The Excel prototype can be powerful if you are designing financial tools or complex forms where you might want to simulate data input and usage within the form. I teach a prototyping class and invite students to use either PowerPoint or Excel to create interactive prototypes. Excel is tougher, but I've seen some wonderfully interactive forms that use the Excel functions to simulate data input, output, and calculations - with little or no coding.
The big trick with Excel is understanding how the graphical layer and the cell layer interact with each other. For many things, PowerPoint and Axure are better tools, but for looking at interactions for tools where data input, output, and calculations are important, you can gain some good insight with Excel as your prototyping tool. Chauncey On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 8:11 PM, Petra<[email protected]> wrote: > I created a paper prototype that was fun testing on local users but > when it got to testing remote users I thought perhaps I'd try to > create an online prototype. I started with PowerPoint but found the > macros deficient and a couple of things I wanted to do I couldn't. I > then ordered Effective Prototyping with Excel by Bergen et al, > expecting that their prototypes would involve some basic coding but > found they didn't. A programming colleague showed me a couple of > very basic code statements in Excel and I realised that with the > Control Toolbox widgets, .Visible = True and .Visible = False > statements, a couple of If statements, a little googling and a little > recording of macros to figure out some code, I could create a pretty > workable prototype, albeit only able to handle very specific use > cases. > > I would appreciate responses on: > * the value of this type of prototype > * whether it is possible to have more control over formatting of the > Control Toolbox widgets, or, alternatively substitute the Forms > toolbar widgets which are more formattable > * other "bits of code" that non-coders can add to the repertoire > * ways of making the prototype more like a real prototype, that is, > not totally use case dependent, without going into real coding > territory > * any other suggestions > > http://excelprototyping.weebly.com > > ________________________________________________________________ > 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
