UI Wireframing websites / tools

Posted on July 27, 2010 by
7 comments

I wanted an online tool to create simple and fast wireframe for iphone, ipad and web applications. I evaluated couple of online websites for this before subscribing a paid membership for one of them(mockflow). I know there are may desktop based wireframe tools. Most popular being MS Power Point, Word, Excel & visio for Windows and for Mac OS its keynote & Omnigraffle. There are also other regular hi-fidelity tools like Photoshop, Illustrator & Flash.

One funny thing i have noticed that some good wireframe sites (pidoco.com, hotgloo,)  are extremely expensive and not meant for individuals. They cost something like $50/month to $600/month. They only intend to sell this to corporate and not to individuals.

Here are few that i tried personally.

1. MockFlow ($60/year) - Flash based. Has desktop flash tool that sync to web tool.

This is the one I have finally subscribed. Its excellent tool with predefined templates, a free template store, share your templates, etc. It has simple drag and drop shapes and icons to your design, export as png, pdf, ppt and view site map. Best part is collaboration with comments, whiteboard, version control, etc. You can even have a co-editor.

Cons – sometime its slow and the sync dosent happen. There are still many shapes needed. eg. there is no arrow. The zoom is just upto 100%, you cannot do detail works. The UI is little clumpy. There is no toolbar to directly click on action buttons. You have to go the menu click way.

Few features are -

2. Mockingbird (currently free) – no Flash., no desktop tool. Powered by Cappuccino

There is an  update on 30th July. I got a mail saying its paid now with plans from 2 projects for $9/month, 25 projects for $40/month, and unlimited at $85/month.

Mockingbird screenshot

Its designed& developed by just two Indians working in US. Currently its free but they will start paid subscription. Its more easy and clean then mockflow.com . But its still in basic stage. No collaboration, no image uploads, no chat or comments, very limited shape library. Very slow development and updates. (I guess they are not fulltime company. Its parttime wrok). But its worth what they have done and competiting with big guys. Oh. there is no flash. Its a different framewrok like HTML5. It called as Cappuccino. Just google and check this. You can have multiple pages, add links, drag buttons and share just as link.

Cons – no collaboration team. very basic shapes, lot of limitations when designing. few export options. No options to make notes on the design. As i said, the feature addition is extremely slow.

3. iPlotz ($100 to $500/year) - Flash. Has desktop version too

This was was my favorite. But  to buy its little expensive. It has all the worlds features – many shapes, direct access tool bar, export to many formats, Project management, collaboration and chats, version control, different UI styles (mac, windows, mobile). Many templates and online snippet store.

4. Gliffy ($5 to $800/month). Little expensive.

I liked this even. It has custom shape tool. You can draw any shape but it does not have multiple pages or projects. Its only one page. Its good for charts and diagrams. I hope they extend this for real wireframe with multiple pages per project.

Posted via email from Sameer’s Scribblings

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  • http://twitter.com/wdbecvar Wolf Becvar

    Hey Sameer,
    Don't know where you've got your information from but HotGloo is also designed for individulas not only for corporate use and the prices start at $7/month. That's why there are different pricing plans so every user can choose which one fits his/her needs best.

    Regards,
    Wolf

  • http://www.sameerchavan.com/ Sameer Chavan

    Dear Wolf – Thanks for commenting. I will put a separate section on hotgloo. I have evaluated all wireframing sites myself. I also tried to evaluate hotgloo and went through their videos. But as it has no option to try without putting the credit card and so it prevented me to take further steps. Their $7/month plan is only for one project and that is also high. One project is an impractical option for freelancer or for anyone. The unlimited goes to $50/months which suddenly jumps high. I think there should have been an intermediate plan of say 10 project for $10. But i guess its individual company policy on pricing. Tomorrow if Adobe makes their photoshop for $10,000 , I am sure companies will still buy it as there is no option. Individuals will be screwed.
    I will edit the generalized comment in my blog on pricing of hotgloo & pidoco

  • http://www.aubreyjohnson.com Aubrey

    I use HotGloo, I don't think its a high price. Most of the time I'm working on ONE thing so the one project for $7 isn't a big deal. Also, unlimited is $14 if I ever got a little wild and wanted to do more.

    Both prices are less than I usually spend on Lunch each day.

  • http://www.sameerchavan.com/ Sameer Chavan

    Dear Aubrey – thanks for your comments. What is one project in HotGloo ? is it one at a time ? Can you delete the project and start new for new client ?. For Example i am working on ipad, iphone, android and its web app. Each application constitutes about 25 clickable pages. So is that 4 project or one. I liked the HotGloo UI and detail widgets/shapes.

  • http://twitter.com/wdbecvar Wolf Becvar

    Hey Sameer,

    Sorry I forgot to mention earlier that I'm with HotGloo so thanks anyways for mentioning us in your compiled list.

    Let me bring some light to our pricing although I think it's very self-explanatory. We have a free plan which doesn't require a credit card, limited to 1 project / 10 pages. Our Single Plan covers 1 Project / unlimited pages, yes you can delete it and start over again – a fair price for freelancers who wouldn't need more than 1 project at a time. The Team plan for $14 comes with 2 projects and you can add additional projects for $5 each so it's a really flexible plan – you just pay what you need. And for bigger companies, working on multiple projects at the same time we have the enterprise plan – unlimited, which for this price is also unique in the business. All paid plans come with a 30 day free tiral, yes you have to put doen cc details but this is just a precaution to prevent fraud. If you cancel within the 30days you won't get billed. And since we are really nice guys we also remind our 30day trial users 5 days before the trial is over.

    In general we think quality pays off: we don't use the out of the box elements, everything is being coded from scratch, editor and elements are being designed for best usability. HotGloo is completely interactive, not like some other companies wo only have linkable pictures or elements, we offer fully interactivity. This is really important once you go for Hi-Fi wireframes or prototyping: you cahnge the name in the sitemap and the nav bar is being automatically adapted.

    So we guess it's a fair price for all the functions we deliver, plus the kick-ass fast support coming with paid plans.

    If you have any further questions I'd be happy to answer them.

    - Wolf

  • http://www.amirkhella.com Amir

    Nice list, Sameer :)

    I wouldn't forget about Keynote – See what it can do at http://bit.ly/iPadSD

  • http://www.sameerchavan.com/ Sameer Chavan

    Just got a mail from gomokingbird.com and i was disappointed to see the pricing plan. Its again just one project for $9/month. The cost of online tools is getting to expensive then the desktop tools. I don't know how will web-based OS and cloud sourcing will survive with such expenses on individuals.
    Their plans PER MONTHS cost -
    Personal – 2 projects - $9
    Team – 10 projects - $20
    Pro - 25 projects – $40
    Unlimited – $85