In September 2010, Justinmind will issue a enhanced version of its Prototyper. With Justinmind Prototyper 4.0, you will create dynamic website wireframes and highly fidelity application prototypes without coding. Register online at http://eepurl.com/FNTV to test the new Prototyper and win free licenses of a value of $495 each.
With new fashionable devices like the iPhone or the iPad, the mobile web has boomed. According to ComScore, global leader for analysing web trends and practices, the mobile web really exploded in the last 2 years. Between January 2008 and January 2009, the number of Americans accessing internet through mobile devices went from 36.8 to 63.2 millions. PC, mobiles or tablets website wireframes are more essential than ever.
The daily use of the mobile web has increased even faster as 22.4% of mobile users used a smartphone in 2009, against 10.8% in January 2008.
The study highlights another key point. The new use of applications on smartphones allowing users to get access to their social life online through Facebook and Twitter applications gave a real boost to the use of the mobile web.
The Nielson Norman Group carried out a serie of tests in July 2009 in order to assess the usability of webpages on mobile terminals. More then 20 sites were reviewed on 6 different devices. The results of the analysis highlight striking difference… not in favour of mobiles. According to the report, only 59% of mobile users completed the task they were asked to do, against 80% for traditional PC users.
Among the sites tested, some were specifically optimise for mobile terminals whereas other were tested in their original version for regular computer. This comes as no surprise : websites optimised for mobile get rated 20% higher for usability and navigation issues. Regarding usability, the smartphones are also rated better than traditional terminals. Results are particularly good for Apple’s iPhone that obtained a task completion rate of 75%, against 55% for other smartphones (and 38% for classic mobile phones).
For this particular study, several criterias were taken into account like the screen and keyboard size as well as the site architecture and bandwidth perfomances. « On most phones, the screen is too small. It’s hence not easy to open several windows at the same time. The keyboard typing is rather slow and hazardous » stated the study that encourage webmasters to develop their websites through website wireframes to create effective cross-browser, mobile versions of their websites.
Wireframes are without a doubt the key to an efficient interface. They have been used to think and define webs and apps before developing them. From sketchy drawings to high-fidelity functional prototypes, a wireframe can be used for many purposes, before and even during development. Here we´ll see how you can significantly improve your user interface by using wireframe and/or prototype.
Defining personas
Once you´ve got a first idea of your website, you need to think about the kinds of person that will use it. These user profiles are called personas. Once you ´ve done this, you can start thinking about your web interface always thinking about human interactions and your personas behaviours.
Wireframing user interface
You can now start sketching your website on a piece of paper. More for clients than final users, this part is important for client as wireframes help defining specifications and ultimately are used for the client validation.
Prototyping user interface
It´s important to prototype the user interface with at least, the main interactions being functional. The server side doesn´t need to be protyped, however, with the arrival of the web 2.0, RIA and dynamic websites, data request can be essential to an interface. Some prototyping software like Justinmind Prototyper actually allow you to create the interface and even simulate data, dynamic behaviours.
Carrying out user tests
Once the HTML prototype is done, it´s essential to share it to gather critics and feedbacks on what should be changed or not. This does not only help you to improve the interface but will also help you to gather requirements to include in your specification documents. Along with the prototype, it´s also important to include all kinds of diagrams and navigation flows that will help people and users to understand the information architecture of your website or application. Justinmind´s HTML prototype even allows you to integrate analytic tools to track clicks and views (Google Analytics, CrazyEgg or ClickTale..).
Whether you want to build a brand new interface or simply improve user experience of your website, all these processes are keys to an efficient usability. This part of defining and conceiving your interface is by far the most important one, as the development and success of your app depend on it.
Wireframes and mockups are very useful to define websites or applications. However, in the era of web 2.0, RIAs, web apps and dynamic websites, they need to be combined with more functional prototypes to define an application properly.
Along with mockups and wireframes, the new Justinmind Prototyper 3.0 allows you to create fully functional dynamic prototypes. From highly interactive softwares to mobile apps or complex dynamic websites (i.e. Facebook or Easyjet websites) you can prototype anything in minutes. Both on Windows and Mac, the desktop app is easy as PowerPoint. Justinmind 3.0 provides full drag and drop features to wireframe without any coding. Justinmind is also very powerful as the prototype is, for end users, virtually identical to the final product.
Justinmind offers all the tools you need to do a prototype from A to Z. From sketching to mobile widget libraries, a wide range of templates, masters and widgets are available. Moreover you can drag and drop any image directly from your computer or from other softwares (Photoshop, Illustrator) and add interactivity to them. The prototyper also offers to create conditional navigation by simply dragging & dropping conditions. It lets you make your own interactions dragging and dropping events. You can even create dynamic wireframes by adding real data and content to prototypes. And if you want to test a prototype on progress, no need to export, you can simulate your prototype instantly. However, Justinmind generates HTML and JS so that you can quickly test and share your prototypes.
But more than a wireframing tool, Justinmind also gives you the possibility to add and attach requirements and comments directly to elements. You can also generate and customise specification documents, diagrams and navigation flows for validation.
Conception, design, development and testing, Justinmind Prototyper is a powerful, customisable tool that can be used all through the project. It fluidifies any IT project, improving communication between programmers and non-IT literate people, cutting cost, avoiding rework load.
We are at the end of the second week of the beta contest and new testers are still joining us and giving very helpful feedback.
From now on, those sending us sophisticated prototypes can also win free licenses of our program too.
And finally, here comes the Hall of Fame of the last two weeks:
We would like to thank all 108 testers and remind you that you still have time to win better prizes.
Keep prototyping!
UXmatters, a professional blog for UX designers, just published an extensive review on Justinmind Prototyper. After carrying out in-depth user tests of our wireframing software, they published a very positive review, rating JP above all other wireframing or prototyping tools. Designers, BA or information architect, they recommend its use to all type of professionals involved in an IT project.
Check out the review here!