I know that there is an Add-in contest going on for visual studio, however where I would really like to see one is in the Expression Suite. I’d like to see a storyboard add-in for both Expression Graphic designer and Expression Interactive Designer. The storyboard feature could be used to storyboard out the interaction of your applications. Mock-ups could be created in EGD and then sent to EID for further work. You would need a view that would show interaction paths (in both products) and allow you to also show an atomic state view (think button behavior onmouseover, etc). To further the value of this feature you could integrate with Cider and VSTS (what I like to call Visual Studio Team Slayer). Just think, adding UX into the Software design process. Huh? I’m talking about slide 155 from Simon Guest’s TechEd 2006 presentation. And these storyboard layouts could later be used for documentation, training and requirements (and goals).
Think of this as a way to paper prototype. I know that people use everything from Photoshop to PowerPoint to Visio, why not use the Expression tools and create artifacts that you can keep and use?
Until then you could do this now (somewhat) by creating a new XAML window for each state (or page) and paste them up on a whiteboard. Have fun.
Tags: WPF | XAML | net3