2012/12/23
Web designing is not an easy task and for designing good stuff you need to do some rigorous, user-centered designing. Web designing has many stages and levels that you have to pass through before finalizing a design.
The Wireframes
A wireframe is a visual guide that represents the
skeletal framework of a website. It is also known as a page schematic or screen
blueprint. These wireframes provide low-priced and highly effective support for
iterative design. The best thing about them is that they are extremely easy to
create and change, where as changing a a coded web app is very tough. Wireframe
of a web app displays a conceptual screen design and task flow.
You can
create and test them. Because of their flexibility, they can prove to be really
good when it comes to staying away from poorly conceived, ineffective
designs.
At the beginning, your wireframes can be basic sketches on paper or a
whiteboard, to help conceptualizing the user interface and task flow. These
kinds of wireframes can be good enough for small projects, and you can start the
development process. But for most of the projects, you would have to move from
sketches to diagrams made with the help of some software like Adobe Illustrator,
Visio, or OmniGraffle. These wireframes are really good for big projects as they
can be changed easily and can also be distributed among the design team with
ease.
The wireframe diagram illustrates the layout of a web page
So here are 10 Awesome Tools That Let You Create Web
Design Wireframes. Check them out!
MockFlow
This is a great tool to use which designing and collaborating user interface
mockups for the software and websites is possible. It boasts many inbuilt
components and icons.
Axure
Axure is a really good tool for designers which lets them create
wireframes, flow diagrams, prototypes, and specifications for apps and websites.
It has many widgets like buttons, form fields, shapes, and dynamic elements that
you can edit and format. You can even make your own custom widget
libraries.
Balsamiq Mockups
This tool lets you draw digitally. You will have the ability of tweaking and
rearranging controls with ease, and the product is really neat. It boasts about
75 inbuilt controls to pick from. You can design whatever type of app or website
you want, from simple basic form to really advanced form. It is definitely a
must try tool.
Pencil Project
It is a free addon for Firefox, which has some
key features like inbuilt stencils, multi-page document support, and multiple
export options. Simple yet useful.
HotGloo
This one is a totally web based tool that
has many good features. You can drag-drop and scale items with ease. It also
supports realtime collaboration.
Mockingbird
This tool is also web based and it also focuses
on collaboration. It lets you link multiple mockups together and then preview
them interactively to see the flow of your app.
Cacoo
It is
a cool online drawing tool that lets you make may different types of diagrams
like site maps, wire frames, UML and network
charts.
ProtoShare
This one is a handy online prototyping tool that focuses on collaboration. Team members have the ability of reviewing work and providing timely feedback, ideas, and suggestions on clickable wireframes or creative content.
iPlotz
iPlotz is a great tool that lets you quickly make clickable, navigable mockups and wireframes for prototyping websites and software apps.
OmniGraffle
It is an app for Mac OS that boasts various tools that lets you create
awesome wireframes and mockups, but it is also really good when it comes to
creating all types of charts and diagrams.