Why Visio wireframes are outmoded (Was [Sigia-l] NYU IA class description link)
Austin Govella
austin.govella at gmail.com
Mon Jul 11 11:53:44 EDT 2005
Coming from a coding environment, I have expert knowledge about what
can and can't be done, and what is worth doing using CSS. Even with
expert level knowledge, it is faster and easier for me to sketch
wireframes in a drawing program.
The point of wireframing is to quickly and easily document your ideas,
and this should be done in the fastest way possible. It should be
easier to sketch in Visio, et. al., than it is to code. And once
you've quickly documented an idea, it can be discussed, iterated, or
trashed.
I never want to do this in XHTML/CSS because a little design change
can cause lots of CSS changes. It can even require changes to the
XHTML. It's much easier to move or resize an abstract box in a drawing
program than it is to recode your CSS.
The catch is that if you are some CSS guru, and it's easier for you to
hack some CSS around than it is to sketch in a drawing program, then
by all means: Wireframe in whatever medium is faster.
I am all for the IA working with the front-end developer to create the
XHTML document. For all intents and purposes, these are just codified
page-description diagrams.
Lastly, the idea that non-CSS wireframes slow down production seems
shortsighted. On the average page layout, it takes anywhere from 1-3
hours to lay out a page cross-browser. (Every once in a while, nasty
bugses require a couple more hours.) Moving from a paper sketch to a
functional layout takes a trivial amount of time when you're looking
at a project. The time cost to edit CSS when iterating designs is much
higher than the time cost to iterate in a drawing program. If you're
using an agile process, then you're screwed either way. But if you're
using more traditionla design processes, it's many times more
efficient to iterate in drawing programs.
Similarly, XHTML/CSS wireframes won't bring you any closer to your
designers and developers. If you can't get them to huddle around a
drawn wireframe, then why would they huddle around your coded
wireframe?
--
Austin Govella
Thinking and Making: IA, UX, IxD
http://thinkingandmaking.com
More information about the Sigia-l
mailing list