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Comment by digitalengineer | Hacker News Reader

thank you for the book and the good links inside.

@ HN community, @mtreder, I'd love to hear what you think about Axure http://www.axure.com/ ? I'm currently studing it and it has a lot of great features (more than most tools), including the ability o generate a spec sheet and html/css prototype without actually requiring me to do the actual html/css just for a prototype. Have any of you got any experience with Axure? Pro's? con's?

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I briefly used Axure and found it to be pretty solid. I know a lot of UX professionals that swear by it, but frankly it was not for me. For lo-fi prototypes, I still use paper. And, as I move into higher fidelity prototypes, I find it much easier to just code the prototype in HTML/CSS/JS. The primary benefit being that I can easily prototype responsive layouts without double (or triple) work, and the final product can be used as an input to the development process.

Thank you! I see the ability to communicate within the file (working assumptions, feedback and priorities) as a real pro. Also; I've tried html/css and as a designer I'm just not fast enough in it. I don't have the time to keep learning design, ui, ux and html/css. Axure looks like it allows me to concentrate on the user, the flow and the ui/design without worrying about the code and all the browser-stuff related to it. The generated prototyes allow for good testing.

My only cautionary advice is that it is becoming more common to see the UI/UX role to encompass design, HCI, and front-end development. You might be limiting yourself by having a narrow focus.

Thank you, I see a much bigger role for UI/UX these days. It's everywhere and -as I see it- it working with Axure would allow me to create high fidelity prototypes, much better than my old friend OmniGraffle. I enjoy working with wireframes, flows and solving problems. It's what I do, even more than designing. I'd like to be able to build html prototypes without the 'hassle'. (Dangerous thing to say here at HN, but I don't much like coding and html/css. I do like working with developers/frontend pro's).

Completely understand. I know a number of successful, well-respected UI/UX folk who do not code.

I've used Axure quite a bit, since v5. There's a steep learning curve once you want to use any of those advanced features.

I'm not sure how good your front-end coding knowledge is, but these days I find it's just as quick to prototype with Bootstrap.

Of all the features I use regularly, the main one is a hand-drawn library which is great for showing people rough layouts without them focusing on colours and typography.

Thank you for your kind words! Since I'm owner of UXPin (http://uxpin.com), I shouldn't really discussing pros and cons of competitors.

I really respect guys at Axure and I used Axure for couple of years. Still I've created my own prototyping and wireframing software, so you know ;)

Silly me! I scanned the ebook, looked at the examples and visited some links you put in there but hadn't yet taken a good look at your company. My apologies, sir.

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