[IxDA Discuss] Pros and Cons of Wireframing tools

[Stewart Dean]

Hi,
 
You'll get a lot of responses to this but having been forced to use many different tools I can say that, at the moment, there doesnt exist ANY wireframing tools, only diagram tools you can do wireframes in.  There are many simulation tools out there but they tend to be somewhat perscriptive, I'm still trying to find one that is useful for my day to day job (just like I'm still after an IA aware CMS).
 
Tools I recommend:
 
Indesign  (Multiple pages make this a usable application)
Visio (I know it's not idea but it does do the job quickly)
Flash (very useful for creating interactive prototypes)
Omnigraffle on Mac (when used in anger is no more or less usable than visio and is remarkably similair once you strip away some of it's quirky interface aspects)
 
Tools others have used I wouldnt recommend.
 
Photoshop (not multiple pages and the vector tools are fiddly)
Illustrator (again not muliple page despite workarounds I've seen with tiling)
Freehand (poor key commands make using this quickly impossible)
Powerpoint
 
That's my take based upon many years of freelancing and being under tight deadlines to produce work.  One day a real wireframe/prototyping/production tool will exist for User Experience folks...   or maybe it does and it's just keeping it's self hidden.
 
Stewart Dean
 
 
> Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 09:50:45 -0500> From: Jeffrey_Kiesel at ml.com> To: discuss at ixda.org> Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Pros and Cons of Wireframing tools> > Hi All,> > My team is evaluating wireframing tools, and I would love to get some> feedback from this list. Things tend to be leaning towards Visio at the> moment. Being a designer, I'm not too thrilled at the idea of using> Visio. I don't have a lot of experience in wireframing large projects,> but it seem to me that Photoshop might be better.> > What types of wireframing tools have you used on your projects, and what> were the pros and cons of using them?> > Thanks,> ~jeff> --------------------------------------------------------> > If you are not an intended recipient of this e-mail, please notify the sender, delete it and do not read, act upon, print, disclose, copy, retain or redistribute it. Click here for important additional terms relating to this e-mail. http://www.ml.com/email_terms/> --------------------------------------------------------> ________________________________________________________________> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!> To post to this list ....... discuss at ixda.org> List Guidelines ............ http://listguide.ixda.org/> List Help .................. http://listhelp.ixda.org/> (Un)Subscription Options ... http://subscription-options.ixda.org/> Announcements List ......... http://subscribe-announce.ixda.org/> Questions .................. lists at ixda.org> Home ....................... http://ixda.org/> Resource Library ........... http://resources.ixda.org