It’s intentionally basic - very basic - but if basic is all you need, you’ll find Moqups compelling, especially if you consider that it has rudimentary iPhone and iPad templates to play around with. It’s an HTML5-based, no hassle, hit-the-ground running approach to wireframing which has you playing around with UI elements from the very first moment you visit the site. Alternatively, keep looking for a better option. If you have a copy lying around, give it a bash. Drawing basic wireframes however, couldn’t be easier. There’s a lot going on in this software package, and it can take some time to fully master. Templates, live wireframes with real-time data, online sharing, rule-based diagram validations and interactivity features. If you’re still reading, may we present Visio, a staple for those working with the Redmond giant’s software packages. If you know about Visio, move along now, nothing to see here. Perhaps you think of us as unimaginative to include one of the world’s most widely used wireframing and prototyping tools on this list, but we aim to be comprehensive. Collaboration features, online sharing, extensibility through widgets - think iPhone and Android stencils - it’s all here, including the learning-curve. Axure RP is as comprehensive as it gets when it comes to wireframing and prototyping. There’s a bit of a learning curve and it’s not available on the web, so if you’re looking for real-time collaboration, look around a bit. It has a range of free stencils, so whether you’re into desktop, mobile (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry) or web development, Omnigraffle has you covered. OmniGraffle - Desktop: From US$99 | iOS: US$49.99Īvailable on Mac and iPad only and costing a hefty price, OmniGraffle isn’t for everyone, but it’s undoubtedly one of the most popular wireframing and prototyping tool available today. Note, it’s Flash based, so your development platforms are limited. It has strong community support, and if quick-and-dirty is your thing, you’ll probably fall in love with it.Ĭheck out Balsamiq’s Google Drive integration to supercharge your cloud collaboration. Give Balsamiq a serious look for your wireframing needs, especially if you’re on a budget and looking for web and mobile development UI stencils. It’s probably not as an enterprise level tool as say, Omnigraffle or Axure RP, but ignoring it would be a mistake. Whereas wireframing is simply concerned with creating layout and design blueprints, prototyping is about creating basic, working models of sites or applications.īalsamiq Mockups - Desktop: US$79 | Online: From US$12 per month If you’re unsure about how wireframing differs from prototyping here’s a simple explanation. One more formality before we get underway. Although there’s a definite short-list of popular tools, the abundance of alternatives are hard to ignore, especially when they compete valiantly in terms of price and collaboration features. If UX is your life however, you’ve probably come to appreciate things like OS specific UI-elements and the workflow built into software tailored for the task. All-purpose graphic software like Photoshop or Illustrator will do fine for some, especially when combined with UI stencils - check out these ones for Android, and these ones for iPhone, for example. Similarly, the software preferred for the task varies from person to person. Others opt to go digital first, but most layout concepts eventually end up as files on a hard drive somewhere.Īs wireframing and prototyping are creative processes, there’s no real rule of thumb when it comes to choosing a method. Some of you follow a “ pencils before pixels” approach with hand- or stencil-drawn mockups on paper solemnly preceding software-based wireframing - do check out UXPin, we think you might love it. Please let us know about your favourites - we’d like to make this list as comprehensive as possible.īefore we get started, we’d like to salute all you UX people out there. We also realise that there are a jaw dropping array of tools on the market and we might have missed a few gems. We dug deep and came up with what we consider to be some of the greatest tools out there. And, for those new to UX design, we think you’ll like this article quite a bit too.
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