Note from Ann: Victor contacted me asking to review his free software. I know not much about wireframes but I thought this tool should turn useful to some of our readers. So I asked Victor to share his software with us as a guest post. Enjoy!
Wireframes and mockups have been used to think and define websites or applications before their implementation. But with the coming of the web 2.0, dynamic websites or RIA, you need to think everything from UI to conditional navigation or the type of interactions you want to use. But mockups or even clickable wireframes aren´t enough.
Justinmind Prototyper 4 is a powerful wireframing tool designed to create fully functional dynamic prototypes without any coding.
Learn more at Justinmind Prototyper from Justinmind on Vimeo.
At first glance, Justinmind Prototyper looks really powerful. It lets you create Rich Interactive Application prototypes. You can also integrate real data and simulate their behaviours through datamasters and datagrids. Ultimately, it simulates real conditional navigation (i.e. functional login pages).
OK, so “powerful” is one thing, but is it easy? Well basically, everything is done through drag and drop. From creating mockups to adding interaction and datas, Justinmind is incredibly easy to use. Easy as Powerpoint, the desktop application comes with a wide range of reusable templates, masters and widgets (sketching or mobile widgets). Y
ou can also drag and drop images and elements (videos, flash…) straight from your computer or any other application like Photoshop or Illustrator. You can also create your own interactions by simply drag & dropping events on elements. Even conditions and data are added using drag&drop, no coding is involved. You can build a dynamic website literally in minutes, and to test, you don´t need to export it all as it provides an instant simulation button.
But Justinmind is not just a quick and high-fidelity wireframing software. It also allows to test, comment and validate prototypes. You can add and attach comments directly to elements or export them. Once you´ ve commented the prototypes, you can generate your own customised specification documentation (.doc) with webpage images, diagrams, navigation flows, requirements and comments. The prototype generated is coded in HTML so that you can share it quickly and easily.
Justinmind comes with another great piece of software called Justinmind Usernote. With that service you can publish online your prototypes and let the people you want add comments on them. Gather all the feedback from your users remotely and even carry out user tests!
Once you’ve created your prototype, the extent of interaction and dynamicity is such that the prototype is, for end users, identical to the final product.
Justinmind Prototyper 4 is a new wireframing tool particularly powerful and easy to use. Whether it’s for definition, design, validation, development or testing purpose, it can be used through out all the processes of an IT project. Overall, it `fluidifies´ communication, cutting cost and rework load… because a good prototype is worth a 1000 words.
