JonBlog
Thoughts on website ideas, PHP and other tech topics, plus going car-free
On-screen web development notes widget
Categories: Ideas, Outline

When developing a web application, I’m rather a fan of adding on-screen Post-It style notes, either as a note-to-self, or as a collaboration tool, either to get feedback or to explain what works and what does not. Currently I just add a CSS file and then add a classed div, which pops it to the left or the right side of the screen.

What’d be really useful is an external software service that allows notes to be positioned at arbitrary coordinates using drag-and-drop, all enabled simply by adding an external JavaScript script to each page that requires it. This could be enabled even on live sites for selected users, and could well permit team collaboration in a really interesting, UI-centred and hands-on way.

Ticket systems and repository changesets could also be integrated. For example, adding a note with a ‘Raise ticket’ tick could create an item in the user’s ticket system, attached to the on-screen note.

I rather like this idea, so when I get a moment (pencilled currently as the second quarter of 2015) I’ll add some sketches, so I can upgrade the idea from ‘outline’ to ‘doodle’.

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