Mockups ...

[tsaint]

Noticed in a recent post a mockup of an app which I liked the look of (the mockup, not the app) (Found it here)
Followed up on it and found Balsamiq Mockups
I'm sure there are lots of uses for this apart from software and internet developers.

For "do gooders" (their phrase) and various others, they'll give a free licence. I was given one on the basis that I'm an educator (antithesis of a do gooder?)
Example mockups here.
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[usemyname]

You may even have a chance to get a free license as well if you are qualified… See below.

• If your company bought Mockups for Confluence, JIRA or XWiki, ask your IT admin for your company's license information and use it FREE of charge.
• If you are a do-gooder of any sort (non-profit, charity, open-source contributor, you get the idea), email Mariah with a short blurb and she'll send you a license, FREE of charge
• If you are a blogger / journalist / maven willing to write me up email Mariah a short blurb and she'll send you a license, FREE of charge
• If you are willing to demo Mockups to an audience of at least 15 people (at a user group, a conference, a BarCamp), email Mariah your info and she'll give you two licenses, one for you to keep and one to give away at the event, FREE of charge.
• If you don't fit in any of the four buckets above, you can buy a single-user license of Mockups for Desktop for $79 below.

via: http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups/desktop

[f0dder]

Looks pretty nice - I like the fact that it does not use standard UI controls, but actually looks like a normal pen-and-paper mockup drawing. That way, potential clients aren't going to be confusing the mockup with a beta version of your software

Price is probably OK, but too high as long as I'm still only doing hobbyist programming... and I probably don't qualify as a do-gooder. If the desktop version had been $40, I'd probably have purchased.

[tinjaw]

Looks nice. I have mentioned a similar tool, Mockup Screens, before.

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[justice]

I used to use powerpoint and this would be a better first step, it's quicker to mess about and experiment. Powerpoint has more interactivity options so you could guide a client through your site, which is great for usability testing.

Actually balsamiq mockups is so good i would just add interactivity with flash hmm.

[TheQwerty]

I've been using a Firefox extension called Pencil for this recently.

It seems to work well for my small needs.

[f0dder]

Tinjaw: mockup screens has a less attractive GUI though ( ) and is the same price...

TheQwerty: looks like something that might be worth giving a go - I feel pretty weird about using FireFox for non-web stuff, though . Oh, and it looks like the mockups look like native GUI widgets?

[TheQwerty]

TheQwerty: looks like something that might be worth giving a go - I feel pretty weird about using FireFox for non-web stuff, though . Oh, and it looks like the mockups look like native GUI widgets?

It is weird using it within Firefox.  I just revisted their official website and there is also an XULRunner build available that might have fewer quirks; the Firefox add-on doesn't handle resizing the work area too well.

They aren't really native, it's basically all just image overlays using different collections.  By default it came with collections for Win XP and GTK but it's supposed to be extendable.  The Google Projects page appears to have downloads for ExtJS as well.


It fit my need for something cheap free to mock some small single dialog apps.  The other products listed look much better, but there's no way I can justify spending anywhere near those prices for something I'd hardly use.

[usemyname]

Just want to share a site where people submit some of their mockups using balsamiq… http://mockupstogo.net/

[app103]

Just found another one, web based, and it seems to be free: Moqups



You can dive right in and play with it, before even creating an account.

[wraith808]

I've been using that one at work... it's very nice.  Also the sharing for viewing is nice.  The only thing I've found so far is that after sharing, when I changed the layout, the shared version didn't change on one page for some reason.