Did you know that you can have multiple accounts on Notable, all through the same login? For those of you not familiar with this feature, here's an example of how it works:

Mary is a design consultant who's just gotten emails inviting her to give feedback on two different Notable accounts.

All Mary has to do is accept one of the email invites and create her login to Notable. Any other accounts she's been added to show up under her Accounts tab automatically when she's logged in.

Then Mary decides she wants to add users and work on her own projects. She creates her own account by clicking on her name in the upper right hand corner of the screen and following the account creation links.

Now Mary can log in with the same email address and password and collaborate on projects that Elizabeth and Beth are running, as well as run her own projects from her account called "MyFav Designs."

This makes collaboration super fast and easy! All you have to do is log in to Notable and have access to multiple projects and accounts. With an upgraded account you can refine your workflow even more by creating workspaces.

To all of our international and multi-lingual Notable users in many corners of the world: You asked, we delivered! We just released support for foreign languages in Notable annotations. This means that you can can now:

• Make annotations in foreign languages and alphabets
• Export your multi-lingual notes to a PDF file

We are excited to see Notable used in more than 120+ countries around the world! A huge "Thank You" goes out to all of our international users who have been waiting so patiently for this. Give us a shout on Notable Forum to let us know how you're liking the new feature!

Are you still capturing webpages like a brand new Notable user, by typing or pasting the URL? If so, I'd like to re-introduce you to an old friend: The Firefox Toolbutton.

You probably just ignored the Toolbutton figuring that the URL capture is just as good. You're partially right, but the Firefox Toolbutton has significant advantages when it comes to capturing:

• You can capture websites which are behind logins
• You can capture fancy flash elements on a website
• You can capture foreign language websites

We want to make sure you're using the same tools of the trade we use here at ZURB to capture pages and provide feedback.

Here's where you go to install the Toolbutton if you haven't already done it:

Now, get capturing!

You might have noticed by now that Notable has a pretty distinct set up when it comes to sharing your posts with the users on your account. There' s a reason for this! Everything in Notable is set up to encourage you to give directed feedback in order to get follow through.

Here are a couple of things we hear frequently from our customers:

• I let someone in to my account, why can't they see everything?
• I want to share with 50 people, but I can only have 5 users on my account.

It makes sense that you'd want to do this. Sharing online is so easy, it seems natural to just open it up to everybody. That might work for a blog or a forum but an active project needs directed feedback in order to move forward.

Think about it this way: In a real office environment, would you do either of these two things?

• Drop an entire folder with 50 different items on someone's desk and say "Here, do something with this."
• Make 50 copies of the folder, distribute it to 50 people and say "Okay, I want everyone's comments and feedback now."

In the first case, your poor co-worker is likely to be baffled, overwhelmed, and frustrated. In the second case you'll either have to wade through hundreds of comments that may or may not be relevant, or hound the 48 people who didn't even bother to respond to you.

Providing or soliciting directed feedback moves a project forward while tossing something out to everybody leaves a project floundering.

People are super excited about the new annotation feature that allows everyone to make notes on the same page. You can now see what everyone has to say in one simple view. But how do you deal with everybody needing to make notes in the same place? Here are some suggestions to help you stay organized with your notes and get the most value out of this new feature:

• Keep it simple: Make sure you're outlining just the area of the page that you need, and keep your text clear, concise, and directly related to highlighted area.


• Offset your notes: If you want to keep everyone's notes about one area visible at the same time, just offset where you place your note. Then you can scroll over everyone's notes really easily. It's actually kind of fun!




• Hide some notes: If you and somebody else want to make notes in the exact same spot, you can hide one or more sets of notes while you're viewing the page. Just select or deselect which user's note you want to see.




• Use comments: If your feedback is a reply to somebody else's note, drop it in the comments right on their annotation. If it's more of a general remark on the whole page, put it in the comment stream below the page. Ask yourself a couple of questions before making that note: Will I need to edit it later? Does it need to display on the PDF? If it's a "No" to these questions, then go ahead and hit that "comment" button instead.

Tip: Remember that everyone's notes will show on the PDF file even if you hide them while viewing the page. So if you've got internal info you want to "hide", make sure to put it in the comments.

How does the new annotation functionality fit into your workflow? We'd love to hear from you! Reply here, or drop a line to Notable Support.

Those of you who have signed up for Verify private release probably have noticed the new "Verify It" button in Notable. Have you tried it out yet? This new magic button lets you test the feedback you get in Notable before you start implementing it. Here is how we recently used the Verify button here at ZURB:

We were working on a visual design for a client. Our designer created a mockup and solicited feedback from the team. The designer got some conflicting feedback. One team member said we need to display the full date and time in a time stamp while another said we just need to display "3 days ago" instead. Here's how we made our decision:

1. We clicked the Verify button in Notable to ask other people which timestamp they'd prefer.


2. We were directed to Verify. We selected "Preference Test" to ask people which one of our two mockups they prefer and why.



3. We generated a URL for our interactive test and gave it to our Twitter followers. Go ahead and click on the button below to preview the test.


Take the Test »

ZURB's Timestamp Test

Started August 11 at 4:40pm

4. We got data back that helped us decide which timestamp to choose. Click below to view our results.



ZURB's Timestamp Test Results
66 responses over 12 hours
View the Results »

The data told us that 79% of people prefer "3 days ago" version. We went ahead with implementation of the idea which was validated by data. That's how we use that handy Verify button. The whole idea is that we get data to back up our decisions before we implement them. Curious — how do you verify your ideas before you implement them?

If you’re just adding notes to screenshots in Notable without sharing them, you’re utilizing approximately 33.33% of the tool's magic. Notable helps you speed your iterations up when you share your notes. As a result you get a better version of your webpage faster. Lets break it down:

3 reasons to share

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• Move things forward: You can make notes for your own reference, but where do you go from there? You have to get your ideas out there to get them implemented.


• Kill indecision: Stuck on a decision? Have a question you need answered? Call in another opinion. You might agree, you might not; either way it’s going to help you push toward completion.


• Get new ideas: You already know what you think, and chances are you tend to do things in a similar pattern over and over. Try getting someone else’s input for a whole new perspective.

3 quick tips on sharing

• Start small: Start with one post that you have some specific questions or suggestions about.


• Create a call to action: Think about what you want the recipient of your feedback to do. This helps to get follow-through on your shared notes.


• Give people a clue: Send a quick heads-up message before you share: "I'm using this cool website annotation tool and I'd like you to look at something I'm working on, so be on the lookout for an email about Notable."

Workspaces: you know they're handy but you have questions about setting them up. Am I right? We’re brewing some updates that will make them more intuitive and easier to use. In the meantime...

Let’s go over some of the most common questions about workspaces:

Do I have workspaces on my free account?

Nope. Free accounts don't have workspaces. They're an advanced feature available to paid accounts only.

Are workspaces supposed to be for organizing my posts &mdash like folders?

Workspaces are an organization tool, yes, but they’re more of a sharing tool. They’re kind of like shared folders on your computer: you control who has access to the folder and what posts they get to see.

Are the people in my workspaces separate from the other users on my account?

Not automatically &mdash you have to set it up that way. If you don’t want somebody to see all the other users on your account when they go to share something, edit their account permissions in the Users tab. De-select them from the root account, and select only the workspaces you want them to be in.

Can everyone in my workspace see all the posts that are in there?

No, you still need to share individual posts or sets so people know what to look at. This will help keep your feedback clear and directed, and keep your team from getting spammed by a bunch of notifications they don't need.

I keep winding up in the wrong workspace, or all my posts are in a different workspace. What do I do?

Think about your audience first: Before you start organizing your posts, think about who you're going to show them to, and why. This will get you into the right workspace. Add your users and posts to the workspace next, then start arranging the posts into sets and sharing them.

Can I find more info about workspaces somewhere?

Yup! Check out the workspace FAQ for more info.

Did you notice? We just released brand new and improved annotations in Notable. They're much faster and easier to use.

You can now:

Outline better: Drawing the outline of the note is faster, smoother, and more accurate. You should find it a lot easier to drag that outline exactly where you need it.

Finish faster: Draw your outline, type your note, click "OK" or just click anywhere outside the note &mdash you're done!

Change your mind: Did you accidentally start a note in the wrong place? Clicking outside an empty note will now make it disappear.

Make adjustments: You can now move notes around instantly &mdash just click and hold any note to drag it where you want.

Delete immediately: Did that note come out all wrong? Click on the note once and hit the "x" in the upper right corner, and it's gone!

There are lots of subtle differences to make annotations the best they can be. Let us know what you think by writing in to Notable Support.

This happens all the time: You think of a change to a website. You capture a page with Notable, add notes on it to tell your team what needs to be implemented. You get a consensus from everyone on the team that the change looks like a good one. You implement it. You push it live and then see how well it does.

Question for you: How much money and time did you spend implementing this change? Why not find out how people react to your change before you implement it? Just upload a mockup image of something you want to change, add a question, and create a quick interactive test. You could share the test URL with others and get data back immediately to help you make a decision based on real data. So next time you find yourself arguing about changing something on your site &mdash test it first before you invest time and money to implement it.