Max Katz

DevRel & No-Code

January 31, 2011

Why You Need Interactive and Clickable UI Prototypes for Your Next Project

If you’ve been building web or mobile applications, you probably know how tough it is to describe UI requirements in a text document. It’s even more challenging for the person reading the requirements to understand what the heck the author meant.

Sometimes visual aids help. It’s probably safe to assume that many projects include pictures or drawings in the requirements document to help visualize the UI. Any visual aid in a requirements document will help.

It’s also possible that many projects use a somewhat better solution than just inserting images or drawings into a requirements document – a mockup tool. A mockup tool is specialized software to create, well, a mockup of the UI. With a mockup tool you use lines and various shapes (rectangles, boxes, etc.) to create the outline or shape of the various UI elements.

The problem with mockups…

However, mockups suffer from a number of drawbacks. First of all, mockups are static. Today, most user interfaces are very interactive with AJAX or AJAX-like features. Expressing such interactivity or navigation is just not possible with static mockups.

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February 1, 2011 at 4:50 am

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Eugeny

February 3, 2011 at 9:08 pm

1) To draw rectangles, ovals and the text on them – it is possible in the various ways. Further prototypes of screens of the user interface place in any accessible monitoring system of versions (for example SVN). With excellent differentiation of access rights in it. Further it is possible to transfer given prototypes of screens – to programmers of the user interface, i.e. programmers go into action.

2) Design. Professional designers know that usually from them 3 variants of design demand. The customer chooses one of them. Designers can draw though in Photoshop. They take for a basis the approximate sketch-sketch from point 1.

3) Professional CSS/HTML-design of pages. The maker-up gets a job from point 2. Also creates the beautiful HTML-interface of each screen (static, dynamic – the following point).

4) In the end of point 1 work have charged, including – to the programmer. While the others carry out of a problem from points 2 and 3 – he creates Java-beans, validators, plus a SQL-code works over system safety of a site, (SQL/JPA other programmer, so-called “back end” can do connects and integrate it with payment systems, etc.) While other people work with points 2 and 3 – it prosecutes all these subjects. In it, 4th point – it receives professional HTML/CSS-design of screens which unites that he has had time to make by this time.

Advantages:

1) Possibility of use of experts of the best qualification, experts, but ossessing “narrow specializations”.

2) Possibility of accurate monitoring of those all stages. Process (the most bad is when 1 person does all it, frequently it is difficult to it to spread out all it on points, it is difficult to it to put problems – usually all mixes up in the general porridge and it is difficult to predict a total elapsed time of end of the project as in that case it is frequently observed also chaotic change of sketches of the project – heads of various hierarchy in firm – from the project lead, to the director and as business leads of firm and as the customer, as a result the executor-programmer – chokes with requirements, and terms are tightened for months, and nobody can explain what not so; as a result the supervising leads start to search for the reason of all of it are certainly in the final executor, well not it, the leads, will be guilty, logically?)

3) The monitoring system of versions (SVN) allows to differentiate ACCURATELY access to INTERNAL document circulation of firm. For example frequently HTML-imposition – is given to the external expert, which time in 2 months will create for you it, having tested it in various versions of browsers (you are assured, what well know all details of imposition for different versions Internet Explorer-?).

4) As it seems to me, the problems added by use of technology Ajax – are exaggerated. A correctness of passwords? e-mail check? – Basically all it “is standardized”.

P.S. If the factory pipe didn’t smoke directly in open windows of the Minsk office of company Exadel (long time there wasn’t the conditioner, I do not know as now) – probably Exadel would do other, more essential project. 😉

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Why You Need Interactive and Clickable UI Prototypes for Your Next Project

The problem with mockups…

2 responses to “Why You Need Interactive and Clickable UI Prototypes for Your Next Project”

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