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Balsamiq Mockups - WOW!

It is rare that I get impressed by something, but I have to admit that balsamiq has managed to really impress me.

Balsamiq mockups is a flash application that you can use to very quickly build a UI mockup. That in itself is not really new. What is new is that they have somehow managed to take this to a completely new level from the point of view of usability. It took me 7 minutes, from first use of their program, to get this thing working:

image

Aaron Jensen talked about it as well, which is how I heard about it, and damn am I thankful for that.

To say that I am impressed is not sufficient, I am going to buy a copy just because I didn't have to (I was able to create the above picture using the free version). If I could do it, and I am so dense in matters of UI that I cannot draw a straight line with a ruler, that is saying a lot. That I could do it so far, that is saying even more.

Print | posted on Monday, December 08, 2008 7:57 AM

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/8/2008 10:03 AM Prajwal Tuladhar

You can also use Serena Prototype Composer (www.serena.com/.../home.html). it's a bit complex than Balsamiq but definitely worth to look out for and moreover it is also free (registration required).

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/8/2008 10:51 AM Tobin Harris

Balsamiq is an awesome tool, it was *exactly* what I was looking for. Glad people are starting to notice it. I've blogged about it a few times, including how the developer made $100,000 in 5 months. Hopefully your NHProf tool will do the same :)

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/8/2008 2:54 PM Ram

Microsoft Visio is also a great tool for those kind of things, using the xp-style controls objects. You can even change the scrollbar position and set the default button, etc. and everything is vector based so it prints very well.

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/8/2008 3:46 PM Neil

This looks fantastic- I think seeing it just changed the way I (and my team) prototype UI's from now on. Thanks for the heads up.

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/9/2008 6:50 AM Kamran

The author recently passed $100,000 USD in revenue after only 5 months, so its a nice one man micro-isv business too :)

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/9/2008 4:51 PM John

Comic Sans MS? Really, Balsamiq?

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 12/9/2008 5:00 PM Scott Watermasysk

Agreed, it is a great handy little tool.

BTW, since you made a blog post, you are probably entitled to a free license.

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 1/13/2009 5:51 PM Dinoboy

I just discovered that we are using it for our current project :) And it's pretty good.

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# re: Balsamiq Mockups - WOW! 1/26/2009 2:04 AM Theresa Neil

I have Visio, Omni, Azure, iRise and a number of other tools for design user interfaces. Until Balsamiq came out I was in love with Omni. I can now wireframe early concepts in Balsamig in 60% less time than in Omni Graffle (I tested it on a current enterprise application I am working on- 18 wireframes in 6 hours for complex screens). I love this tool for the concept/whiteboard design phase.

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