[Sigia-l] Diagramming tools?

[Stew Dean]

> Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 16:42:50 -0400
> From: twinfrey at gmail.com
> To: sigia-l at asis.org
> Subject: [Sigia-l] Diagramming tools?
>
> Hi all,
>
> I am a master's student in IA at the University of Baltimore who is
> studying usage of charting and diagramming tools in other IA
> programs. I am interested in Axure (www axure com) a software tool
> that allows for the creation of functional wireframes through a
> drag-and-drop interface, among other features. I'd like to know what
> people are using "out there" for wireframes and other Web
> deliverables. Visio? Axure? Photoshop? Something else? Why? If you'd
> care to mention briefly whether you're a student, academic, or
> professional, that would also be helpful. Thanks so much!
>
> Troy

Hi Troy,

Quite simply the industry standard tool is Visio simply because it's
very quick at putting together sitemaps and wireframes. On Mac the
closest thing is Omnigraffle. Both these programs have huge drawbacks,
don't provide any tools automate things and don't integrate with the
production process.

The logical progression is towards creating prototypes. I used to use
Flash to do this, and still recommend it. I've also used Dreamweaver
but it does severly alter the way you work and tends to lead to
sterile sites.

I remain skeptical about Axure. For it to be worth my while I'd have
to be able to create wireframes and site maps to the standard I do at
the moment. At the moment it appears to do flows (not user journeys or
site maps which are vital). There's also the need to produce standard
wireframes with right hand notation, which is more common than a word
based specification. I have a personal project I could test it with so
I should hold judgement.

Yes it would be nice to have a diagraming tool that integrates with
the information architecture process, and there are some tools out
there including extentions to visio but it's going to take a huge leap
to create a IA tool that allows freedom of interface design and
integrates with the many different processes that IAs find themselves
part of.

Cheers

Stewart Dean