The folks at Balsamiq provided me with a no strings attached license for an honest review of their software.

Balsamiq is a tool for creating wireframes. It’s an Adobe Air application that loads fast (providing you already have Air installed). I installed it on a Friday morning and decided to see how quickly I could learn to use it. Since I wanted to test it’s complexity and flex it’s capacity, I chose a complex interface randomly from the web. The Expedia.com last minute deals page had a lot going on (probably more than it should) and would be a good test. Below is a screen capture of the original:

Getting started was fairly easy. Not a ton of menus and I’m familiar with most design applications. I got started drawing the big objects, browser window, columns etc. Which turns out to be helpful since the application supports layering. I didn’t need much “bring to front” type of editing. After about 35 minutes I completed the wireframe.

Some tools I’ve used previously to wireframe/paper prototype include: Quark, Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks, HTML and pencil on paper. Balsamiq felt much faster since many of the interface elements were already created (dropdowns, chekboxes, tables etc.) Only the things you’d find in an interface. Very simple.

Pros:

The interface is simple and easy to use. It uses many of the design application standards so it’s quick to get started. The sketched look of the wireframe ensures no one will mistake it for a “mock” or visual design. The focus of wireframes is to indicate structure not style. This tool does that extremely well. You can easily export your designs as PNG files for easy sharing or printing.

Cons:(Some of these may be “newbie” type problems since I’ve only had the application for a few days.)

Some of the constructs allow for font/text resizing while others do not. I would like to determine font size for all elements. Also it wasn’t clear to me how or if I could add my own elements to the application or if there was a community of users contributing to the app. Grouping shortcut made sense [Ctrl + G] where ungroup [Ctrl + Shift + G]. I’d prefer [Ctrl + U] (Quark Standard).

Overall, I was quite pleased with Balsamiq and would recommend (and have) this tool for any designer who wireframes as part of their day to day activities.

I was using Outlook the other day and something caught my eye. The email notification in the lower right corner when I get new email. I’ve been using Twitter for well over a year and have tried a few different applications. Most of them send some notice to the screen when you get a new Tweet. Since Twitter is gaining users buy the boatload I imagine Microsoft, Google and the like have been trying to integrate the simple idea into their applications.

Now, let’s say for argument’s sake, the 140 Character thing is the key to all of this hype. Not too short, not too long. What would Microsoft need to do to mimic this behavior? Simple, just extend the character count in the notification. It currently only allows 80 characters.

Here’s what it would look like with a little visual change and a new category I’m calling “Announcements”. These could be company announcements, group announcements (“Cake in the 2nd floor kitchen for Bob”). Imagine if you could avoid all those kinds of emails from your inbox?

Here’s how I imagine it would look:

And all these little Announcements could be placed in outlook under their own category in Outlook so you can manage, search etc.

Oh and if that doesn’t work, you can always follow me on Twitter