs and requests.

What's next:
We'll continue to release beta builds until the final release and post known issues at www.axureformac.com. You can keep track of updates at www.axureformac.com, here or by following us on Twitter.

And if you have any requests for 6.0, now's a good time to send them in.

Thank you!
Victor

Axure RP 5.6 for Mac Alpha is Now Available

Dani — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:06:00 GMT

Axure RP for Mac Alpha aka MAxure is now available for download here.

We didn't quite make it to Beta before the end of 2009, but we're really excited to show you where we're at and start getting your input (and help!). We're targeting end of Q1 2010 for the final release.

What to expect:
Most of the Axure RP 5.6 features are available along with some UI enhancements including a new properties pane and redesigned interactions dialog. There are still some features missing including shared projects, CSV generation, search & replace, print, spell check, and zoom.

We've successfully created some prototypes in MAxure using core features like dragging and dropping widgets, adding annotations and interactions, and generating prototypes. But we are still running into new bugs regularly. Specification generation works and the .docx files can be opened in Word 2004 with the compatibility pack. You can find directions for installing the compatibility pack here.

The files are compatible with Axure RP 5.6 on the PC, which is a nice backup if you run into any issues.

This alpha version expires February 28, 2010. A valid alpha/beta will be available until the final release of 5.6 for Mac, so your work will not be interrupted.

How can you help?
Please submit bug report dialogs that pop-up in the application. Any information that might help us repeat an error is really helpful. We're also looking for usability issues that are Mac specific (like Cmd+Q shouldn't increment the footnote number). You can send those to support@axure.com along with any bugs and requests.

What's next:
We'll continue to release Alpha/Beta builds until the final release and post known issues at www.axureformac.com. You can keep track of updates here, at www.axureformac.com or by following us on Twitter. And we're also in progress with 6.0. Who needs to sleep? :)

Thank you!
Victor

New & Improved Axure RP Online Training and Community Libaries Page

Andrea — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:45:00 GMT

In our continuing effort to provide you with the best resources to quickly learn Axure RP, we are excited to announce the new & improved Online Training section and Community Libraries page.

How is Your Axure Fu?

Through a series of articles, videos, samples and exercises you will improve your Axure RP skills and become an Axure Fu Master in no time! The training articles are now broken up into three levels Newbie, Apprentice and Master. Each article has videos, samples and exercises to help you learn the features and concepts.

Community Libraries

Over the past year, many members of the Axure community have created and published libraries of custom widgets, design patterns and icons. With more and more popping up, we wanted to showcase them all in one place. Have a library to share? Email us at contactus@axure.com.

We hope you like these new additions to the site and welcome your comments and feedback. Email us at contactus@axure.com, or tweet us at @axurerp.

AxureWorld Video Sessions Now Available

Dani — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:40:00 GMT

Last month, the first worldwide, community-driven, web-based event for discussing prototyping in Axure RP took place. Well over 300 participants from all over the world logged in to AxureWorld to participate in 12 hours of presentations.

A huge thanks to Ezra Schwartz, the event organizer, and all of the panelists who did an outstanding job presenting on topics ranging from spec generation to shared projects, tips and tricks and more. There was even a sneak peek of MAxure (Mac version of Axure) presented by our Product Manger, Victor. All in all, it was a great opportunity for UX professionals and Axure RP users to get together and share their knowledge.

For those of you who were not able to attend, all of the AxureWorld video sessions are now available at www.axureworld.com. Be sure to check it out!

If you're not getting sued...

victor — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:17:00 GMT

Hi Everyone,

They say if you’re not getting sued, you’re not doing anything worthwhile. We are now "officially" doing something worthwhile :) Last year, iRise filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Axure which was recently settled.

Our goal was to be able to continue growing Axure and deliver the best product and the most value to our customers. We accomplished that goal through settlement. iRise agreed to drop the lawsuit and Axure agreed not to try to invalidate the patent. Other terms of the agreement are confidential.

We’ve heard from some customers who were pretty upset that iRise chose to file a lawsuit. Thank you. We appreciate your support.

We have a lot to be excited about. The first community-driven conference AxureWorld was a success. MAxure is on its way. And we have lots of requests and feedback guiding 6.0. We hope you're excited too.

If you have any concerns, please let us know.

Thank you!
Victor

Axure RP Pro 5.6 is Now Available

victor — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:32:00 GMT

Axure RP Pro 5.6 is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx.

This update has some new features that make a variety of things in Axure RP easier to do like image slicing, importing from file to file, and duplicating masters, as well as a number of bug fixes.

Feature highlights:

Image slicing (right click image, Edit Image->Slice Image)
Option to import styles and variables used in a custom widget when that widget is added to a page
Import manager supports importing multiple types (pages, masters, styles) at one time
Removed the variable limit (however we still recommend using 25 or less if viewing prototypes in IE)
Undo check out for shared projects
Converting widgets to a dynamic panel or master (right click widgets, Convert)
Duplicate masters
Duplicating a page or master opens the copy for editing
Shortcut to toggle grid visibility (Ctrl+Alt+D)
FIPS compliance (mostly for government computers)

Is this a free update?

If you have 5.5 or purchased a license or renewal after February 1, 2008, the 5.6 update is free. If not, you can purchase a renewal. Login to the customer portal if you're not sure when your maintenance period expires.

Worth reading:

Files created in 5.6 will open in version 5.5, BUT not in earlier versions of Axure RP.

Also, 5.6 will install over 5.5. If you want to keep a copy of 5.5 follow these steps:

Make a copy of the "Axure RP Pro 5.5" install directory before installing 5.6.
Install Axure RP Pro 5.6
Rename the "Copy of Axure RP Pro 5.5" folder back to "Axure RP Pro 5.5".

You can also follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/axurerp.

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com or discuss them on the Axure RP forum.

Axure RP Pro 5.6 RC is Now Available

victor — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:39:00 GMT

Axure RP Pro 5.6 Release Candidate (RC)

This release gives you some new features that make a variety of things in Axure RP easier to do. We'd love it if you would download the release candidate and test it out. The plan is to have the final release ready in a few weeks.

Feature highlights:

Image slicing (right click image, Edit Image->Slice Image)
Option to import styles and variables used in a custom widget when that widget is added to a page
Import manager supports importing multiple types (pages, masters, styles) at one time
Removed the variable limit (however we still recommend using 25 or less if viewing prototypes in IE)
Undo check out for shared projects
Converting widgets to a dynamic panel or master (right click widgets, Convert)
Duplicate masters
FIPS compliance (mostly for government computers)

Bug fixes:

Fix for rendering rollover images with preserved corners in the prototype
Fixes in Set Widget and Variable Values dialog to preserve right side values when appropriate
Fix for grabbing connector endpoints even when connector is below the connected widget
Fix for Do Not Autoreflow on connectors when moving both objects a connector is attached to
Fix for Send to Back and Bring to Front (also affected Flatten masters)
Fix in specification generation when loading masters with raised events
Fix for editing specification template on Vista

Worth reading:

Files created in 5.6 RC will open in version 5.5, BUT not in earlier versions of Axure RP.

Also, 5.6 RC will install over 5.5. If you want to keep a copy of 5.5 follow these steps:

Make a copy of the "Axure RP Pro 5.5" install directory before installing 5.6 RC.
Install Axure RP Pro 5.6 RC
Rename the "Copy of Axure RP Pro 5.5" folder back to "Axure RP Pro 5.5".

One more thing, your 5.5 license key will work for 5.6 RC. If you do not have a license, a 30 day trial will start.

Is this a free update?

Got bugs?

Please send all bugs and feedback to support@axure.com or post to the forum.

Download Axure RP Pro 5.6 RC

AxureForMac.com

Andrea — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:13:00 GMT

A Mac version of Axure RP has been the single most popular request from our customers and the community. We are pleased to announce that Axure For Mac aka MAxure ("Mac-sure") is now in development.

Visit www.axureformac.com to keep up to date on our progress. You can also follow us on Twitter or sign up to be notified when Axure For Mac is released.

Axure Supports HCI Students to Compete At CHI

Dani — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:10:00 GMT

Axure is helping fund five teams from the University of Michigan HCI program to compete in the international Student Design Competition at CHI in Boston on April 9. Each year CHI holds the competition providing an opportunity for students to demonstrate their problem solving and design skills. Students were required to submit a paper, poster and presentation illustrating their proposed solution to the design challenge. This year's challenge was to design an object, interface, system or service that supported the idea of consuming local resources instead of global ones.

Of the twelve teams accepted, five teams were chosen from the University of Michigan: Treasure Hunter (Sanghyuk Koh, Amy Kuo, Debra Lauterbach, Noah Liebman & Andrea Mc Vittie), Local Buy (team members include: Wentao Wang, Li Li, Nan Chen & Jenica Baty), MI Fresh (Maureen Hanratty, Geoff Ho, Yang Jiang & Xiao Wei), Want Knot (Jared Bauer, Liz Blankenship, Leanna Gingras & Mark Goetz) and eXtend (Annie Fang, Sergio Mendez-Baiges, Rahan Khozein & Eunice Shin).

Both Treasure Hunter and Local Buy used Axure RP to create their project prototype.

Treasure Hunter

The goal of this project was to design an online community that would help expand the consumption of used resources, specifically encouraging people to shop at thrift stores.

The team began by conducting research to uncover the barriers to buying used items at thrift stores.Then, they created personas, brainstormed concepts and worked through various scenarios. Team Treasure Hunter used Axure RP to create a hi-fidelity prototype for user testing and used the results to tune the design.

The final application enlisted frequent thrift store shoppers to help individuals who lack the time or desire to search for the items themselves (prototype [click Go to begin]).

"Several judges commented on how impressive our prototype was. We consider Axure to be a big part of our success."
- Debra Lauterbach

Local Buy

This project aimed to promote the availability of local food. The team worked with a start up business interested in directly connecting consumers with local food resources.

They conducted interviews, created personas, sketched concepts and worked through different scenarios. After this process the team was ready to bring their ideas to life. They used Axure RP to create their hi fidelity prototype and conduct user testing.

The final application provided a platform for customers to locate and purchase from local sustainable food resources (prototype [click Go to begin]).

"Features like masters in Axure RP were a big time-saver when creating the various web pages in our design."
- Wentao Wang

Congratulations to all of the outstanding teams accepted to present at CHI!

IA Summit 09: Prototyping Rich Interfaces with Axure Pre-Conference Workshop

Dani — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:20:00 GMT

Axure is a proud sponsor of the Information Architecture Summit held at the Peabody Memphis Hotel in Memphis, TN. The conference will run March 18-22, with pre-conference sessions being held the 18th and 19th.

Fred Beecher and Lori Baker of Evantage Consulting will be holding a workshop entitled Prototyping Rich Interfaces with Axure. This workshop will introduce attendees to the features in Axure RP that truly enable rich interactivity. Attendees will learn how to utilize these features to prototype nearly any interaction.

The workshop will be structured around a series of exercises in which attendees use the features and skills they just learned to prototype rich Internet applications (RIA).

Specific features being covered include:

Form element interactions
Dynamic panels (switching states, hiding & showing, moving)
Setting widget properties
Variables & conditional logic

The workshop is designed for intermediate to advanced user experience practitioners who have a basic competency in Axure. Attendees must bring their laptops with mice to the workshop. The laptops run Windows (either natively or under a virtual machine) and have the most recent version of Axure installed.

Axure RP Pro 5.5 is Now Available

Andrea — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:04:00 GMT

Axure RP Pro 5.5 is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx.

This release adds the ability to create custom widget libraries for the Widget pane, new interaction capabilities for high fidelity prototyping, easier Dynamic Panel management, and enhancements to widgets and diagram editing.

Check out this 3 part series for more details on new features, as well as our Online Training.

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries
Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements and Diagram Editing

Is this a free update? If you purchased Axure RP or a renewal after February 1, 2008 or plan to purchase between now and the final release, version 5.5 will be a free update. All other customers will need to purchase a renewal to upgrade. You can login to the customer portal to see when your maintenance period expires.

Please note: Files created in version 5.5 will not open in previous versions of Axure RP. Version 5.5 will convert files created in previous versions to the new format.

Want the latest updates, discussions, and tutorials?
Join the Axure Community Site and we'll keep you connected. After joining, subscribe to the forum for discussions and the blog for tutorials and release announcements.

You can also follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/axurerp.

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com or discuss them on the Axure RP forum.

Axure RP Custom Widget Libraries - Icons from Axure

Andrea — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:30:00 GMT

The Icons from Axure custom widget library (for Axure RP Pro 5.5+) contains over 250 commonly used icons that you can use in your Axure RP prototypes. Two versions of the library are available, one contains 16x16 px icons and the other 32x32 px icons. These icons are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. You are free to use them in Axure RP prototypes without attribution. The icons were designed by KeyIcons.

Download these libraries from the Widget Libraries page at
http://www.axure.com/widgetLibraries.aspx.

We will be adding more libraries in the future. If you have published a widget library that you would like to share, please email contactus@axure.com.

The Axure RP Pro 5.5 Beta is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloadBeta.aspx. For more information about custom widget libraries as well as other features coming in Version 5.5, please visit Introduction to Version 5.5 Features.

Axure RP Custom Widget Libraries - Yahoo! Design Stencils Kit

Andrea — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 21:03:00 GMT

In Axure RP Pro 5.5, we added the ability to create custom widget libraries for the Widgets pane. To help you get started, we created the following libraries based on the Yahoo! Design Stencil Kit:

Advertising
Calendar Picker
Carousel
Charts and Tables
Controls
Form Elements
Menus and Buttons
Mobile - General
Mobile - iPhone
Navigation and Pagination
OS Elements
Page Grids
Placeholder Text
Screen Resolutions
Tabs
Windows and Containers

You can download these libraries from the Widget Libraries page at http://www.axure.com/widgetLibraries.aspx. We will be adding more libraries in the future. If you have published a widget library that you would like to share, please email contactus@axure.com.

The Axure RP Pro 5.5 Beta is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloadBeta.aspx. For more information about custom widget libraries as well as other features included in Version 5.5, please visit our 3-part blog post Introduction to Version 5.5 Features.

Axure RP Pro 5.5 Beta is Now Available

Dani — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:10:00 GMT

[PLEASE NOTE: Axure RP Pro 5.5 is out of beta and now available at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx.]

The Axure RP Pro 5.5 Beta is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloadBeta.aspx.

This release adds the ability to create custom widget libraries for the Widget pane, new interaction capabilities for high fidelity prototyping, easier Dynamic Panel management, and enhancements to widgets and diagram editing.

Check out this 3 part series for more details on new features.

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries
Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements and Diagram Editing

This beta will expire on February 28, 2009. A valid beta will be available until the final release, so your work will not be interrupted.

Please note: Files created in version 5.5 beta will not open in previous versions of Axure RP. Version 5.5 beta will convert files created in previous versions to the new format.

Is this a free update? If you purchased Axure RP or a renewal after February 1, 2008 or plan to purchase between now and the final release, version 5.5 will be a free update. All other customers will need to purchase a renewal to upgrade. You can login to the customer portal to see when your maintenance period expires.

Please report any bugs or feedback to support@axure.com or post in the forums.

Introduction to Version 5.5 Features: Part 3

Andrea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:37:00 GMT

Axure RP Pro Version 5.5 (available here) adds the ability to create custom widget libraries for the Widgets pane, new interaction capabilities for high fidelity prototyping, easier Dynamic Panel management, and enhancements to widgets and diagram editing.

This 3 part series presents these new features:

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries covers enhancements to the Widgets pane (including Search) and creating and using custom widget libraries.
Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor provides an overview of the new actions (Set Focus on Widget, Bring Panel(s) to Front, Set Widget(s) to Selected State) and creating animation using the new Advanced Editor.
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements, and Diagram Editing shows the new Dynamic Panel manager, the Preserve Corners feature for images, editing MouseDown and Selected styles for images and button shapes, deep selection in groups, and the "Visio style" selection mode.

[These articles assume a working knowledge of the basic features in Axure RP. If you are new to Axure, the video demos in our Online Training are a good place to start.]

Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements, and Diagram Editing

Dynamic Panel Manager

The Dynamic Panel Manager (View->Dynamic Panel Manager) provides tools for managing the dynamic panels on a page.

Dynamic panel states can be added, removed, and opened for editing in the manager. To add or remove states, right-click on the dynamic panel name or a dynamic panel state and use the context menu. To open a state for editing, double-click the state.

In addition, dynamic panels on the page can be hidden from view in the wireframe editor for easier access to widgets beneath them. To hide a dynamic panel, click on the blue square to the right of the dynamic panel name, or to hide all the panels on a page, right-click on the page name and select Hide All.

Image & Button Shape Enhancements

Several enhancements were made to images and button shapes including:

Preserve Corners for Images (more below)
Mouse Down, Selected, and Disabled styles for Images, Button Shapes, and Menu Items (more below)
Text on Images (right-click Edit Image->Edit Text or select the image and begin typing)
Corner Radius for Button Shapes with rounded corners

Preserve Corners

Preserve Corners allows you to scale images without stretching the corners of the image. This can be useful for images such as button graphics and dialog boxes. To preserve the corners of an image, right-click on the image and select Edit Image->Preserve Corners.

There are now 2 arrows above and 2 arrows to the left of the image that determine the corners that will be preserved. Dragging the arrows will adjust the corners.

Now, the image can be sized without changing the corners.

Mouse Down, Selected, and Disabled Styles

In addition to rollover styles, you can now add Mouse Down, Selected, and Disabled styles to images and button shapes. These styles can be used to create custom, interactive buttons. Button shapes and images can be set to the Selected style using the "Set Widget(s) to Selected State" action and set to their Disabled style using the "Disable Widget(s)" action.

The Selected style is also available for menu items making highlighting a menu item on a page much simpler.

Diagram Editing Enhancements

Select Contained Mode (Visio-style)

By default, clicking and dragging to create a selection area selects all of the widgets that intersect with the selection area. Now, there is an option to change modes so that only widgets entirely contained in the selection area are selected. This is similar to the way selection works in Visio. To change to the "Select Contained Mode", click the Select Contained Mode button in the toolbar or press Ctrl+F9.

Deep Selection in Groups

You can now select individual widgets within a group for editing and adding annotations and interactions. To do this, select the group. Then, click the widget within the group that you would like to select. You are also able to move and size widgets within the group.

Location and Size Pane

The Location and Size pane (View->Location and Size) replaces the Location and Size dialog. The pane can now stay visible while designing wireframes. It gives the ability to set the location and size for a single widget or a group of selected widgets. You can also set the location and size for each individual widget within a selection. This is helpful for aligning widgets or setting a group of widgets to the same width or height.

Check out Parts 1 and 2 of this series:

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries covers enhancements to the Widgets pane (including Search) and creating and using custom widget libraries.
Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor provides an overview of the new actions (Set Focus on Widget, Bring Panel(s) to Front, Set Widget(s) to Selected State) and creating animation using the new Advanced Editor.

We hope you get a chance to try these new features and the others included in this release.

Please send any feedback or issues to support@axure.com or post to the forums.

Introduction to Version 5.5 Features: Part 2

Andrea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:36:00 GMT

This 3 part series presents these new features:

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries covers enhancements to the Widgets pane (including Search) and creating and using custom widget libraries.
Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor provides an overview of the new actions (Set Focus on Widget, Bring Panel(s) to Front, Set Widget(s) to Selected State) and creating animation using the new Advanced Editor.
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements, and Diagram Editing shows the new Dynamic Panel manager, the Preserve Corners feature for images, editing MouseDown and Selected styles for images and button shapes, deep selection in groups, and the "Visio style" selection mode.

[These articles assume a working knowledge of the basic features in Axure RP. If you are new to Axure, the video demos in our Online Training are a good place to start.]

Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor

New Interactions

Set Focus on Widget

This action sets the focus on a specified widget. For example, on the OnPageLoad of a page, you can set the focus on a text field widget so the cursor will appear in the text field when the page loads and the user can begin typing.

Bring Panel(s) to Front
This action brings a dynamic panel to the top layer of the page. This is useful for prototyping features like lightboxes, flyout menus, and custom tooltips created in dynamic panels.

Set Widget(s) to Selected State
This action sets the style of a widget to its Selected style or back to its default style (see Part 3 for more on the Selected style). This is useful for navigation like menus when a particular menu item should be highlighted (or selected) on a page. For example, on the OnPageLoad of a page, you can set the appropriate menu item to its Selected state.

Advanced Interactions Editor (Animation)

The Case Properties dialog now has an option to use an Advanced Editor.

The Basic Editor allows each action to be added once to a case and automatically orders the actions. Using the Advanced Editor, you can now customize the order of actions and add multiple of each action.

One use for the Advanced Editor is to create animations using dynamic panels. If you create a dynamic panel with multiple states, you can use the Advanced Editor to alternately set the state of the panel and wait some time. To do this, click the Add Action link, select "Set Panel State(s) to State(s)", then "Wait Time(ms)", and another Set Panel action, and so on.

Please note that the link to return to the Basic Editor is disabled once an action has been used more than once or are not in the default order.

Check out Parts 1 and 3 of this series:

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries covers enhancements to the Widgets pane (including Search) and creating and using custom widget libraries.
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements, and Diagram Editing shows the new Dynamic Panel manager, the Preserve Corners feature for images, editing MouseDown and Selected styles for images and button shapes, deep selection in groups, and the "Visio style" selection mode.

We hope you get a chance to try these new features and the others included in this release.

Please send any feedback or issues to support@axure.com or in the forums.

Introduction to Version 5.5 Features: Part 1

Andrea — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:35:00 GMT

This 3 part series presents these new features:

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries covers enhancements to the Widgets pane (including Search) and creating and using custom widget libraries.
Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor provides an overview of the new actions (Set Focus on Widget, Bring Panel(s) to Front, Set Widget(s) to Selected State) and creating animation using the new Advanced Editor.
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements, and Diagram Editing shows the new Dynamic Panel manager, the Preserve Corners feature for images, editing MouseDown and Selected styles for images and button shapes, deep selection in groups, and the "Visio style" selection mode.

[These articles assume a working knowledge of the basic features in Axure RP. If you are new to Axure, the video demos in our Online Training are a good place to start.]

Part 1: Widgets Pane and Custom Widget Libraries

Widgets Pane

The widgets pane now has a dropdown menu to manage the available widget libraries. A search tool has also been added to quickly find widgets.

Clicking the arrow next to "Wireframe" displays options to view All Libraries or select a specific library including Wireframe and Flow and any loaded custom libraries. The menu also provides options to load, create, edit and refresh the library.

Clicking the Search icon displays a text field, and typing will begin searching across the current library.

If "All Libraries" is selected, the search is performed through all the libraries.

The Wireframe and Flow libraries will be available by default when Axure RP starts. Also, custom widget libraries (.rplib) will be automatically loaded if they exist in the My Axure RP Libraries folder in your My Documents folder. Other .rplib files can be loaded by selection "Load library" from the dropdown menu.

Custom Widget Libraries

You can now create your own custom widget libraries for the Widgets pane. To create a new widget library, select "Create library" in the dropdown in the Widgets pane, and create a .rplib file for your library. If you would like the library to automatically be available in the dropdown menu when you start Axure RP, save the .rplib file in your My Documents/My Axure RP Libraries folder.

After creating the file, another instance of Axure RP Pro will start and open the new library file. Because this is a library file, the Sitemap is replaced with a Widget Library pane where you can add, delete, and organize the widgets just as you manage pages in the Sitemap.

Custom widgets are created using existing widgets and images just like a page. Tip: If you would like the custom widget to be a grouped element when it is used on a page, you can group the widgets in the custom widget (Select All and Ctrl+G).

Here is a screenshot of a sample widget library including an Email Submission Field widget made up of a text panel and a text field.

By default, the icon that will appear in the Widgets pane for your custom widget is a preview based on the design. To import your own icon, right-click the widget in the Widgets Library pane and select "Widget Properties". You can also add a tooltip with information such as description, instructions, and a credit. The tooltip will be available in the Widgets pane by clicking an Information icon next to the selected widget.

To preview the widget in the Widgets pane, first save your library file (File -> Save or Ctrl+S). Then, click on the dropdown in the Widgets pane toolbar, select (or load) the library file, and (if needed) Refresh the library. The widgets you have created are displayed in the widgets pane and you can drag them to a wireframe like other widgets.

Check out Parts 2 and 3 of this series:

Part 2: New Interactions and the Advanced Interactions Editor provides an overview of the new actions (Set Focus on Widget, Bring Panel(s) to Front, Set Widget(s) to Selected State) and creating animation using the new Advanced Editor.
Part 3: Dynamic Panel Manager, Image & Button Shape Enhancements, and Diagram Editing shows the new Dynamic Panel manager, the Preserve Corners feature for images, editing MouseDown and Selected styles for images and button shapes, deep selection in groups, and the "Visio style" selection mode.

We hope you get a chance to try these new features and the others included in this release.

Please send any feedback or issues to support@axure.com or in the forums.

Axure RP Pro 5.1 Update

Dani — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:37:00 GMT

Axure RP Pro 5.1 is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx. This update enables remote collaboration on shared projects and includes a number of enhancements and fixes:

Shared projects can be stored on an SVN server (learn more)
Interactions pane improvements for handling many cases
Cancel options on interactions dialogs
Ability to have "placeholder" cases with no actions
Context menus on table cells for easier table editing
Word 2007 specification generation fixes
Menu widget fix that affected prototype generation

Important Information:
Installing 5.1 will uninstall 5.0. The file format is backwards compatible with 5.0 (5.0 can open 5.1 files). However, 5.1 files cannot be opened in versions prior to 5.0.

This is a free update for everyone who is licensed for 5.0 (purchased a license or renewal after 3/15/07).

Want the latest updates, discussions and tutorials?
Join the Axure Community Site and we'll keep you connected. After joining, subscribe to the forum for discussions and the blog for tutorials and release announcements.

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com and discuss them on the forum.

Axure RP Update Supports Firefox 3

Andrea — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Firefox 3 is expected to release on June 17. Like last time, we have released an update to support the new version of Firefox. Thank you everyone who reported issues when using the Firefox 3 release candidates.

The latest Axure RP update (5.0.0.1529) is available at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx. In addition to the Firefox updates, it also includes fixes for shared projects, the Word 2007 specification generator, and other minor fixes. To view a more detailed list, please visit the release history.

This is a free update for licenses or renewals purchased after 3/15/2007. If you have a licensed copy of 5.0, you can update to this release without a renewal.

For everyone using Axure RP versions 4.6 or 4.4, we have also released updates to those versions to support the Firefox changes. Those updates are available at http://www.axure.com/previousVersions.aspx (4.6.2.1546 and 4.4.1.801).

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com or discuss them on the Axure RP forum at http://www.axure.com/cs/forums.

Axure RP Pro 5 and the New Axure.com

Andrea — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:38:00 GMT

Axure RP Pro 5 is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx. This release focuses on collaboration, more interactions, and faster, more customizable specification generation.

New Features
Shared Projects enables multiple people to work on a project at the same time and also keeps a history of revisions to the project. A demo can be found in the Shared Projects online training.

New interactions including OnFocus and OnLostFocus events, anchor links, and moving dynamic panels. Check out the blog post "Anchors, Moving Panels, and Focus Events" for a sample.

Word 2007 Specification Generator offering more customizations including a two-column format and much faster generation.

Popular requests like detachable panes and gradient and alpha color support.

For a more detailed list click here.

Important Information
Files created in version 5 will not open in previous versions of Axure RP. Version 5 will convert legacy files to the new format.

Axure RP Pro 5 is a free upgrade for customers who purchased or renewed a license after March 15, 2007. Other customers will need to purchase a renewal before upgrading.

If your trial had previously expired, installing version 5 will give you a new 30 day trial.

The New Axure.com
We are happy to release the new Axure website. We have a new logo and content including the flash tour, updated online training, and a section to compare features and project benefits. Let us know what you think.

Want the latest updates, discussions, and tutorials?
Join the Axure Community Site and we'll keep you connected. After joining, subscribe to the forum for discussions and the blog for tutorials and release announcements.

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com or discuss them on the Axure RP forum.

Axure RP Pro 5.0 Beta is Now Available!

Andrea — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:30:00 GMT

The beta for Axure RP Pro Version 5.0 is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/axurerp5beta.aspx!

This release enables multiple people to work on the same Axure RP project at the same time and maintains a history of revisions to the project. It also includes new interactions, a new specification generator, as well as enhancements to the interface and designer.

Check out the online training for a guide to using the Shared Projects feature, as well as our blog post "Anchors, Moving Panels, and Focus Events" to view examples of how to use some of the new interactions. For a more detailed description of new features, click here.

This beta can be installed without uninstalling version 4, but please note that files created in Axure RP 5.0 will not open in previous versions. Axure RP Pro 5.0 will convert earlier files to the new format.

This beta will expire on April 30, 2008. A valid beta will be available until the final release of Axure RP Pro 5.0 expected in early April, so your work will not be interrupted.

Is this a free update? If you have purchased Axure RP or a renewal after March 15, 2007 or plan to purchase between now and the final release, you will get version 5.0 as a free update. All other customers will need to purchase a renewal to upgrade. You can login to the customer portal with the account information that was created when your licenses were purchased to see when your maintenance period expires.

Please report any issues you might find to support@axure.com or in the forums.

Anchors, Moving Panels, and Focus Events

Andrea — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:20:00 GMT

This article presents a few of the new features coming in Axure RP Pro Version 5, which are included in the alpha release Shared Projects Preview.

Scroll to Image Map Region (Anchors)
Moving Dynamic Panels
OnFocus and OnLostFocus Events

Here are links to the sample file and generated prototype that are discussed in this article.

Version5PreviewFeatures RP File (Opens in Shared Projects Preview version or later)
Version5PreviewFeatures Sample Prototype

Scroll to Image Map Region (Anchors)

The action to Scroll to Image Map Region allows you to scroll a page in response to an event like a user clicking on a link. You can choose to scroll the page horizontally, vertically or both to the location of an image map region.

In the page "Example 1" in the sample, we have created a list of topics that link to corresponding topic sections on the page.

We placed an image map region over the titles of each topic section that we want to scroll to. Then, we added a case to the OnClick event of each of the topic links with an action to "Scroll to Image Map Region", and specified the appropriate image map region.

The Select Image Map Region dialog allows you to select the Image Map Region and choose whether to scroll horizontally only, vertically only, or horizontally and vertically.

We also added "Top" links at the end of each section that scroll back to the Top of the page where the Help header is.

Moving Dynamic Panels

The Move Dynamic Panels action allows you to move a dynamic panel in response to an event like OnClick or OnMouseEnter. A common use of this feature would be to more easily prototype expanding and collapsing regions on a form.

In the page "Example 2" in the sample, we have created a survey form with optional questions that are shown and hidden based on answers to other questions. When the questions are shown, all of the questions beneath them are moved down. When they are hidden, the questions are moved back up.

On the page, we have Yes and No radio buttons next to the question "Were you traveling with children?". Beneath that is a dynamic panel labeled "Optional Question 1" panel (set to hidden) which includes the questions we would like to show and hide based on whether Yes or No is selected. Then, there is a dynamic panel labeled "Form 1" that contains the remaining questions on the form that will be moved up and down when showing and hiding the "Optional Question 1" panel.

The OnClick events on the Yes and No radio buttons have cases with actions to Show/Hide the "Optional Question 1" panel and move the "Form 1" panel down or up. For the Yes radio button, we added the action to show the "Optional Question 1" panel and the action to "Moved Panel(s)".

Clicking on the link for Move Panel in Step 3 of the Interactions Case Properties dialog, we selected "Move Form 1 to (x,y)" and enter the coordinates we would like to move the panel to. You can also choose to "Move widget by" a certain number of pixels to the left/right and up/down.

Within the "Form 1" dynamic panel, there are a few more dynamic panels that expand and collapse optional questions. It is important to note that the containing dynamic panel should be large enough to show all of the contained panels when they are moved.

OnFocus and OnLostFocus Events

The OnFocus and OnLostFocus Events allow you to perform actions when tabbing or clicking on to and off of form widgets (Text Field, Text Area, Droplist, List Box, Checkbox, Radio Button). In Example 2 of the sample, we added actions to the OnFocus and OnLostFocus events for the "Date of trip" fields to show and hide a dynamic panel containing a date formatting tip. This was also done for the three fields containing dollar amounts to show formatting tips.

Here are the links to this sample one more time:

Version5PreviewFeatures RP File (Opens in Shared Projects Preview version or later)
Version5PreviewFeatures Sample Prototype

We hope you get a chance to try out these features and the other features included in this preview release. Let us know what you think! Please report any issues you might find to support@axure.com or in the forums. Enjoy!

Axure RP Pro - Shared Projects Preview (Alpha)

Andrea — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 19:00:00 GMT

This release is a preview of the Shared Project feature which will be part of the Version 5.0 scheduled for Q1 2008. We are looking for early feedback on this feature, but as an alpha release, some bugs should be expected.

The Shared Projects feature enables multiple people to work on the same Axure RP project at the same time. It also maintains a history of revisions to the project.

For this preview, we recommend limiting shared projects to 300 combined pages and masters and up to five people working on a project.

Other features in this preview include:

Scroll to Image Map Region (Anchors)
Moving Dynamic Panels
OnFocus and OnLostFocus events

More information and the download are available here.

To learn to use Shared Projects and watch a video demo, visit the online training.

This preview can be installed without uninstalling previous versions, but please note that files created in the Shared Projects Feature Preview will not open in previous versions of Axure RP. Files created in earlier versions will be converted to the new format.

If you have a license key that is valid for 4.6, you can use this preview without interruption. If you do not have a current license key, the preview will provide you with a 30 day evaluation.

Will this be a free update? Version 5.0 will be a free update for customers who purchased a license or a maintenance renewal for Axure RP Pro within 12 months of that release. Other customers will need to purchase a renewal before upgrading.

Please report any issues you might find to support@axure.com or in the forums.

Axure SpecGen Tool Update

Andrea — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:00:00 GMT

An update to the Axure SpecGen Tool is now available for download at http://www.axure.com/axurespecgentool.aspx. A detailed list of new features is available here.

The SpecGen Tool is a free application. It is an example of how the Axure RP API can be used to read data from an Axure RP file.

New Features
The SpecGen Tool improves on the specification generation built into Axure RP by incorporating new technologies and features.

Improved speed (often 10 to 20 times faster)
Option to collapse master annotations into page sections
Option to place annotation tables directly below each page and dynamic panel screenshot
Option to use a two column-specification format
Ability to separate annotations into multiple tables

To see a video on how to use the Axure SpecGen Tool and find out more information, please visit http://www.axure.com/axurespecgentool.aspx.

Source Code
The source code for the Axure SpecGen Tool is available to Axure RP Pro customers upon request. To request a copy, please send an email to support@axure.com.

Want the latest updates, discussions, and tutorials?
Join the Axure Community Site and we'll keep you connected. After joining, subscribe to the forum for discussions and subscribe to the blog for tutorials and release announcements.

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com or discuss them on the Axure RP forum at http://www.axure.com/cs/forums.

Axure RP Pro 4.6 Updates and Safari Compatibility

Andrea — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:20:00 GMT

Since the release of Axure RP Pro version 4.6 in July, we have released several minor updates addressing bugs and minor requests. The latest version (4.6.2.946) was released on 9/21/07 and is available at http://www.axure.com/downloads.aspx. This is a free update for licenses or renewals purchased after 6/1/2006. If you have a licensed copy of 4.6, you can update to this release without a renewal.

The latest update of Axure RP now unofficially supports viewing prototypes in Safari. This was first mentioned on the Rev2 blog.

Some other fixes and updates since the initial release of 4.6 include:

Added OnKeyUp event to the Text Area widget
Added the ability to set the value in a Text Field to the value in a Droplist or Listbox
Fix for prototype error when single and double quotes were used in Labels
Fix for intermittent error generating prototypes resulting in Windows error dialog
Fixed Clear All link in the Condition Builder dialog
Dynamic panels on a page no longer automatically cause the prototype browser to have a horizontal scroll

To view a more detailed list, please visit the release history.

We appreciate any feedback, suggestions, or bug reports. Please send them to support@axure.com or discuss them on the Axure RP forum at http://www.axure.com/cs/forums