Web prototyping software

Draft

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Introduction

“Wireframing is one the best method to streamline your development process. But there are many tools and methods to choose from, when creating a wireframe. From to easiest one (hand sketching on paper), to much more complicated (desktop prototyping software, web-based prototyping software, mind-mapping software, etc). Which one is the most powerfull? Maybe any of them is just useless?” (Karol Zielinski, July 2009)

Software

(random collection, none is endorsed by 18:12, 26 November 2010 (CET))

Drawing programms

• Pencil and paper
• Open office drawing program (Free)
• Presentation software like OpenOffice presenter
• Illustrator + Photoshop
• OmmniGraffe + OmmiGraffle extensions (Mac)

For some programs one then can download special stencils, e.g.

• Free Sketching & Wireframing Kit (Adobe Illustrator and the other in SVG vector format)

Diagramming software

See diagramming software and to a lesser extent concept map and mind map software

Interactive Multimedia

• Fireworks
• Flash
• Catalyst

GUI Builders / CASE tools

• Flex (use Flash Builder just for the GUI outline)

Wireframe mockup

Wireframe mockups can illustrate of the layout of fundamental elements of the web page. There exist several kinds of tools, e.g.

• Specific web wireframe tools (see this article for a longer list)
• General purpose diagramming tools
• General purpose GUI wireframe tools

Links

Indexes (links of links)

• Gui Prototyping Tools (good list in the original wiki, wow), up-to-date when retrieved 18:12, 26 November 2010 (CET).

Some software

See also:

• web wireframe
• concept map

Random list:

• Justinmind interactive wireframes using its extensive gallery of components and interactions. -
• DefineIt from Borland
• GUI Design Studio
• ConceptDraw PRO WebWave Plug-in

Comparisons and reviews

• Review: 16 User Interface Prototyping Tools, November 7th, 2008 by Russell Wilson
• Graphical user interface builder (Wikipedia, includes a list of GUI builders)

Introductions and further reading

• Wireframe Mockups is a collection of articles of interest. Quote (11/2010): “Wireframes, Mockups and Prototypes are an integral part of any requirement gathering and software development. This site aims to provide some intelligent discussion points on the above topics.”
• User interface design(Wikipedia)
• Software prototyping (Wikipedia)
• Paper Prototyping (Wikipedia)
• GUI Builder (Wikipedia)
• storyboards (Wikipedia)

• Prototyping software – you don’t need it!, July 2009, by Karol Zielinski.