Ask HN: Which tool do you use for web prototyping? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Which tool do you use for web prototyping?

3 pointsddmng4 comments

Hi! I'm searching for a better prototyping tool for my web project. I'm using Balsamiq but I'm not very satisfied with it: I need to launch it with wine (I'm on Linux) and the control library is not very rich. LucidChart looks interesting but I've not compared it with something else. What can you suggest?

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For the wireframes, I like Sketch and OmniGraffle -- I've used a ton of tools, I keep coming back to these two:

* Sketch - Professional Digital Design for Mac || https://www.sketchapp.com/

* OmniGraffle - diagramming and graphic design for Mac, iPhone, and iPad - The Omni Group || https://www.omnigroup.com/omnigraffle

I don't dislike Balsamiq... and if you have to work with Windows... cool, this is probably your best option. Still has its place, it's fast and easy to use.

* Balsamiq. Rapid, effective and fun wireframing software. | Balsamiq || https://balsamiq.com/

(I also don't hate just doing quick mockups in Bootstrap, it's fast and simple to slap together.)

http://getbootstrap.com/

(And if HTML isn't your thing... there are some WYSIWYG tools.)

* Jetstrap - The Bootstrap Interface Builder || https://jetstrap.com/

For clickable interactive demos, I like:

* Free mobile & web prototyping (iOS, iPhone, Android) for designers – Marvel || https://marvelapp.com/

(NOTE: I don't love the feedback tools in Marvel or InVision -- and I really hate how much InVision tries to do, I don't want my design tools to do project management or 14 other things, I just want them to do design.)

I like drawing... this works great too...

* POP - Prototyping on Paper | Mobile App Prototyping Made Easy || https://popapp.in/

For feedback and annotations, I like:

* Red Pen || https://redpen.io/

(NOTE: But I wish Red Pen integrated with Slack... it's a one-hit-wonder, the creators built it 3-4 years ago and basically haven't done shit for improvements since... frustrating since it's still useful but they literally don't care about making it any better than it is...)

So the best ones are on Mac :(

What do you dislike about Balsamiq?

When I want to do a mockup fast, I don't think there's anything better than Balsamiq. And... the point of ux wires / mockups is to get them done quickly, right? Move on to visual design and then dev...

Ain't nothing wrong with Balsamiq.

Bootstrap isn't Mac dependent. It works great too as long as you have basic HTML knowledge.

Bootstrap and Middleman

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