Trying Out Balsamiq Mockups

Posted At : November 12, 2008 9:38 AM | Posted By : Jason Dean
Related Categories: General,Flex

I have been evaluating Balsamiq Mockups this week to see what it is all about and to determine if I want to try to get it at work.

Balsamiq Mockups is a tool (built with Flex and Adobe® AIR) used to mock-up site designs and layouts. It has a really easy-to-use, drag-and-drop interface with a LOT of customization options. It has a huge variety of web site elements for you to drop into your mock-ups. In about 15 minutes I was able to put together this:

And that was with very little practice. As I get better at it, I can see it going much faster. I think it would be a great tool for bringing to meetings where site layout and design decisions need to be made, and then to give to the developers/designers to make happen.

I have to say, I am very impressed with the product, and I look forward to using it some more. I have a fairly large site project coming up, and I am going to use Balsamiq Mock-up to do my layouts.

Here is a link to a boat-load more sample mockups. It really demonstrates the power of the tool to build a wide variety of different layouts.

Example Mockups

UPDATE: And here is a YouTube video demonstration of Balsamiq Mockups

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When you get a chance, take a look at Axure RP Pro (http://www.axure.com/). I've just started using it recently, mostly b/c it was already installed. They have some nice intro videos and tutorials (under How To User) on some of what you can do with axure.

OK. OK. You're not going to get up and running in 15 minutes like Balsamiq Mockups. One nice feature in Axure is project collaboration through a SVN repo.

Here's 3 key selling points to Axure RP Pro

1) Generate wireframes and turn them into prototypes by adding interactions and conditional logic
2) Generate legit project specifications based on your prototype
3) Collaborate with others on projects (SVN repo isn't necessary for collaboration, but is a nice feature)

# Posted By Dutch Rapley | 11/12/08 1:20 PM

@Dutch, Thanks for the comment. Axure looks impressive. But is well out of my price range. Balsalmiq is more affordable. Also since it generates XML files, it can also be version controlled with CVS or SVN.

I am hoping that someday they add the prototyping features with click through demonstration and other features. But for right now, I think it is worth the price.

# Posted By Jason Dean | 11/12/08 2:12 PM

I have tried many such tools and for now stick with MockupScreens. In minutes you are operational. You can check the screenshots here:
http://mockupscreens.com/index.php?page=Screen-Pro...

And it finally seems they have added the ability to "switch look and feel" as you need, something as QT Designer does for ages. For most meetings with clients I fell I'll still prefer black & white "rough" look though :-)
http://mockupscreens.com/index.php?page=What_s_New...

Best regards,
Mario

# Posted By Mario Tankov | 12/29/08 4:05 PM

yes I found mockups very productive, i use it aas a functional spec tool to document what need tobe done in each screen

# Posted By vivek | 3/30/09 9:56 PM

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