So a few different folks in the SharePoint community have mentioned that they’re huge fans of Balsamiq, and we’re not talking about vinegar. Balsamiq is an application built upon the Adobe AIR framework that allows for rapid development of mockups – typically of web based applications, but can be used for mockups of such technical systems as the iPhone. A quick mockup I did last night using their demonstration copy left me with a definite interest of using the product more regularly when developing quick designs.
In this case, I’ve developed a quick SharePoint-esque mockup of what the swashbuckling developers at Pirate Nosh* would want to design their site to look like. Not only was it extremely easy to drag and drop components onto the page, but I was extremely impressed with the folder tree component which can be customized quickly and easily without having to do a significant amount of “nudging” of graphics to the left or the right or copying and pasting and arranging as you might do in something like Visio.
Overall, a great product by Balsamiq Studios, definitely applaud their product and hope to be using it more often in my daily work when designing interfaces to better help gauge what’s on the page.
*What is Pirate Nosh? An anagram of SharePoint
The Tech Blog of Dan Usher 