Your New Secret Weapon: The Document Panel

A key feature available in Riff, which makes it distinct from other platforms, is the space and opportunity to plan, define, and explore in a rich text document – we call this space the document panel. Our document panel permits your team to outline and track changes, rather than simply dropping developers directly into a code editor.

Because the document panel is a first class citizen, it makes it easy to start by exploring with words rather than coding on the fly. This ability also allows the team to jot down ideas without having to implement them immediately.

Prioritize Planning

Instinctively, we want to see quick results. We want to jump in and start coding, and it’s tempting to believe it’s overkill to plan, especially for smaller projects. It’s easy to get into the weeds when trying to get language syntax correct or algorithms completed, only to look up and find ourselves at a dead end.

Taking a few minutes to document outcomes and requirements isn’t flashy, but it uncovers those dead ends before any code is written. Leveraging the power of the document panel, planning naturally flows into considerate and deliberate code.

Quick Access

Have you ever been doing research and had several tabs open, only then to go back through them all trying to find the one relevant piece of information? Or, have you ever left a project, and then picked it up after some time and wondered where you found a pivotal link?

The document panel was designed with these scenarios in mind. The document panel is versatile, use it as a scratchpad, checklist, link list, or anything else you want to quickly access. You don’t have to keep notebooks or digital sticky pads around; instantly access what you need. Riff’s document panel streamlines planning and enables quick recall to alleviate communication issues and save time.