WriteMaps is an online tool for making sitemaps; that is the short and dirty. It is a fast and easy way to plan a website – on the high-level. Beyond that … the true value of WriteMaps is that it is an online collaboration tool for planning a website; something we’ve been seeking for a long time. Anything that allows us to do our jobs better, faster and together remotely is a tool we invest a lot of time researching and exploring.
As designers, WriteMaps won us over immediately because of its attention to design and elegant functionality – it just works. It does one thing and does that really well; sitemaps. WriteMaps has a very similar look/feel to Geni – which makes a lot of sense as a sitemap is very similar to a family tree (pages having parents, grandparents and siblings, etc.). This is one of those “it speaks for itself” sort of products that can do so within the first 30 seconds of playing with it.
Try it out for yourself. WriteMaps has all of the things you could want: sharing, sharing and editing, exporting, exporting to XML, printing, multiple sitemaps, multiple views and modes all complimented by an elegant and functional user interface. There is no versioning as of yet, something anyone working on large scale sites knows is crucial (hopefully coming soon).
The sitemap or the concept of is one often over-looked by many in the industry; even though it is arguable the most crucial step in creating any web entity (after a requirements document). Whether you are a designer, developer or project manager – the site sitemap is the first thing to create or reference when getting started. It outlines the known universe of a website; it tells you how many pages and how those pages are structured with respect to one another. Concepts like this help dictate the organization of the site and have direct influences on the navigation structure, design and layout. A sitemap literally helps you from getting lost.
If nothing else — WriteMaps helps concept out a web plan easier and faster than before. It is a great visual tool for articulating a concept outside your head and beyond paper/pencil.
ML
December 12th 2007
Thanks Martin for sharing. This is something I can definitely use. I have been thinking about a tool like this for a while now but never took the time to do a thorough search. Good article.
Martin Ringlein
December 12th 2007
No problem — hope it help. It isn’t by far the ultimate solution, but it is better than most with respect to planning a website via online collaboration.
I can see many business development heads using this tool to help articulate their ideas.
Scott Jehl
December 12th 2007
Scott from WriteMaps here.
Thanks so much for the great article. I am so happy to hear that it is proving to be useful to your work. Your idea about versioning is interesting – how would you prefer that to work? If you come across any other ideas, please send them over, I’m all ears!
Thanks again and by the way – I love your site.
-Scott
WriteMaps.com
Martin Ringlein
December 12th 2007
Scott,
Awesome work man …much appreciated! I’ll send over some notes to you regarding our thoughts on versioning and others that had come up.
Scott Jehl
December 12th 2007
Thanks Martin. I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon. Thanks again for spreading the word about WriteMaps, I really appreciate it!
Jesse Thomas
December 12th 2007
writemaps is awesome