Posted by sharon1234 on April 2, 2011 at 12:39am
Ishmael gave a great preso on theming last meeting. He touched on wireframing. What tools do you currently use to wire frame? Does anyone use Fireworks? Is their any interest in learning Fireworks or refreshing your knowledge? This is a great rapid prototyping tool to have in your tool set.
Comments
Balsamiq
I've been using Balsamiq. It's easy to use, and has the sketched up look that invites both ideas and revisions. It's something like $80. Good people running the company too.
shaRon do you use Fireworks for wireframes?
I use Fireworks but have not used it for wireframes but would like to learn. shaRon do you use Fireworks for wireframes? I would like to achieve this hand drawn effect that aaron got with cacoo. Do you know if that is possible in Fireworks?
Fireworks
Balsalmiq used to be free, but I see it is $79 now. It looks like cacoo is the successor for free wireframes: http://cacoo.com.
I use Fireworks for approvals. But lately I skip the wireframe stage and start working up comps. I find the choice of font and color is as important to clients as the placement of elements on the page. And using the easily editable layout tools in Fireworks is a dream.
Creating the comps first gets the conversation about important elements started early. Although I would LOVE to generate the functionality first as Ismael suggested in his presentation, clients seem to want to see a picture of the site first. No one seemed to be satisfied with sketchy lines and boxes. In my experience only a color rendition of at least the home page and usually a secondary page is the only thing that gets decision-makers juiced.
Balsamiq still has a free
Balsamiq still has a free version. but also still has a message that bugs you every 5min.
I use Inkscape for wireframes (and designs; when I do designs).
I feel wireframes are vital to the success of complicated projects. I typicall have wireframes for entire site. but only comps for one or two layouts plus a styleguide.
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mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
How about Pencil?
There is a Firefox extension called Pencil that is VERY similar. It doesn't work with FF4 yet.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pencil/
Omnigraffle
Mac only and definitely not free ($99 for standard, $199 for pro), but sure makes for fast and pretty wireframes.
Omnigraffle for Wires
We've been using omnigraffle for a while now. It's a very very good tool for creating wires. It even has built into it the ability to create "clickable" wires as well that can export into either a clickable PDF or small HTML prototype.
They have a $99 version and a $199 version (mac only)
http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnigraffle/
I agree with Mike completely about wires being critical to project success. When a client describes what they want to me, it always works in my head, but may not be the same thing that it's their head. Wires are the most efficient way to make sure everyone is on the same page. It also helps to ensure that the graphic designer doesn't add functionality or remove functionality. Not having clear requirements is always the riskiest component in software engineering.
CEO Stauffer
www.stauffer.com
This post has gnawed at me
This post has gnawed at me ever since I posted. Mostly because I felt so strongly about it. Wireframing is a no-brainer. And while I agree with the end result of trying to accomplish a clear way to communicate with non-technical clients... I've been working the last few months on trying to explain why this is in fact bad practice.
I spoke about it here: http://groups.drupal.org/node/144119 and plan to give a session at DrupalCampLA 2011. I hope to explain whats totally-wrong-with-the-process and provide some awesome alternative methods. (not giving it away). I think Mason Wendell, based on this proposed session at capitalcamp, is mostly aligned with my thinking. But based on his write-up I agree with his assessment that there's a huge problem with the process of web development.
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mike stewart { twitter: @MediaDoneRight | IRC nick: mike stewart }
using the paid version of Balsamiq
I just started using this product and it's pretty intuitive plus there are a number of plugins, one for Drupal in particular. Nice.