The RP9 interaction builder must be fixed. It isn’t as usable as RP8. I’ve been attempting to use RP9 to work on moderately-sized RP8 projects. I spend most of my day working in Axure and am frequently asked what tools I recommend for UX work. Interactions are the entire point to Axure.
RP9 interactions have taken one step forward and 6 steps back. Interactions are what make Axure the choice to use. The RP 8 interaction builder was non-ideal, but at least you could see the results of what you had done. It sucked scrolling through large lists without typeahead, and there were other areas for improvement, like problems in copying and pasting interactions. Now copy and paste is even worse and display is impossible to follow.
Let’s separate it into two parts: 1. building the interaction and 2. displaying the interaction
- Building Interactions
- Adding typeahead to select an interaction is a good change. Well done!
- Adding interactions is not a modeless state. You shouldn’t be able to start an interaction and then click & scroll around the prototype as RP 9 lets you do. Give us back a modal interaction builder.
- Building an interaction in the sidebar sucks for utilization of space. My main office is a 3 screen setup, but on location travel requires small screen work and you can’t afford to waste all the space. Medium length interactions no longer fit on my 36in massive main screen. What the hell?
- If we had interaction builder that starts in the sidebar, but could be popped open into an advanced modal interaction builder (more like RP8 except with your excellent typeahead interaction selector), that would be MUCH better. I would prefer an Axure preference where interaction editing always shows in a modal advanced dialog.
- I understand that you might want a simpler sidebar interaction builder, but only for beginners or to add very small interactions. Even so, it could be done without wasting so much space.
-This is further complicated by including long winded text explaining what you’re doing. See the example below with Raised Events. If you don’t know how Raised Events work, you need that long-winded helper information, but then you never want to see it again. This is further evidence that a) it shouldn’t be in a sidebar and b) that helpful tips about interactions are only a good and fine idea if you can then hide the tips once you know what you’re doing.
- Display Interactions
- the color coding is nice, but other than that, it’s a total fail.
-The display of interactions in RP9 is bloated and useless for non-trivial interactions.
When you have a long list of interactions, you want the display to be very compact. That makes it easy to read and follow to check it and add to it later. RP9 bloats the whole thing into an unreadable mess. It’s a pretty mess, but still useless.
-Along with taking too much space, it skips details needlessly.
In the screenshot above, it shows a small part of multiple IF…ELSE cases that changes a dynamic panel state. What state for each case? You can’t tell without clicking into each one. That makes it incredibly difficult to read and check anything before adding to an existing interaction.
On a separate note, handling Repeater data in a sidebar sucks. If there was ever a thing that needs a sizable dialog, not a sidebar, it’s repeater data. The only way I’ve dealt with it is by working with the data always in Excel and pasting it back in to the repeater. Not only is this a hack that requires another heavy app, but most Axure users suffer because they don’t even know you can do it.
To summarize, I appreciate some of the things added to RP9 interactions, but the negatives vastly outweigh them. I cannot recommend that any of my clients move to RP9 or start using Axure if the interaction builder isn’t improved.
Respectfully,
-Bill
