191 karma · joined July 26, 2011
For me, master pages and something like Illustrator Symbols ("master elements", "template elements", whatever) save vast amounts of time for complex multi-page projects.
Bonus: 1x comps are better sized for clients to view on non-retina screens anyway. I always got complaints showing giant 640px wide mockups…
Staying in Thailand for less than a year at a time is easy to do. If you want to stay on a more permanent basis you'll need to either get married (marriage visa), enroll in a Thai language school (education visa), or be over 65 and have 25 grand or so in the bank (retirement visa).
If you can wrangle something, it's a wonderful place to live. There are the well-known sights and the low cost of living, but for me it goes much deeper. I've become a calmer and more thoughtful person, quicker to smile and slower to anger just by spending two years among the Thai people.
Re: gexla's post – he makes it sound a little cavalier, but there really is a sense in Asia of "eventually this will work out somehow". There are limits and boundaries where this doesn't apply, of course, but in general I find the saying about India applies equally well to Thailand: "everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, it isn't the end" ;)
After years of trying various options, I find Keynote by far the fastest option for creating wireframes. But if I want to keep using it after iWork.com shuts down, I have to export all pages as .pngs and then share them online with a service like Invision or Notable, which takes a lot more time and is less convenient for the client.
To illustrate my point, one of these is Bing and one is Google: http://d.pr/i/4KA5
Does this not cross an ethical line?
(1) Master Pages (or at least Master Objects) to keep things DRY (2) a way for clients to view, navigate, and comment directly on the frames (3) a good balance: low-fi enough to avoid seeming like a design pass, but hi-fi enough that each object is distinct and recognizable (4) a good selection of resizable, customizable widgets (5) an environment separate from the design file. Unlike many, I actually prefer to start from scratch with the design - it frees me from conforming too tightly to the frames, and leaves open the possibility for further iteration. Also, it's handy when passing frames to a visual designer - they can use whatever design tool they like.