Wireframing with Gliffy ...

Review

Lame but true: Gliffy is my new best friend.



As a business analyst, I spend my work days crafting requirements for web applications, which include wireframes that illustrate the page layouts. Web site wireframes are blue prints that define a page’s content and functionality, without conveying design elements, like colors, graphics, or fonts.




Since wireframes are one of my key deliverables, I’ve tried a number of different tools, including Visio, SmartDraw, Balsmiq, and Google Docs Drawings. For web site wireframes, my hands-down, indispensable, favorite tool-of-choice is Gliffy.

Here’s why:

  1. Gliffy is a visual tool fluent in pixels. I can drag and drop shapes in Gliffy to my heart’s content, but I can also specify the precise pixel dimensions, and position shapes at exact positions on the page. Most other tools force you to drag everything into place by hand – which is like flying an airplane without an altimeter!
  2. Gliffy exports drawings to standard formats, like JPEG, PNG, and SVG (Visio). It’s easy to paste Gliffy images into Word docs or insert them into Google Docs.
  3. Gliffy is cloud-based. I can use Gliffy anywhere there’s an Internet connection and a browser. It also works great with Chrome!
  4. Gliffy is reliable and well-supported. After several weeks of hard use, I’ve had exactly one functional issue with Gliffy. I filed a ticket, and an hour later my problem was solved.
  5. Gliffy stores drawings in easy to manage folders, and files that are quick to load, and easy to share.
  6. Gliffy is inexpensive … starting with free. A free account has the same utility as a paid account, but imprints your drawings with a “Powered by Gliffy” advertisement. The paid accounts start a $5 a month for one user, or $25 a month for ten users.
    (Did I mention that Gliffy lets you specify shapes in pixels?)


    The next time you need to whip up a wireframe or UI mockup, do yourself a favor and take Gliffy for a spin.


    (Did I mention it was free?)