Notable

Anyone involved in the design and coding of Web pages will want to give the Firefox add-on Notable a try. It solves one of the thorniest problems in the entire design-and-launch process--how to get feedback from testers and reviewers of the Web pages. Notable lets you capture and annotate Web pages and the underlying code, then post those pages and notes to the Web, where others can see the markup and respond to it.

Using Notable is exceedingly simple. After you install the add-in into Firefox, click the icon in the Address Bar when you want to annotate a Web page. You'll hear a sound like that of a camera shutter as Notable captures the page. Once the page is captured, you'll see an image of it full-screen. You can then add notes to the page's image or to the page's underlying HTML code and save it. Once the image and notes are saved, you upload it to a workspace you've set up on the Notable site, where you can share it with others. Others can then make comments about the marked-up page as well. Notable also lets you save your marked-up page as a PDF, if you'd prefer to distribute it that way.

I've been involved in numerous Web design projects, and would have welcomed Notable as a collaboration tool. It could save many hours of meetings, and ensure that there are no misunderstandings when people are trying to explain their reactions to design, or where they believe more work is needed.

Note that the free version of Notable allows for up to three users, 3 GB of storage space, and one workspace. There are also several for-pay versions of Notable available, which vary according to the number of users, total storage space, and number of workspaces. They range in price from the $24-per-month Basic, which allows for up to five users, 5 GB of storage, and unlimited workspaces, to the $119-per-month Max, which allows for up to 50 users, 50 GB of storage, and unlimited workspaces.

Note: This link takes you to the vendor's site, where you must register to download the software.

--Preston Gralla