New File Extension: BMML
After getting a nod from my superstar customers, I have changed the default file extension used by Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop from XML to BMML. It stands for Balsamiq Mockups Markup Language, and it's still the same human-readable XML format you are used to (the file format didn't change, only its name).
What's in it for you? See for yourself (58 seconds, no-audio):
Now you can double-click on one or more mockup files and they'll open...you guessed it, in Balsamiq Mockups for Desktop! No more cursing at Internet Explorer or Dreamweaver...no offense! 😉
Plus now you get a nice little smiley-face icon for your mockup files, which should make them easier to spot if you have a very messy desktop like I do.
While I was at it, I also added a handly drag-files-to-Mockups-to-open-them feature, which you can see demonstrated in the video as well.
It's important to note that you'll still be able to load and save files with the XML extension if you'd like. In other words this change is backwards compatible.
I will be rolling out this BMML change to Mockups for Confluence and for JIRA as well in the next few days, which should help you disambiguate mockup attachments from the rest.
Oh, this should also help Steve Moyer and his Maven plugin, bonus!
So what are you waiting for? Install Balsamiq Mockups for Deskop 1.1.52 now!
Onward!
In case you are following, next week I'll be focusing on improving the Mockups for JIRA alpha (I need your feedback!) and another little project I'll tell you more about soon. 😉
Peldi for the Balsamiq Team
Comments (1)
In developing the Maven plugin, I’m using the frameworks default file specification system (which is a lot like that in Ant), so if you want to process all the mockups in a project’s documentation, you can simply specify /src/site/**/*.bmml for the input files. If people want to use other naming conventions, that will also work (I had been using /src/site/**/*.mockup.xml before).
This will certainly simplify the process … and as for the other UI specification file formats you mentioned, there are a lot of XML elements present that specify the behavior that occurs upon clicking (etc) an object and I prefer using the callouts for those.
Thanks!