My software development team uses Kiln for its source control. We\'re really hap
ID: 661031 • Letter: M
Question
My software development team uses Kiln for its source control. We're really happy with its code reviews too (similar to Gerrit for Git), as they can happen asynchronously, are easily tracked with email notifications and have a clear review status (among other reasons). We're now looking for something equivalent for reviewing screenshots of our user interfaces.
Granted, no review process based on screenshots will allow us to review the interactivity as well as a live test would, but we still feel there's benefit to be had from reviewing such static images - especially if the tool were integrated with our task management or has its own built-in.
We've looked at lots of online tools (Notable, Marqueed, InVision, GoVisually, Prevue, DesignDrop, etc. etc.), but have yet to find anything that has the right combination of features, would scale well to having hundreds of reviews over time and isn't riddled with bugs or usability issues.
Can anyone recommend a "Kiln/Gerrit for UI reviews"?
Key features we're looking for are:
Each review can contain multiple screenshots
Each review to have an owner (whose work is under review) and multiple reviewers
Reviewers can mark [rectangular] areas of the screenshot and associate comments with them
Anyone involved in the review is able to make and reply to comments
Can attach an image to comments for illustrative purposes (non-essential)
Each reviewer can set a review status (approved, needs work, etc.)
Actions / tasks can be generated and tracked within the review (non-essential)
Review owner can upload revisions, resetting the review status(es)
Each revision has its own set of comments
Email notifications can be sent when a comment is made, review status is changed, or a revision is uploaded
Reviews can be given (and ordered/filtered by) metadata e.g. project, milestone, etc.
I realise that's a pretty long list, but I feel it's still pretty much the basics for a useful review system.
Explanation / Answer
In the end, we chose Notism. As it stands (2014-09-10), it meets the majority of our requirements and is pretty stable (a problem with some of the other options). Specifically:
It meets these requirements:
Each review can contain multiple screenshots
Each review to have an owner (whose work is under review) and multiple reviewers
Reviewers can mark [rectangular] areas of the screenshot and associate comments with them
Anyone involved in the review is able to make and reply to comments
Can attach an image to comments for illustrative purposes (non-essential)
Actions / tasks can be generated and tracked within the review (non-essential)
Review owner can upload revisions, resetting the review status(es)
Each revision has its own set of comments
It also partially meets the following requirements:
Each reviewer can set a review status (approved, needs work, etc.)
In fact, each screen in a review gets its own status and that status can't be set to different values for different reviewers (so John can't approve it if Belinda rejects it and vice versa)
Email notifications can be sent when a comment is made, review status is changed, or a revision is uploaded
In fact, it doesn't (yet) send notifications of changes in review status (though the other notifications are sent)
It doesn't meet this requirement:
Reviews can be given (and ordered/filtered by) metadata e.g. project, milestone, etc.
The review status stuff is probably my biggest issue with it, but all in all, I'm fairly pleased.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.