Introduction to Balsamiq Wireframes
If you have to make presentations to help get your vision across to a particular audience, then Balsamiq Wireframes is a tool that might be worth testing out.
From my experience, here is a quick summary of why I highly recommend Balsamiq to any Project Manager, Graphic Designer or Software Developer.
Top 3 Features
- Drag and Drop Elements
- Markup Notes
- Multiple Export Options
#1 Drag and Drop Elements
Comes with a great set of ready to use objects for drag and drop usage
Each object has its own small set of customization features. These object level customization features are designed to compliment interaction options for the object. They are easy to use because they are limited in what you can do with them.
#2 Markup Notes
Sticky Notes
These special objects – can be turned off when exporting your slides or left on. This gives you the ability to export a version that just shows your interface and then export a support version where you have all your markup comments and arrows that explain certain things in your interface.
#3 Exporting Options
Having the ability to quickly export a series of slides as a single pdf or as a series of individual files.
Export a selection of slides as a single PDF or a series of image files.
Exporting as a PDF allows the text in your document to be selectable via acrobats annotation options
Other features
Page Duplication and Page Versioning
Duplicating pages as their own page or as an alternative version of the page is your decision to make. You get to use it however it best fits what you are trying to achieve.
Interactions
You can apply interaction actions to buttons that move the user to other pages in your mock-up. And this feature stays active when you export as a PDF.
Summary
The drag and drop nature of it allows me to quickly put my vision of an interface to life. The low-fidelity nature of the design helps focus structural elements of what you are trying to build. Hence the name Balsamiq Wireframes
The markup tools allow me to add details to better explain certain elements of my vision. Being able easily include or exclude the markups upon exporting the document is a very cool feature
Having the ability to export one or more pages as a single or multiple page PDF provides you flexibility.
There is a lot more to this simple wireframe tool than what I mentioned above. Just go ahead and give it a try. The price points are good and the value you will get is better
