OT: Q about mockup-making software
I am frequently required to make mockups in the course of developing a project. I am not comfortable using Dreamweaver or another WYSIWYG tool, mostly because I really don't care about the actual HTML that will eventually be generated, and I don't want to need to learn all of the other stuff that comes along with Dreamweaver to do this. I find that I also tend to get sidetracked in making things "look nice" in Dreamweaver, when in reality it just doesn't matter at the time when I'm doing it. Also, I don't even care that the resulting mockup looks much like what it will eventually look like in HTML. The mockup doesn't even need to be dynamic (it needn't show the actual dropping down of dropdown boxes, or the actual scrolling of multiselect boxes, etc). The only dynamicism required is a capability that would allow me to create a set of images that could be navigated by mouse clicks, each mouse click which would essentially just lead to another "page" which could itself be a static image with hotspots representing clickable areas. I have created mockups in the past by creating multiple GIFs, each representing a page (using things like Open Office Draw and/or Visio, saving each "page" I create to a GIF) and using an imagemap editor to create hotspots on the each GIF that lead to another imagemap. This works very well, but it is tedious because I can't seem to find any tools that allow me to do this across multiple images, retaining imagemap state across edits, and allowing me to treat a collection of images + imagemaps as a "project". Additionally, I would like the tool to be able to show me a graphical thumbnail-ish overview of all "pages", with lines drawn between the pages representing the clicktrail. Assuming anyone can decipher my poorly-phrased description of my problem above, does anyone have a preferred method or tool they use to do something like this? I don't care about platform (if it's a Mac tool, and it works well, I'll buy a Mac ;-) If nothing exists, I'll create my own. - C
Chris McDonough wrote:
... Also, I don't even care that the resulting mockup looks much like what it will eventually look like in HTML. The mockup doesn't even need to be dynamic (it needn't show the actual dropping down of dropdown boxes, or the actual scrolling of multiselect boxes, etc). The only dynamicism required is a capability that would allow me to create a set of images that could be navigated by mouse clicks, each mouse click which would essentially just lead to another "page" which could itself be a static image with hotspots representing clickable areas.
That sounds exactly like Denim. http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/ It's pretty nice, though there are a few things it could do better (like have templates for creating new pages.) I tend to draw "looks" with GIMP and then follow up with clickable mockups with Denim. --jcc -- "Code generators follow the 80/20 rule. They solve most of the problems, but not all of the problems. There are always features and edge cases that will need hand-coding. Even if code generation could build 100 percent of the application, there will still be an endless supply of boring meetings about feature design." (http://www.devx.com/java/editorial/15511)
On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 05:24:32PM -0600, J Cameron Cooper wrote:
Chris McDonough wrote:
... Also, I don't even care that the resulting mockup looks much like what it will eventually look like in HTML. The mockup doesn't even need to be dynamic (it needn't show the actual dropping down of dropdown boxes, or the actual scrolling of multiselect boxes, etc). The only dynamicism required is a capability that would allow me to create a set of images that could be navigated by mouse clicks, each mouse click which would essentially just lead to another "page" which could itself be a static image with hotspots representing clickable areas.
That sounds exactly like Denim. http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/
It's pretty nice, though there are a few things it could do better (like have templates for creating new pages.)
I tend to draw "looks" with GIMP and then follow up with clickable mockups with Denim.
That looks pretty cool. Can you easily import your graphics from GIMP into Denim? They seem to encourage doing everything in denim with a graphics tablet & stylus. highlight of the promo video: "Bob is struck by sudden inspiration..." -- Paul Winkler http://www.slinkp.com Look! Up in the sky! It's STRONG WIZARD! (random hero from isometric.spaceninja.com)
On Thu, 2004-02-05 at 18:41, Paul Winkler wrote:
That sounds exactly like Denim. http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/
This is really excellent, thanks for the pointer! Very valuable.
It's pretty nice, though there are a few things it could do better (like have templates for creating new pages.)
It would be nice to be able to export denim "run mode" stuff to a directory full of GIFs and HTML files containing imagemaps and be able to put it up on a webserver. For all I know, that's possible with some external tool, but doesn't appear to be possible within the tool itself. No maillist archives evident, guess I'll need to google around or look through source.
That looks pretty cool. Can you easily import your graphics from GIMP into Denim?
Doesn't look like it. That's ok for me; creating anything pretty is a distraction.
They seem to encourage doing everything in denim with a graphics tablet & stylus.
That would probably also be ok with me; I don't know how much Tablet PCs cost, but this is an excuse to buy one. ;-) It does work without tablet and stylus pretty well, though.
highlight of the promo video: "Bob is struck by sudden inspiration..."
Dammit, now you've made me need to go install RealPlayer. ;-) - C
Chris McDonough wrote:
On Thu, 2004-02-05 at 18:41, Paul Winkler wrote:
It's pretty nice, though there are a few things it could do better (like have templates for creating new pages.)
It would be nice to be able to export denim "run mode" stuff to a directory full of GIFs and HTML files containing imagemaps and be able to put it up on a webserver. For all I know, that's possible with some external tool, but doesn't appear to be possible within the tool itself. No maillist archives evident, guess I'll need to google around or look through source.
Good news for you: you can do that already. A link off the front page goes to: http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/denim_daily_files/page149.html which is an exported site. It's one of the "Save As..." types. --jcc -- "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."
On Thu, 2004-02-05 at 19:32, J Cameron Cooper wrote:
Good news for you: you can do that already. A link off the front page goes to:
http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/denim_daily_files/page149.html
which is an exported site. It's one of the "Save As..." types.
Woo hoo! Bliss. Excellent, excellent, excellent. - C
Paul Winkler wrote:
On Thu, Feb 05, 2004 at 05:24:32PM -0600, J Cameron Cooper wrote:
Chris McDonough wrote:
... Also, I don't even care that the resulting mockup looks much like what it will eventually look like in HTML. The mockup doesn't even need to be dynamic (it needn't show the actual dropping down of dropdown boxes, or the actual scrolling of multiselect boxes, etc). The only dynamicism required is a capability that would allow me to create a set of images that could be navigated by mouse clicks, each mouse click which would essentially just lead to another "page" which could itself be a static image with hotspots representing clickable areas.
hat sounds exactly like Denim. http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/
It's pretty nice, though there are a few things it could do better (like have templates for creating new pages.)
I tend to draw "looks" with GIMP and then follow up with clickable mockups with Denim.
That looks pretty cool. Can you easily import your graphics from GIMP into Denim? They seem to encourage doing everything in denim with a graphics tablet & stylus.
highlight of the promo video: "Bob is struck by sudden inspiration..."
Denim, alas, doesn't support images. I can see why they wouldn't focus much on that at the beginning due to its focus on sketchability. But it would be nice to have for supplementing the look of the produced sites. It's under a Berkeley license, so I suppose you can add that it you're motivated enough. I just sketch the outlines of the basic graphical structures from the image. Which is actually quite nice, as clients tend not to get bogged down in details. You can say "we'll deal with that later" but a sketch like that says it for you. Very effectively. (You can use a mouse rather than a pen-input system, in case anyone was wondering.) --jcc -- "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you."
On Thursday 05 February 2004 18:24, J Cameron Cooper wrote:
That sounds exactly like Denim. http://guir.berkeley.edu/projects/denim/
Wow!!! This tools looks awesome! Since it is Java, you could write a Jython-based code generator. Regards, Stephan -- Stephan Richter CBU Physics & Chemistry (B.S.) / Tufts Physics (Ph.D. student) Web2k - Web Software Design, Development and Training
participants (4)
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Chris McDonough -
J Cameron Cooper -
Paul Winkler -
Stephan Richter