Today we are launching beta 2 of Maque! We have been working our tail off over the last few weeks to reach this milestone's goals. We worked so darn hard, we are actually launching this version a few days early! The goal is to get new versions out as soon as we can, so we can continue to show the community what we are up to and are planning for Maque. In this version we focused on both our roadmap of features and feature requests from our ever growing user base. Below is a breakdown of new or modified features in this release. Take a look and let us know what you think of the product. As developers ourselves, we are trying to solve other dev's needs with Maque. If you have feedback, we'll listen and try our best to incorporate your requests as quick as we can!
You can download the beta here.
Learn more about Beta 2...
We love lorem ipsum, but she was taking up way to much room. We have moved LI out as a dedicated view, and tied her features deeper into Maque. For example, we baked this LI into Data Templates to give you the power of random generated text inside of your templates. With the new HTML option for Data Templates (see below) you can now fully customize how complex or nested your lorem Ipsum content can be. For those that still want the basic text generation feature we have simplified and moved the main UI into a separate window you can launch from the menu bar.
Integrated Lorem Ipsum into Data Templates
Removed Lorem Ipsum as a dedicated UI
Simplified the controls and moved to a window
Now you can create text based on paragraphs, words and characters
We made the mistake of showing Maque to a few designers. They loved the idea and the UI (pat ourselves on the back), but of course, they had a few requests. Every designer and developer has an opinion on what a placeholder (aka FPO) image should look like. We have dramatically expanded the options and controls to allow a more custom look. We're not trying to replace your favorite design tool, so don't expect every possible option imaginable but we are continuing to grow the scope of what FPO can do for you.
Updated the UI to allow more control options
Background settings now allow you to choose solid color, image, gradient and placeholder box types
Control the weight of the stokes
Variable syntax to enable finer control over file naming and generation
Realtime preview using variable syntax for image labels
So hot, we haven't changed a thing. Well, besides fixing some bugs.
Data Templates has been bulked up with a lot of new features as well as a few bug fixes (code can't be perfect). The challenge with data structures is that they offer an infinite set of varieties and how you create your content is very dependent on the task at hand. One of the big changes is we now allow you to choose HTML as a structure option. This is huge because you can now create your layout and update the content dynamically to test your CSS and other design needs without requiring a server to kick it out. We have also added multiple new types, expanded how sets work and leveraged the new variable syntax feature.
New Data Template type "HTML". Create html templates with the 5 most common doc types.
You can now Import/Export set files. Make a set, share it with your team, or with other projects.
Import CSV files as sets so if you have a common separated lists of phone numbers, dates, addresses, or zip codes, bring them in!
You can now generate fixed or ranged length Lorem Ipsum text in your xml, json, or html files.
We now have a Date value type, which allows you to generate dates that are static, incrementing, or random. And format them anyway you like.
New Variable syntax in String Incrementers, so now you can have your incrementer say "my {#} string" and have the value increase with each pass
You can now generate out your data files and append your incrementer anywhere you want in the file name. For example 'example {##} file' will produce an xml file 'example 03 file.xml'
We have also been adding and updating general system controls throughout the application. Here are a few of our favorite:
Double clicking an Archive file will now begin the import process in Maque
Auto-Scroll to open position in Data Templates
Open HTTP Activity Monitor and Quick Live View via the menu bar and shortcuts
Create either global or project level sets by adding your exported sets into a /sets folder under your project or in the the application storage directory
And many other bug fixes and minor UI tweaks
