

Wireframing, UX and Web apps - destraynor
http://www.contrast.ie/blog/wireframing-for-web-apps/

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brijeshp
Great post; I've worked independently & in interactive agencies and the
biggest challenge I've seen in an agency setting is the cost, time, and effort
expended into the evolution of a wireframe prototype from a raw, low-fidelity
to a tantalizing, high-fidelity prototype. Problem in agencies is that UX
folks are too focused on concrete information architecture-driven design
(using legacy techniques) and not on exploring the solution space, and many
times lack strategic foresight, rudimentary copywriting skills, and tech
acumen. My thought: teach a coder, who thinks strategically, the basics of UX,
competitive analysis, and pattern scoping and he will churn out a speedy &
exploratory prototype more expeditiously than an agency.

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jamesjyu
This article pretty much sums up exactly the process I go through when
wireframing a new web app. Personally, I use adobe fireworks to do this, and
I've gotten fast enough with it that when I'm in the zone, I can express
myself in it almost faster than writing it down or talking.

The most important point here, IMHO, is that wireframing should be done in a
medium that you can change fast without much effort or fear.

This is why I don't like the whole HTML/CSS wireframing technique. That works
great if you only have 1 or 2 directions to go in, but what if you're
exploring 7? You end up having to manage 7 different html and css files. In
fireworks, I just click "duplicate page" and nudge a few UI elements around.

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jimstem
Thanks so much for writing this. I've been a UX consultant for almost 20 years
and it's always good to see these kinds of things as some of us forget the
simple things over time.

Also, this is a great tool to share with project teams that think wireframing
has no place in an Agile or "Lean" methodology. Wireframing can, as you have
eloquently put, be very simple and FAST and is not considered a "deliverable",
nor should it be. It's a means to the end result of a good solid set of
requirements (both functional and UX).

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destraynor
Our site is getting hammered at the moment. Apologies to those it won't load
for.

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Charlie_B
That happened to me once from this site. It lead me to do the following (which
also I happened to post today):
[http://www.bootstrappingindependence.com/technology/how-
to-i...](http://www.bootstrappingindependence.com/technology/how-to-improve-
website-performance-with-drupal-php-mysql-and-apache/)

Can't see what your running, but if you use WordPress, just install WP Super
Cache instead of (or in addition to) everything in my article ;)

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harrybr
I'm surprised Wordpress haven't built caching into the platform yet. wp super
cache will fix your problem, though.

