[Sigia-l] Wireframe/Prototyping tools (was RE:Intelligent signs atMicrosof t)

[Jonathan Baker-Bates]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: sigia-l-bounces at asis.org 
> [mailto:sigia-l-bounces at asis.org] On Behalf Of Ilen Zauzeta-Hall
> Sent: 18 August 2005 01:37
> To: 'sigia-l at asis.org'
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Wireframe/Prototyping tools (was 
> RE:Intelligent signs atMicrosof t)
> 
>  
> We're using Axure (nee Ubiquity) with reasonable success. It 
> lets you do most of the work in a single tool, although I 
> still use Visio for my page flows and paste them in. 
> Unfortunately the output format is fairly limited.
> 

Although I've not used Axure for real, I've been playing with it as each
of the updates has come out, and I've corresponded with the authors
about features like drawing tools etc. They're pretty responsive.

Although I think Axure isn't yet ready for serious use, what attracts me
most to it is that it holds out the possibility of creating data
structures from modular page designs. Right now, it exports these as
HTML or MS Word. If it could export as XML then I might be able to do
really interesting things like create content schemas from my designs,
and thereby "hand off" these designs in a form that can be used
programmatically by the build team. These are intrguiging things that at
the moment I don't even attempt to do, let alone try them with other
tools.

Of all the tools on the market today, I'd say Axure has the most promise
as an "IDE for IAs" and it would be great if as many people as possible
tried it and fed back comments to the developers. They're a small
company (probably wanting be bought by one of the big guys) but I feel
they don't really know what their full potential is yet - they're
positioning it as a prototyping tool (yawn), but it deserves more
attention than that.

Jonathan

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