Category — Prototyping Software

A lot of web designers I worked with so far, tried to reinvent the wheel every time faced with a new web project, creating really beautiful and arty stuff – nobody could use on first sight (but I have to admit, the stuff looked really nice!). But nice isn’t the task here, usable is what we want and need!

Re-arranging learned patterns, controls and site structures, some designers might say, is boring, limited and not innovative at all! On the contrary I say! It is probably much more challenging, using the very same controls users know and still creating innovative design.
For that reason I am a great fan of the Yahoo! Design Patterns library. The Yahoo! Design Patterns are a collection of usability patterns or usability best practices for what they categorized as: page layout, navigation, selection, rich interaction and social.
Yahoo! presents more than 50 individual design best practices and tells you exactly when to use them and what problem you will solve with that! Here is what you will find in the different
categories:
Yahoo! Design Pattern – Page Layout

In this design pattern category you will find best practices for page grids and general page layouts, keeping consistency over the whole site, delivering a cohesive user and brand experience. With a standardized grid (wireframe grid) you keep the site comprehensible for the user while maintaining flexibility for integrating all sorts of dynamic and individual content.
Yahoo! Design Pattern – Navigation

This Yahoo! Design Pattern category solves the most important problem on a website: finding the right stuff! These design patterns present best practices for all sorts of navigation challenges, filter options, pagination, navigation tabs and bars etc.

With a user survey you try to find out how your software, application or web site is most likely to be used by your target audience or a special segment of users. The usability method of posting user surveys on your website is a powerful tool to find out what other analytics tools cannot deliver. When a quantitative analytics tool tells you everything about what people did on your website or interface, a user survey tells you the hidden secrets about user motivation, feelings and the why people using your website or interface.

You post all kinds of questions (by letter, email, online) to get an idea about stuff that you cannot trace or observe technically (e.g. ask about features that do not exist yet), but which you need to know for making your product evenmore customer centric.

What should I ask in a User Survey

With the internet it is easy to carry out user surveys with hundreds and thousands of users, presenting qualitative and/or quantitative data for decision making. But what should you ask your target audience? Well, what do you want to know? Depending on your goals, the questions will and can be quite different. But compared to many other usability methods, user surveys can give you answers about stuff that is hard to find out through tracking and observing user behavior (e.g. feature requests, expectations etc.).

Everybody who is into interface design, Rapid Paper Prototyping is old school! But ever considered doing screen design on screen?

With pidoco’s web-based screen design software, designers and web developers can save valuable time, easily integrate other stakeholders and build better interfaces for the internet.

Rapid Paper Prototyping has already been known to be the solution to get a web-application started. The idea is to sketch the basic concept on paper to be discussed within the team. This prototype will then go through an ongoing, sometimes collaborative, design process by implementing feedback from other stake holder. This paper-built wireframe will eventually act as a guideline for the whole project – from beginning to the end (but is there a real end?). Some screen-designers even use these sketches for running usability tests. Revealing usability issues in an early stage of development can save a lot of money, since later changes in the so called ‘finished’ website are minimized.

However, there are several drawbacks to Rapid Paper Prototyping.  Sketches on paper are difficult to add to the document servers and also difficult to collaborate on in larger teams. Transforming paper prototypes into clickable wireframes for testing use cases is also a time consuming task as we all know!

That is why many companies create their prototypes directly in MS PowerPoint or MS Visio and have them distributed to the relevant sources. True, that way one can share the data more effectively but it is not really more dynamic than making copies of a piece of paper handing it to other stake holders. The Visio-type static wireframes still do not show the real capabilities for test user excitement:  links, dynamic menus and work-flows etc. cannot be reproduced effectively and need to be explained individually in long paragraphs. Again, more time and effort has to be invested to get the message across.

A small company from Berlin, Germany has spotted this problem and made it their mission to tackle it by providing a simple web-based interface design software.

The pidoco° wireframe software consists of three main modules which complement each other perfectly. They speed up the interface design process and optimize the general workflow in all stages of collaborative web design.

Interactive wireframes are quickly sketched with the Prototype Creator (just by drag&drop) and can later easily be shared and reviewed by colleagues, test users or clients. If there is need for even more in-depth feedback on individual aspects of the use cases, just use the digital prototypes to perform a easy to set up remote usability test where moderator and test user are connected remotely by a shared screen and an integrated phone. All modules are aimed to increase productivity of the interface design process and ease communication within the team.

Rapid Digital Prototyping (RDP)

Through prefab stencils (e.g. radio buttons, links, navigation items, controls etc.) interface designers can create clickable and animated web or software interfaces within minutes. Without any programming skills, interface designers can focus on the web concept and use cases, site structures and the overall layout of the site, instead of getting lost in details that only matter at a later stage of the project.

Our conclusion of Rapid Digital Prototyping: It’s got the look and feel of Rapid Paper Prototyping, but adds interactivity (making wireframes clickable) and accelerates developing speed through re-usable elements and layers. Many (real-time) collaboration components enable interface designers to new ways to work with much better time allocation, leaving more time for the creative process that really counts.

The pidoco° wireframe software consists of three main entities which complement each other perfectly. Together, they enhance the interface design process and optimize the general workflow in all stages of interactive web design.

Digital prototypes are quickly sketched with the Prototype Creator (just by drag&drop) and can later easily be shared and reviewed by colleagues, test users or clients. If there is need for even more in-depth feedback on individual aspects of the web concept, just use the clickable wireframes to perform a plug&play remote usability test where moderator and test user are connected remotely by a shared screen and an integrated phone. All modules are aimed to increase productivity of the interface design process and ease communication within the team.

For the people who are into screen design, Rapid Paper Prototyping is old school! But ever considered doing screen design on screen?

With pidoco’s web-based prototyping software, interaction designers and web developers can save valuable time, enhance the creative process and build better usability for the WWW.

Rapid Paper Prototyping has already been known to be the solution to get a website started. The basic concepts of the layout will be put on paper and discussed within the team. This prototype will then be put through a refinement process by incorporating feedback from different stake holders. This paper prototype will at last act as a rough guide for the whole project – from start to finish. Some screen-designers even use these paper sketches for running usability tests. Revealing usability issues in the prototyping phase can save a lot of time, since later alterations in the so called ‘finished’ web project are minimized.

Anyway, there are some drawbacks to Rapid Paper Prototyping.  Paper prototypes are only scanned to add to the project documentation and also difficult to collaborate on in larger teams. Scanning paper prototypes and making them ‘clickable’ for testing use cases is also a time consuming task as we all know!

That is why many screen designers create their prototypes directly in MS PowerPoint or other diagramming tools and have them send to the relevant sources. True, that way one can share the sketches more effectively but it is not really more interactive than copying a piece of paper handing it to colleagues. The digital sketches still do not show the real capabilities for test user excitement:  links, dynamic menus and combo-boxes etc. cannot be reproduced effectively and need to be explained individually in long text. Again, more time and effort has to be invested to get the message across.
pidoco° has spotted this problem and made it their mission to tackle it by providing a fast web-based interface design software.

Our conclusion of Rapid Digital Prototyping: It’s got the look and feel of handmade scribble prototyping, but adds interactivity (making wireframes clickable) and accelerates developing speed through re-usable elements and layers. Many (real-time) collaboration components enable interface designers to new ways to work with higher efficiency, leaving more time for the creative process that really counts.

Through prefab stencils (e.g. radio buttons, links, navigation items, controls etc.) information architects can create clickable and animated web or software interfaces just in seconds. Without any programming skills, interface designers can focus on the web concept and use cases, site structures and the overall layout of the site, instead of getting lost in details that distract from the overall concept of the site.

When you are into interface design, Rapid Paper Prototyping is old school! But ever considered doing interface design on screen?

With pidoco’s web-based prototyping software, graphic designers and screen developers can save valuable time, enhance the creative process and build better usability for the internet.

Rapid Paper Prototyping has already been in the know for a while to get a website started. Rapid Paper Prototyping is about sketching ideas with pen an paper to be tossed around in the team. This basic screen concept will then be put through a refinement process by implementing feedback from different stake holders. This paper prototype will finally act as a roadmap for the whole project – from beginning to the end (but is there a real end?). Some screen-designers even use these very limited paper prototypes for running usability tests. Revealing usability issues in an early stage of development can save a lot of money, since later alterations in the so called ‘finished’ website are minimized.

Anyway, there are several drawbacks to Rapid Paper Prototyping.  Prototypes are difficult to add to the project documentation and also difficult to collaborate on in larger teams. Transforming paper sketches into interactive, digital documents for web testing is also a time consuming task as we all know!

That is why many screen designers create their prototypes directly in MS PowerPoint or InDesign and have them send to the relevant sources. True, that way one can share the data more effectively but it is not really more interactive than making copies of a piece of paper handing it to the team. The prototypes still do not show the real capabilities for test user excitement:  links, dynamic menus and work-flows etc. cannot be reproduced effectively and need to be explained individually in long paragraphs. Again, more time and effort has to be invested to get the message across.

A small company from Berlin, Germany has spotted this problem and made it their mission to tackle it by providing a simple web-based interface design software.