Why Visio wireframes are outmoded (Was [Sigia-l] NYU IA class description link)

[Anders Ramsay]

On 7/10/05, Donna Maurer <donna at maadmob.net> wrote:
> All good, but there are lots of different types of projects and
> relationships and different ways to deliver them. I'm a freelance IA, so
> people are usually paying me to deliver a part of the project, and paying
> me by the hour to do so. They need me to work fast, and for me drawing
> is faster than creating XHTML/CSS. Believe it or not, some clients don't
> even know how to spell XHTML, so coding wireframes in this way is
> ineffective. This may not be the ideal world but it is the IA world I work
> in.
> 
> In my world, there are times when Visio works well and times when
> clickable wireframes work well and times when a Flash prototype works
> well. Depends on the project, team and outcome ;)

Yes, of course, each project and organization is different, however...

XHTML/CSS wireframes do not replace sketching, they only replace Visio
- and of course you'll be able to whip out Visio wireframes faster
now, because that's what you're comfortable with (and I am speaking
for myself here as well), but in the long term, it just becomes
painfully clear, for all the reasons I stated earlier, that Visio is
inefficient

clients who can't spell XHTML are no less likely to be able to spell
Visio - are your clients saying that you absolutely have to use Visio
to do wireframes?  Isn't the reason you are using Visio because that
was your choice? Regardless, as I said earlier, I still (reluctantly)
use Visio for some legacy projects - what I'm talking about is how
wireframes should be build to further the field and that is certainly
not by using Visio

 - Anders