Product Prototying Tools

Thu Nov 29 02:17:27 UTC 2007

Our local (Bay Area) CHI group just had a discussion about  
prototyping tools, so I thought I'd forward it on in response to Mike  
Elledge's earlier request. Axure and Serena Composer are also  
mentioned here...and Axure had also been recommended to me separately  
a while back. I really like PowerPoint for simple, fast prototyping,  
but usually just use it when I want a wireframe-type prototype with a  
bit of interactivity.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: discussions-request at baychi.org
> Date: November 28, 2007 12:00:02 PM PST
> To: discussions at baychi.org
> Subject: Discussions digest, Vol 1 #350 - 3 msgs
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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools (Jeff Lowe)
>    2. Re: Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools (Mitchell Gass)
>    3. Re: Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools (Chris Hawkins)
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 1
> To: discussions at baychi.org
> From: Jeff Lowe <jeff at jefflowe.com>
> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:13:43 -0800
> Subject: [BayCHI Discussions] Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools
>
> I'm looking for advice/recommendations on rapid prototyping tools for
> mocking up web interfaces that I could use in a usability test.
> Ideally, this tool would allow me to lay out my design and configure
> interactive elements without coding, and then export to HTML for
> testing.
>
> I've looked at DENIM but it seems to be too simplistic to achieve
> anything beyond a 'cocktail napkin sketch'. My brief experience with
> Flash leads me to believe that it might require too much effort since
> my goal is not to build the final app in Flash. Visio (which I
> already have) seems to provide easy manipulation of elements and easy
> HTML export, but the interactivity is limited to linked elements. It
> would be nice to allow a user to type something into a text box or
> open a select menu even if that data is not actually processed by the
> mockup. I've found some other tools in a Google search, but none jump
> out as a can't miss. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jeff
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:53:28 -0800
> To: Jeff Lowe <jeff at jefflowe.com>, discussions at baychi.org
> From: Mitchell Gass <mitchell at participatorydesign.com>
> Subject: [BayCHI Discussions] Re: Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools
>
> At 03:13 PM 11/27/2007, Jeff Lowe wrote:
>> I'm looking for advice/recommendations on rapid prototyping tools
>> for mocking up web interfaces that I could use in a usability test.
>> Ideally, this tool would allow me to lay out my design and configure
>> interactive elements without coding, and then export to HTML for  
>> testing.
>
> Hi Jeff,
>
> After trying a few of the available tools, I'm using Axure RP
>
>    http://www.axure.com/
>
> It's far from perfect - I'm dealing with a tricky bug right now - but
> it can do quite a lot. There's a free trial.
>
> Another tool that I'd like to try that is now free is Serena  
> Prototype Composer
>
>    http://www.serena.com/products/prototype-composer/home.html
>
> It looks like it would take longer to learn than Axure, but it has
> some interesting capabilities.
>
> Finally, Jonathan Arnowitz, Michael Arent, Nevin Berger, and Fred
> Sampson are making a case for prototyping in Excel
>
>    http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=18648
>
> and I was impressed by the demonstration Jonathan and Michael gave at
> a recent ACM SF Bay Chapter meeting
>
>    http://www.sfbayacm.org/events/2007-09-19.php
>
> Best,
>
> Mitchell Gass
> uLab | PDA: Learning from Users | Designing with Users
> Berkeley, CA 94707 USA
> +1 510 525-6864 office
> +1 415 637-6552 mobile
> +1 510 525-4246 fax
> http://www.participatorydesign.com/
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:23:24 -0800 (PST)
> From: Chris Hawkins <netmaker2 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [BayCHI Discussions] Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools
> To: Jeff Lowe <jeff at jefflowe.com>
> Cc: discussions at baychi.org
>
> Have you checked out the Flex IDE?  It's great and what I encourage  
> for prototyping.  You need to develop some skill in the MXML, but  
> generally you can do a lot once ramped up.
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Jeff Lowe <jeff at jefflowe.com>
> To: discussions at baychi.org
> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2007 3:13:43 PM
> Subject: [BayCHI Discussions] Looking For Rapid Prototyping Tools
>
> I'm looking for advice/recommendations on rapid prototyping tools for
> mocking up web interfaces that I could use in a usability test.
> Ideally, this tool would allow me to lay out my design and configure
> interactive elements without coding, and then export to HTML for
> testing.
>
> I've looked at DENIM but it seems to be too simplistic to achieve
> anything beyond a 'cocktail napkin sketch'. My brief experience with
> Flash leads me to believe that it might require too much effort since
> my goal is not to build the final app in Flash. Visio (which I
> already have) seems to provide easy manipulation of elements and easy
> HTML export, but the interactivity is limited to linked elements. It
> would be nice to allow a user to type something into a text box or
> open a select menu even if that data is not actually processed by the
> mockup. I've found some other tools in a Google search, but none jump
> out as a can't miss. Any ideas?
>
> Thanks
>
> Jeff
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Allison Bloodworth
Senior User Interaction Designer
Educational Technology Services
University of California, Berkeley
(415) 377-8243
abloodworth at berkeley.edu

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