posted30/08/10
Today we are launching our new Creately Diagram Viewer. It’s a simple embeddable widget that allows you to include a zoom-able, sharable and always updated Creately diagram in any web page. To top it off, we’ve created a Google Gadget to allow the Creately Diagram Viewer to be used easily with iGoogle and for our Google Apps customers within your Google Sites.
Diagram Viewer Widget
The Creately Diagram Viewer is a HTML5 web widget that lets you easily embed an interactive Creately diagram viewer into any webpage. You can add the widget to your webpage by simply pasting the embed code from the properties panel inside Creately into your webpage source. You can add the widget to as many pages as you like and also add multiple widgets to the same webpage. Once added just save your webpage and your Creately diagram is available immediately.
Great Features
The Creately Diagram Viewer comes with some great features that will make creating and sharing diagrams with Creately a breeze. Try the live example below to see what we mean.
Mouseover to see the Viewer in action
You can change the dimensions of your widget so it fits perfectly into any webpage. The widget provides Zoom and Pan features that mean even the largest diagrams are still clear and easy to navigate. There’s now no need to scale your exported diagram image just to fit it to the webpage and in the process lose the detail in your diagrams. Simply set up the size of your widget and embed it into any webpage.
Always Update to Date
The widget always fetches the latest version of your diagram to display making sure that visitors always see the latest version. When working as a team on the same diagram or diagrams in a project all the changes made using Creately will be reflected immediately in your documentation ensuring that the Creately diagram and the published webpage stay in sync. This save time and reduces costs because you no longer need to upload or update the diagram images and reduces errors due to old knowledge being published.
We are big fans of Twitter and Facebook and we know a lot of our users are too. The Creately Diagram Viewer provides the tools for effortless sharing with built in Facebook and Twitter buttons. We all enjoy receiving praise and love for our work. When you embed your Creately diagrams in your site you can receive the qudos for your work you deserve.
Community Diagram Pages
To get a real world feel for the Creately Diagram Viewer please visit the Public Diagram Pages which are all now powered by the Creately Diagram Viewer. Note - Click on the diagram to go to the individual diagram page and see the Creately Diagram Viewer - try out the zoom, pan and sharing features as you browse the diagrams. On each diagram page don’t miss the right panel for the embed code. Finally remember if like any of the diagrams, show your love by sharing it via Twitter or Facebook with 1-click!
Google Gadget For Apps and iGoogle
Creately is loved by thousands of Google Apps users. With Creately we’ve been working hard to bring better diagram and collaboration to Google Apps. So this week Google Sites finally gets what it was missing - built-in diagrams that work just like the wiki does.
The brand new Creately Diagram Gadget for Google Sites and iGoogle makes it easy to embed the Creately Diagram Viewer into the Google Platform. This way, anyone who edits your Google Apps Site can also easily access and update the Creately diagram from right within the site.
For those who are impatient to get going just use this URL for the Creately Diagram Gadget: http://creately.com/player/gadget/createlyplayer.xml
Just like the Creately Diagram Viewer, the Gadget’s diagram is always up to date and brings with it the benefits of collaborative working.
No More Squinting
The Creately Diagram Gadget allows you to embed multiple diagrams from Creately in to a single Sites page along with explanatory text. You can create really big diagrams, and still embed them on Site pages without having to scale them down. Just alter the display dimensions of the Creately Diagram Gadget and click to embed. Your Google Site page now remains neat and intact with all your Creately diagrams appearing within the Creately Diagram Viewer allowing your full control of your Sites appearance.
The Creately Diagram Gadget for iGoogle provides all the same features as the Google Sites gadget plus it allows you to embed your Creately diagram anywhere that accepts a Google Gadget.
You can learn how to embed this gadget on Google Site by visiting our Creately Diagram Gadget instructions page. Or check out the Creately Diagram Gadget on the Google Gadget listing page - and don’t forget to leave us a review. Thanks!
@Creately Team
posted12/06/10
Today, we’re happy to announce the release of Creately for FogBugz, a brand new plugin for everyone’s favourite software project management and bug-tracking system, FogBugz from FogCreek Software.
Creately for FogBugz lets everyone on your project team communicate clearly by easily creating and including diagrams in FogBugz. With full integration into the FogBugz interface, you can easily add Use Cases, Wireframes, Flowcharts, UML or any other diagrams to FogBugz cases and wiki pages.
Squash’Em Bugs
Bugs fixing will go a lot smoother when you can clearly explain the issues to developers. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so get everyone on the same page by adding annotated wireframes, or updated Use Cases to every FogBugz case. Anyone working on the case can edit and and modify diagrams as the case or feature is worked on.
Up-to-date Documentation
The ability to quickly add diagrams directly within Wiki pages will make documenting your software projects a lot less of a chore. No more attaching external Visio files, and no more expensive desktop-based software. With Creately for FogBugz, the whole team can update project documentation right within the browser, saving time and more importantly helping keep your specifications up-to-date.
Get it now!
Creately for FogBugz plugin is available for installation on your own Fogbugz server starting from $85/user with bulk discounts available for larger teams. Currently we only support Fogbugz on the Windows platform, but a Linux and hosted version for FogBugz OnDemand will be announced shortly.
Download Free 14-day trial
Installation Help
Give yourself the advantage of Creately for Fogbugz by purchasing your license right now or if your not quite ready you can also download the free 14-day trial.
posted21/05/10
Here at Cinergix we’ve been working together from different office locations around the world to create, market and support the best online diagramming software - Creately. We spend hours sitting in front of our computers each day working across vast distances and timezones and it can sometimes be a challenge getting everyone on the team working together effectively.
So over the last year, we’ve experimented with a large number of online services to help us work better and support our customers in the best possible way. In each solution we looked for just the right amount of functionality to help us work better without drowning in too much process and too many systems.
Here we’ve distilled the top 5 tools (mostly online tools) that we’ve come to rely on to keep the Creately engine chugging along nicely. They cover everything from project management tools to customer support systems, but each one offers the ease of use and simplicity that we find so important in keeping our team focused on the job at hand.
Thanks to @Hiraash for his suggestions and I hope you’ll find these tools useful for your project teams. If you’ve got any other suggestions that you think will be useful for other web startups and project teams, we’d love to hear from you.
Wrike
Wrike is a web-based project management tool, and the great thing about it is that it comes with a fantastic Gantt chart view that knocks the pants off any other web based PM tool. @Chandika is a big fan cos he loves the fact that the Gantt chart view gives everyone a good idea of the inter dependencies across the projects we work on here at Creately. Unlike most other recent web-base PM tools that have a strong social collaboration angle, Wrike offers a solid PM tool in the same vein as MS Project, but its pricing is a tad on the high side.
Team Viewer
TeamViewer is an easy to use screen-sharing application that’s Free and works really well. I’ve tried sharing my screen with Skype and other web-services but none have performed as well as TeamViewer. Everyone I’ve recommended it to loves it. And it doesn’t just stop there. Teamviewer lets remotely control another computer - even through firewalls. This is an essential tool we use everyday at Creately. Thanks to @Aslam for bringing this to the team.
Creately
For the uninitiated, Creately is a web-based diagramming software that comes with built in tools for easy, secure collaboration. With an extensive library of shapes, Creately supports many diagram types. Naturally we use Creately in-house - mostly for concept diagrams, flowcharts and mockups. Its great for getting those ideas nailed down quickly in a diagram - and really helps bring clarity to the team.
PS - We released a beta version of a Creately Plugin for the Fogbugz platform this week, which makes it easy to add any type of diagram to your Fogbugz cases and Wiki to clearly explain requirements to your team. You can check it out here.
Zendesk
Zendesk provides a customer support portal solution includes email support with a built-in knowledge base. We chose it for it elegant interface and the ease with which we can track support support issues and deliver the type of customer service our customers talk about. It also worked great for providing 24/7 round the clock support that is being handled across 2 locations. There are a host of other customer support systems out there that actually deliver more functionality at a lower price, but we’re sold on their “Love your Helpdesk” theme.
Pivotal Tracker
Pivotal Tracker is a story-based project planning tool that the Dev Team here at Creately swears by. It is based on the Agile software development methodology and support sprints, velocity, etc but can also be used for other types of projects. If you’re a fan of Agile development - then you’ll love PT, as we affectionately call it.
Best part about PT - Its completely Free (as in beer).
What do you use in your teams? Have you tried any of these tools, and have you found them effective in your business?
@Charan
posted01/04/10
Google Apps Integration
If you are a user of Google Apps then it just got better with the addition of Creately into the Google Apps Marketplace.
Today, we’re adding the Creately - Online Diagramming Editor to Google Apps, so now the best online diagramming software is available to the millions of small businesses around the world who have come to rely on the Google Apps suite.
With a few simple clicks, you can add Creately to your Apps setup and start creating diagrams immediately. We’re working hard to make Creately the best choice for the Fortune 5,000,000 companies that need an easy to use and powerful visual collaboration platform to get their projects done right.
Add It now!
We’d love for you to Add Creately to your Google Apps account*. Once added you can access Creately straight away using the Open Id built into Google Apps. And if you are already a Creately user and use the same account for Google Apps you’ll have access to all your previous diagrams instantly. Once you’re subscribed you can choose from our selection of Creately Premium Plans (starting at $4.95 a month) or opt for a Creately Free account which only allows public diagrams.
Once you’ve used Creately in your Google Apps setup please remember to leave us a review on the Google Marketplace.
Want Deeper Google Integration?
We’re taking a phased approach with our Creately for Google Apps offering. We’re exploring the possibility of allowing Users to save and view their Creately diagrams directly from within the Google Documents interface. We’d love you to tell us how you use Creately with Google Apps and if you’d like to see further integration like this. We’ll play it by your feedback - so tell us if you want deeper Apps integration.
Click here to add Creately to your Google Apps setup* right now.
Until next time - Happy Diagramming & Remember to tell a friend.
*If you’re not the administrator of your account - simply send this link to your administrator - http://bit.ly/createlyGApps
The @Creately Team
posted23/07/09
Collaboration for All
We’re happy to deliver The No.1 most requested feature on Creately Community Support. Its been sitting on the top of the request list for some weeks now, but now we’re confident our systems are ready to ensure you and your team always have an excellent user experience on Creately.
Why it took this long?
Most users have been very excited to share Creately with friends, colleagues and classmates. We appreciate that, but at the same time, we wanted to make sure we can provide each and every one of you with the best possible Creately experience, both online and offline. We feel we are now ready to provide a much larger user-base with the type of Support, that we at Creately hold so dearly. So to open up Creately to more of you, we needed to put in the people and resources to ensure you and your team continue to enjoy working on Creately.
Go on, invite someone already!
From today, there’s no more waiting around for a Creately beta. If you’re invited, you’re in. So you can now invite your friends and team-mates who don’t have a beta invitation to use Creately. We’ve endeavored to make this process as simple as possible, so go on, invite a friend or two to share in the magic of Creately. They will receive an email with a link to register and can then immediately view your shared diagram.
3 Steps to Team Collaboration (or How to invite a team-mate to Creately)
Step 1
|
Step 2
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 Click to open the Share panel on the right of the Creately app |
 Enter email addresses you want to invite & hit Invite |
Step 3
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 Add a note to the collaborators and Send |
Go on, log on to Creately now and share a diagram.
@charanjit
