[IxDA Discuss] What do these prototyping tools give me? (RE: Axure RP Pro prototyping tool)

[Todd Warfel]

On May 13, 2006, at 11:30 PM, Jay Morgan wrote:

> Maintaining projects begs the question that you'd be working on  
> this project as long with iRise as you have with your current  
> tools.  Ha!  Sorry, it was open, had to take it.

Cute, Jay.

> It actually isn't clear to me if the project you mention suffers  
> from scope creep, poor conceptual framework, or you mean
> it's a system that needs long term maintenance.  If it's scope  
> creep or poor concepts, then iRise could help you by letting you  
> work things out in more detail and faster.

Not the case. It's called, deliver then do the next iteration. So,  
we're on v3.0 now. It's the third release in 18 months. Deliver early  
and often, I think it's called ;).

> If it's a system you're maintaining, then I think of something like  
> using the Templates & Masters I mentioned earlier.  Those can
> be saved and reused across projects.  For instance, I can just as  
> easily save a set of Templates in an iDoc and send them to a  
> colleague, as I can save a full simulation.  Also, projects can be  
> archived - both private and shared - for later use.

We're using InDesign and Illustrator. We have a template system w/ 
multiple master pages. Each element on the master can be individually  
edited on the screen w/o destruction of the original on the master if  
desired (e.g. you have a placement object for "Page Title," but on  
the individual screen, you edit it to "My Account Preferences" w/o  
destruction of the "Page Title" on the master.).

We also implement a pattern library, which is recycled, when  
appropriate, across projects.

> I hope this helps clear things up.  If I see you at another summit  
> or conference, I'm happy to show it to you.
> Jay

Clear as mud. Again, seriously, I'd love to see it in action next  
time we're at the same place. For now, it just seems like there are  
better ways, or they need to make some changes to iRise to make it  
work for us. And I'm still waiting for, and working on a proper IA  
tool that doesn't have the disadvantages of iRise and Axure.


Cheers!

Todd R. Warfel
Partner, Design & Usability Specialist
Messagefirst | designing and usability consulting
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