My Search for a UX And Prototyping Tool Is Finally Over.
Over the past month I have been playing around with a ton of different wire framing tools and have been in search of wireframe nirvana for some time now. I may have just found it in iPlotz.com. I have searched low and high, installed countless demos and even paid for quite a bit of software in my never ending search. Well…I think i have finally found an application that encompasses all of the things I want and none of the things I hate.
To start off I’ll fill you in on the past. I’ve used everything from InDesign, Visio, Illustrator, Pen and Paper, and the list goes on… I made a decent effort at using flash components for prototypes and tried to use Flash Catalyst in the same manner. Each one of the different applications had about the same hurdle (in my opinion). Each of them required the individual doing to work to have a good working knowledge of the application. It was hard to share your work with others and openly collaborate. It was very specific to that persons computer (software license) and in the end I have never felt that any of those tools really did the job well because that wasn’t really what they were built for. Visio was close but I hate PC’s so it was a no go right off the bat.
In my search I cam across iPlotz. It is a web based application that allows you to wireframe your site and then make the whole thing clickable. so in one big swoop you can do the UX needed and prototype the idea in a really fast amount of time. Its web based so you can log in from anywhere. It has an Air app that runs pretty well so you can work offline. It also has a decent commenting system built in so that you can pass around your ideas for other to comment on things.
Here is quick example I put together in about 30 minutes to show everyone what I am talking about.
http://bit.ly/5twbMs
Here is a link to sign up if you want to demo iPlotz
November 24, 2009
November 11, 2009
November 10, 2009
Rails Or Cake? You Should Care?
I have a personal project I have been waiting… trying… or hoping to start. I guess I’ve made the realization that I need to expand my ability in order to build something that could be considered a web application. I’ve done the simple php stuff, wordpress hacks, and even a little java (not so much). I have even built a stupid simple cms for myself back in the day. It sucked. So the big question on my mind is do I take up Ruby on Rails or do I go the Cake PHP route.
As a part of the “What is this whole Interactive thing?” post, I think its important to understand whats behind the scenes. As a CD in an interactive firm I find it very important to understand the limitations of all aspects of the work. Some people scoff at understanding the backend and only concern themselves with the appearance. I’d encourage any creative on the interactive side of things to really dig into the dev side of life.
So Rails or Cake? I’m thinking Rails.
October 1, 2009
September 19, 2009
Hopefully This Changes Things
(This is me thinking really hard)
Yet another Posterous test – well kind of… I have been wanting to post more and more on my site (www.lednine.com ) but I always run out of time trying to log into things and then write what was on my mind. Along comes Posterous.com. Its such a brilliant idea. Email almost anything to Posterous and BLAM! Everything you could think of updating gets updated. Email is natural and friggin easy to complete from almost anywhere. So we’ll see where this leads me. Hopefully its a lot more info and ramblings from yours truly.
September 11, 2009
What Is This Interactive Thing???
So I have been thinking, and searching, for information on how people run interactive businesses. After looking for a long time I haven’t found much. I have found tons about what we do but not a lot on the operations side of things. So in light of not finding a lot of information I’m going to take a stab at at least writing a few things down and maybe sharing a few gems that I have gone through so you done have to go down the same road. More on this later.
July 13, 2009