Web-Based Feedback and Collaboration with Notable

Notable is an excellent web-based application for providing and sharing feedback on website designs, code and content. Through a simple, clean interface, users can capture web pages, take notes on specific areas of the design or code, and collaborate with their team or clients.

After creating a Notable account, which is done through a short signup form, you are immediately presented with several options for creating screen captures to add to the application. Since you are clearly a new user with no captures, I appreciated that the app immediately presented you with the first “action” to create a capture. Firefox users can install a plugin that adds a Notable button to the browser, allowing for easy 1-step captures and quick access to the application. Aside from the obvious convenience of this button, it also allows you to capture screens on pages that are protected by a login. Alternatively, you can upload image files from your computer, enter a URL for Notable to capture, or add a Notable bookmark that automatically captures the current page you are browsing and brings you to your account. I was impressed with the ease-of-use of all of these options, clearly designed to save time (and reduce headaches) when starting to review a new page or project.

Once you have created or selected a screen capture, you proceed to the feedback screen. I would consider this step the heart of the Notable application and where it really shines. Four tabs allow you to switch between views of your screen capture. In the “visual” tab, you have the web page as it would appear in a browser. To add a note, a user simply draws a box around an area of the page, which automatically brings up a text field to type feedback. One can then continue to draw boxes and add notes to comment on various aspects and elements of the design. The interface behaves as you would expect, a good characteristic of any application. The one drawback here is as windows begin to overlap, it can be hard to select or read the one you’re looking for or close others. Individual “close” or “minimize” buttons might be nice here, but otherwise it is an excellent interface. Within the “code” tab, you have access to the HTML code and referenced CSS and Javascript files. Entire lines or several lines of code are easily selected and comments are added using the same interface as in the visual display. The third tab, “copy,” is perfect for editing text on a website without being distracted by the design by simply highlighting a string of text to add a comment. In the last view tab, “SEO,” the app moves from simply presenting your own content, design and code to almost making suggestions on improving your site. Top keywords, unused tags, meta data and other SEO-related elements are presented, allowing you to quickly identify if the proper content is being highlighted.

When the first user has added notes to a page, it is added to a “workspace,” where multiple users are given access to reply, comment and discuss the page or collection of pages that can be included in a “set.” From a workspace, you can navigate to the different pages within that workspace, invite others to join, comment on the entire page or add individual notes. Any user given access to the page can add notes, comment on existing notes, and discuss the page via the comments thread. All comments on the design are labeled with numbers, and those numbers are referenced in the main comments thread, so you can easily see what part of the design, code, or content the user is talking about. If you’ve ever had a conversation that includes something like “no, the blue button below that button,” you can see how this interface can be extremely helpful in giving and discussing feedback.

All Notable plans are monthly, with no long-term obligations. You can currently try Notable for free by either getting a 30-day trial on any account, or by signing up for the free account that allows for 3 users, 3 GB of storage and 1 private workspace. The paid plans vary in cost based on number of users and storage space, ranging from $24/month for 5 users and 5 GB to $119/month for 50 users and 50 GB. The monthly fee encompasses all users, so additional team members (within the plan limit) do not have to pay extra. These affordable monthly plans, along with the feature-rich and user-friendly application, make Notable a great choice for web designers and other creative professionals for giving feedback and collaborating on work.