[Sigia-l] RE: Prototyping Tools

[InfoArchitect]

Livia wrote (with reference to the Denim prototyping tool):
> I can't see why they chose to use that slow bureaucratic menu 
> that doesn't let you access everything at a glimpse; you need 
> to 'navigate'. 

Are you referring to the 'pie menu' (marking menu)?  I could see that 
being a problem.  It was a great idea for 3D apps (ref: Alias 
Wavefront's PowerAnimator and all that followed the fantastic 
interaction ideas for power users of these complex apps), but even 
they exposed the navigation in standard drop downs as well.

On first impression, other enhancements I would like to see would be:
Accepting scans - I STILL like pen and paper and currently don't have 
the luxury of using a tablet PC, nor do I find vanilla digitising 
tablets conducive to writing;
Character recognition - I find that reading handwriting can place 
extra cognitive load on users being tested with paper prototypes, so I 
usually end up creating my low fidelity prototypes in Visio.  I 
imagine the same would be true if testing with the prototypes created 
by Denim.  Yes, I know you can place computer text in, but it requires 
what seems to me to be redundant steps - gesturing a 'caret', then 
typing in your text; and
Widget recognition - coming soon (the GUIR team promises) to a release 
near you!

Oh, and another prototyping tool that I find invaluable (that I'm not 
sure has been mentioned) is
MindGenius - great for brainstorming, topic mapping and creating 
affinity diagrams:
http://www.ygnius.com/site/0_home/

Does anyone else use this or similar mind mapping tools?

Regards,

Ash Donaldson
User Experience Designer


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