Ever noticed how certain phrases seem to do the rounds in the tech industry? One such phrase I see a lot is "eat your own dog food" or more charmingly "dogfooding". I can relate this to a number of RIAs which I use day-to-day when developing, managing and promoting RIAs which I thought might be of use to share in no particular order (and with no affiliation).

Lovely Charts is an online diagramming application with a lot of polish. I first came across the app at the beginning of last year when I was desperately seeking a simple flow chart app and struggling to find anything remotely appropriate. Unfortunately at the time it was in private beta. However, after a few months of hounding Jérôme I managed to get access and start using it. The app has since gone into public release and within a couple of uses I'd signed up for a full version (it's not free but is very reasonably priced).

What makes Lovely Charts such a great example of RIA and why I continue to use it, is its focus on one of the key tenets that seem to be instilled in RIA developers: ease of use. It has such an intuitive interface you really can get up and running in no time. Coupled with the benefits that come part and parcel of an online RIA such as no-install, access from anywhere, cross-platform/browser and so on makes Lovely Charts a great tool for anyone who creates flow charts, network diagrams, site maps, wireframes etc.

Flowchart

Wireframe

Site map

Having used this for the past few weeks it has proved to be an excellent tool for kick starting projects and as an aid for specification clarification. Mockups aims to be a sketching tool that is treading the fine line between sketch and prototype tool, regardless of where it falls it does manage to remain extremely easy to use. I've only used the desktop AIR version of the application but the recently added feature of being able to link mockups makes this a must tool for start of project 'blank canvas' sessions. There is also a very active community who are consistently contributing to the mockupstogo portal where all sorts of new components are added frequently. These now include iPhone components, common windows application components and a host of mockups based on popular sites and applications.

iPhone mockup

iTunez mockup

The easiest way to understand the power of Balsamiq Mockups is to take a look at the samples page, then download the free version and give it a try.

I have recently switched to using Buzzword as my full time word processor, this is a true testament to it's offering as I spend a lot of time writing documents for both business development and project management purposes (oftentimes importing images from Lovely Charts and Balsamiq Mockups!). The rendering and printing from Buzzword are flawless in my experience and the collaboration and availability are huge benefits. I spend alot of time switching between windows and mac and working from home and office so having all of my documents centralised in a web-based service is very handy. I still keep Word installed on my Mac and VM for when working offline but I cringe with every slow start, rendering issues, poor usability and vast interface differences from one version to another (roll on the AIR version of Buzzword). Buzzword gives the ability to export and import documents so I don't have to take the risk of not being in control of my document backups. The downside of using Buzzword as your main word processor are the fact it is still a very young application and as such is missing a few very handy features from Word and similar apps such as styles (header 1, header 2, normal etc) and auto-generated contents pages but on the whole the entire experience is definitely worthwhile for me.

SlideRocket is my presentation tool of choice, I've presented at a couple of conferences (360Flex Europe and FlexCamp London) using SlideRocket and it hasn't let me down. Keeping a slide deck online again makes complete sense and eliminates the need to keep track of "that file in that folder on that machine". SlideRocket offers a wide variety of styles and effects you can use to wow (or annoy) your audience with. You can import/export your slides as it's mostly compatible with PowerPoint. Additionally you can collaborate, publish and share and get viewing statistics on your published presentations which takes SlideRocket a step beyond constrained desktop presentation applictions. An initial concern of mine of performing a live presentation with an online presentation tool was addressed with the timely release of an AIR version of SlideRocket which allowed offline access to presentations so no failing internet connections can stop you.

RIAs such as the ones described above are certainly raising the bar for quality, usability, availability and user experience for both online and traditional applications. There is also an increasing availability of like-for-like offerings between online and offline applications which leads to great choice for customers and encourages the developers to compete and improve. Maybe as recently as a couple of years ago carrying out all these tasks online wasn't so feasible but I've been working with these tools for several months now and have no regrets.

If anyone has any alternatives or additions to the applications mentioned above that they use day-to-day please do share in the comments.

Read more from Dan Thomas.