Easy screen mockups with WireframeSketcher
As software developer it is very useful to reflect on the UI you are creating before you start coding. That’s when you need create screen mockups. There are many open source and commercial tools on the market. The latest and greatest newcomer in this area is WireframeSketcher.
What makes this product so great ? First of all, it integrates perfectly in Eclipse, the IDE of choice for me and most other Java developers (sorry Netbeans guys). Installation is standard, add the WireframeSketcher update site and click install. At least Eclipse 3.3 is required to use WireframeSketcher.
Creating mockups was never easier. Start by opening the sketching perspective.
You see all available widgets in a panel on the right, nicely arranged in categories if you like. Choose new -> screen and drag the widgets on the screen.
WireframeSketcher helps you to nicely outline your widgets. Whenever two or more widgets are outlined to the left, right or in the middle, a blue line appears indicating the common outline.
When you’re done with your mockup, you can generate png files from your screen and distribute it to your developers, or use it in your software specifications. You can even generate the png files using a command line tool.
I have nothing but good to say about WireframeSketcher : it does its job and it does it well. Simple – fast – easy.
Tags: Eclipse