macOS Desktop App
Whimsical
As Whimsical evolves from a simple flowcharting tool into a hub for product teams, we noticed that some experiences we wanted to offer necessitated moving out of the browser. That led us to build a native application for macOS.
Split view
One of the desktop-optimized features is splitview, which allows users to open multiple files or projects simultaneously.
This enables a variety of workflows that are inconvenient or impossible in other tools, such as:
- Moderating a sticky note brainstorm while having your agenda & notes on the side
- Peeking into a diagram momentarily while reading a requirements doc
- Keeping a personal notepad or to-do list open while working on other things
- Dragging content from one file to another
Panes can be created and manipulated in various ways. Dragging a tab into a pane will result in a split.
Panes can be resized to fit the content. This is especially helpful when using Docs beside Boards, as the inherent responsiveness of Docs allows them to be used at thin dimensions.
Contextual menus and keyboard shortcuts, such as ⌥
-clicking a link, will produce a new split. We want it to be easy to get in and out of a split as effortlessly as possible.
Result
We’ve just started releasing this feature to beta participants, so it’s still pretty early to tell what the future holds. Internally we’ve been dog-fooding this feature for months and it’s become a convenient part of our workflow.