Hi there, Helen, Couple of things to throw in on this one, hopefully without muddying the waters:
*** AJAX, Axure and prototyping *** Becky Reed, earlier: "Depicting the more animated features available through JS libraries (like drag and drop) is tough" Becky's absolutely right about that. Not that I would single out Axure, it's just that the problem probably goes deeper than any particular brand of prototyping software. It's been alluded to already: http://www.andersramsay.com/2008/10/29/three-reasons-why-i-dont-use-prototyping-tools/ (and subsequently) http://toddwarfel.com/archives/three-reasons-not-to-use-prototyping-tools/ ... and attempts have been made to address it ... http://particletree.com/features/a-designers-guide-to-prototyping-ajax/ But as Anders says, the tools themselves are always playing catch-up. Vendors can only really follow up with patterns reflecting what we've already created by a consensus of good usability. Or, to put it in blunt and grossly unfair terms, they take what we created and sell it back to us as workflow! Hey, just kidding ;-) *** WCAG prototypes *** I also wondered why you were interested in generating WCAG code for your prototype. Is it because you intend to test your prototype with assistive technology users as your test subjects? With the best will in the world, Axure and friends would probably find it pretty tough to do genuinely accessible output. So if that is indeed your requirement, I would recommend that you go "grassroots" and build some basic XHTML/CSS focusing on the specific functionality you want to test (rather than building whole page layouts, for example). Mike Padgett ------------------- www.mikepadgett.com ------------------- >1. My experience (myself and a production designer) has been the learning >curve isn't too bad...a few days of intense work and a trial run learning how >dynamic panels and events need to be layered to work best. I've used Visio (a >lot), Dreamweaver, and a few other low fidelity options in times past...I >thought it was pretty easy for the lovely working results you get. There are >also libraries for Axure these days which would have probably saved me some >time if they were available when I first started using Axure. > >2. I have used Visio stuff in Axure a bunch. Axure doesn't format text as >nicely as sometimes required (the wrap on bullet points - even for greeked >text - distracting!) so I bring in Visio stuff when necessary. I just bring >them in as images, so I don't know if you mean that or preserving Visio >interactions that are possible with VB (never tried that - wouldn't seem >possible). > >3. Nope, nada. Step away!! Lots of image maps and so forth. Nope. Nope. Nope. >I'd love to see a prototyping tool that is actually as useful and budgetable >as Axure that does produce compliant code though...perhaps my own ignorance >here. There was a product called...mmm...don't remember...it was like the talk >of the conferences a year ago...anyway...just didn't have Axure's features and >my engineers would freak if I delivered them code...so I didn't march any >further down that front. > >4. Depicting the more animated features available through JS libraries (like >drag and drop) is tough. It's a little "Wait! Pretend this happened!" and less >"Ding!" or "Swoooosh!" It does seem like a loved and cared for product, so I >sit here in my cube...always hopeful. > >Since you mentioned documentation - they seem to have done a lot around that, >but I still haven't reached nirvana on that...I do a lot of stuff that seems >to work best using their notion of dynamic panels (ala web app) vs. their >notion of pages (ala traditional refresh sort of thing) and I have found >generating ready-to-go specs a bit of a challenge. > >Becky Reed > >-----Original Message----- >From: [email protected] >[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Helen >Killingbeck >Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 5:45 PM >To: IXDA list >Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Axure - Questions...and more questions > >Thinking about using Axure for prototyping as there are many great benefits >from a documentation point of view. >However I am wondering about the learning curve and the ability to import >previously documented high level page structures (Visio) > > >Questions >1. What would be your estimate regarding the learning curve (timewise) to >becoming productive with Axure without feeling like you are blowing the >project timelines for deliverables? > >2. Can you import Visio drawings into Axure? > >3. My understanding is that Axure produces html code. So how compliant is >the code when trying to ensure WCAG 2 compliant code? > >4. What are the downfalls of using Axure? > >Thanks in advance. > >Helen >________________________________________________________________ >Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >To post to this list ....... [email protected] >Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > > >________________________________________________________________ >Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >To post to this list ....... [email protected] >Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
