This is version 2 of the Better Defaults library, expanded to sixty five (or so) interactive and cleanly styled widgets. Use it in place of the standard widget set. Reasons to use these widgets include: Consistent and improved styling. Polished interactivity. Standardized labeling. Expanded set of shapes & controls. Rollover, MouseDown, Selected, and Disabled styles [...]

Want to make your own Axure libraries? This is a short how-to guide on getting the most out of it.

Kevin Wick has posted a very nice sketchy-styled Axure library.  I highly recommend it. Prototyping in a very low-fidelity visual style generally helps your stakeholders provide feedback at the right level, as discussed in this article, and has been adopted by many other design tools, notably Balsamiq.

I recently joined a wave of about seven user experience professionals, with all of us participating and discussing, in real-time, the merits of Wave. In fairness, if you send seven UX snobs to review almost any interface, you can expect some berating. And this is a closed “preview” (read: beta) version. But what occurred was [...]

Web applications and sites these days are using many social features. This library, compatible with Axure versions 5.5 and up, contains many of the standard widgets you will need to prototype basic social functionality. You’ll find a lot more than nice looking stencils – these widgets have polished interactivity, for your prototyping and usability testing [...]

I continually see folks asking for examples of Axure wireframes. We just relaunched engagebig.com with a fresh design and some simple interactions. The prototype for the site is now here for your perusal: Engagebig.com v2 Prototype

I tried to log in to an old last.fm account today, which I have not accessed in years.  This should be simple for me using my handy-dandy password algorithm method – except that Last.fm wants to throw a curveball my way.  They require a username and password to login.  And, as their designers cackle maniacly [...]

About a month ago, the folks at Zurb published a nice article about sketching wireframes.  I went ahead and purchased some new sketching items including a nice thick sharpie and a cool gray “dropshadow” pen. The difference in my sketches is incredible.  Zurb hits the nail on the head, saying, “Although we advocate keeping things [...]

We’ve been busy over at the Breakthrough Innovation Group working on our passion project, Do the Right Thing.com.  Although successful at first, the original site has become somewhat inactive after the concept failed to produce the real change that we are hoping to make. In the name of transparency and providing a useful example for [...]

Wireframing is like playing a piano: I’ve seen designers ripping like Vivaldi, and others plodding along like a drunken Tom Waits.  Here are some techniques that can help ensure your designs make it from your whiteboard, or your head, into a digital wireframe as fast as possible.