I'm looking a piece of software that will help me bridge a gap:
The Problem:
-I often find myself using Visio to draw flowcharts. I understand all of the flowchart shapes and know how to construct a mean flowdiagram. The problem is that there's always a disconnect between my flowchart and the way my design looks and functions when I try to explain it to others. As an instructional designer for game-based eLearning, what I design looks and functions like a low-end game.
What I think the solution should be, and wonder if Tersus does this:
- I would like to be able to use all of the flowchart shapes, but make it so that designated flowchart shapes cause things to appear inside an image pane. In other words, my ultimate tool would have a pane for creating the flowchart and a pane that contains my sketches and stick figures and UI elements. Low level interactivity and behavior would also work in the image pane based on the way the flowchart was constructed. Once the flowchart is constructed, one could use (click on stuff, drag and drop etc) the low tech "faked up" interaction and watch the flowchart shapes that relate to the action taken in the image/design pane light up.
The result to this idea would be a far less ambigous interaction design.
Q- Why does the solution need to stick with the flowchart shapes?
A- Flowcharting and flowchart shapes are easily accessible metaphors for interaction logic. It takes a few minutes to explain to someone what a flow diagram shape means where it could take days weeks or years to understand a programming language.
Here's what I've explored so far:
1. iRise - this was close, but is exorbatantly expensive and overly complex for what I'm trying to accomplish.
2. Axure - this was pretty cool, but it doesnt use all of the standard flowchart shapes, and the logic doesnt really follow, in any detail, the flowchart.
3. Tersus - I admit that I didnt really give this much of a chance the last time that I had it installed. It didnt look to me like it used flowchart shapes at all.
4. Visio - I've tried using hyperlinking and shape behaviors in Visio, but the result is so cludgy and it never comes out the way I need it to.
5. Authorware - this cool app was end of lifed by Adobe, and it was really close. It had a flowline and icons that you could drag and order to create interactivity, but its icons weren't standard flowchart shapes and you had to know a scripting language to do anything interesting.
Please, somebody tell me that Tersus can do this...or maybe there's something else out there?
TIA for any input.