6 ms·

IPhone Mock-up Creator

39 points by slater 18y ago

ashleyw 18y ago
Balsamiq Mockups recently added iPhone elements, I think I prefer it: http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=957 http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=957 Nicely made for a webapp though! :)
st3fan 18y ago
Great way for them to steal your great next killer app idea. I would never use a tool like this.
- billydean 18y ago
  If you still think it's all about a "killer app idea" and not timing, execution, marketing and a million other things, you're doing it wrong.
  - st3fan 18y ago
    Of course there is more to it. But every app starts with a (unique) idea. Think of it as a stealth startup. We do that for a reason too ...
    - stevejalim 18y ago
      'Killer' ideas don't necessarily have to be unique. Just better, so they disrupt the existing market enough to get ahead. [edit - removed extra word]
- LukasMathis 18y ago
  Look, I created this thing for myself and figured it would be useful for others, too. I don't intend to steal your "great next killer app idea", and I already have more ideas than time anyway. Ideas are essentially worthless, everyone has an infinite number of them :-) Furthermore, the mockups on my site are not password protected, so they're essentially public (although there is no easy way to find them). In other words, yes, don't use the site for secret stuff.
cyunker 18y ago
A more low tech way: http://graffletopia.com/stencils/437 http://graffletopia.com/stencils/437
- kolya3 18y ago
  I highly recommend Omnigraffle Pro to anyone trying to diagram their app ui's, flows, etc. It's way better than Visio. The site cyunker is linking to is a goldmine of stencils.
lpgauth 18y ago
A pencil and some sheets of paper are all I need to do my mock-ups... Still don't get these services :/
- thwarted 18y ago
  Especially when you're manipulating something that looks like you drew it with a pencil anyway.
  - alabut 18y ago
    As a designer, I couldn't agree more, it's absolutely essential to get your thoughts down visually as quickly as possible (when you've got an idea for a UI and need to capture it) or even more importantly, to work out your ideas in the first place. Also, paper is a very shareable medium. Both in terms of being able to pass around, whether in the office or by scanning in, and also because it's so amenable to collaboration, which is really important for me and getting participation from a wide range of people. No one's going to be intimidated by some sketches on a piece of paper, so it's great for creating conversations with programmers, marketers, etc. If anyone's interested in a longer explanation, I gave a presentation on prototyping at Adobe last month and a good chunk of it was about how much I love paper: http://tr.im/gMJ9 http://tr.im/gMJ9 (slideshow + audio)
    - LukasMathis 18y ago
      You're absolutely right, and for people in the same office, I'd use paper, too. But I have to collaborate with people who live far away from me, which is why I created this web version of pen and paper for myself. The idea is that several people open the same mockup and move stuff around on the screen while they're on the phone, talking about the mockup, similar to what you would do with plain old paper when sitting next to each other.
      - alabut 18y ago
        I like that you're trying to tackle the specific problem of real-time remote collaboration and made a tool to address that - that's great! The difference for me is that I rarely see value in it, compared to just scanning in a quick sketch and then collecting input via IM or email, or even with getting other scanned sketches back in return. For example, here's a quick sketch by Jason at 37signals to get across the overall layout of their new home page: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1629-preview-of-the-new-37signalscom-launching http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1629-preview-of-the-new-3...
kwamenum86 18y ago
This is a cool app but why not just muck around with the iPhone App interface builder that comes with the SDK. It is basically a much better version of this web app.
- LukasMathis 18y ago
  Two reasons: First, those mockups are not supposed to look "real". The idea is to give somebody something that very obviously is not anywhere near a finished product so as not to give the wrong impression of how "finished" the product is. Second, it's easy to share my mockups since you can simply share the URL, and all changes will be synchronized live. So you can collaborate over the phone and see each other's changes (which is why I've made the thing).
huangnankun 18y ago
+ Uses Canvas + Javascript + Loads faster than flash based solutions ( balsamiq or IPlotz ) + I like the hand-drawn look - not enough tools such as align , snap.etc - no multiple pages Really nice work though! I've been looking at these mockups tools lately and none really does 100% of what I want. Maybe I'll write one.
- LukasMathis 18y ago
  I've been putting this together for myself in a few hours, so there are not too many features yet. Automatic snap-to is certainly something on my to-do-list, align probably too. Not sure about multiple pages since it's easy to just create additional mockups.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

39 points by slater 18y ago

Balsamiq Mockups recently added iPhone elements, I think I prefer it: http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=957 http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/?p=957 Nicely made for a webapp though! :)

st3fan 18y ago

Great way for them to steal your great next killer app idea. I would never use a tool like this.

billydean 18y ago
If you still think it's all about a "killer app idea" and not timing, execution, marketing and a million other things, you're doing it wrong.
- st3fan 18y ago
  Of course there is more to it. But every app starts with a (unique) idea. Think of it as a stealth startup. We do that for a reason too ...
  - stevejalim 18y ago
    'Killer' ideas don't necessarily have to be unique. Just better, so they disrupt the existing market enough to get ahead. [edit - removed extra word]
LukasMathis 18y ago
Look, I created this thing for myself and figured it would be useful for others, too. I don't intend to steal your "great next killer app idea", and I already have more ideas than time anyway. Ideas are essentially worthless, everyone has an infinite number of them :-) Furthermore, the mockups on my site are not password protected, so they're essentially public (although there is no easy way to find them). In other words, yes, don't use the site for secret stuff.

cyunker 18y ago

A more low tech way: http://graffletopia.com/stencils/437 http://graffletopia.com/stencils/437

kolya3 18y ago
I highly recommend Omnigraffle Pro to anyone trying to diagram their app ui's, flows, etc. It's way better than Visio. The site cyunker is linking to is a goldmine of stencils.

lpgauth 18y ago

A pencil and some sheets of paper are all I need to do my mock-ups... Still don't get these services :/

thwarted 18y ago
Especially when you're manipulating something that looks like you drew it with a pencil anyway.
- alabut 18y ago
  As a designer, I couldn't agree more, it's absolutely essential to get your thoughts down visually as quickly as possible (when you've got an idea for a UI and need to capture it) or even more importantly, to work out your ideas in the first place. Also, paper is a very shareable medium. Both in terms of being able to pass around, whether in the office or by scanning in, and also because it's so amenable to collaboration, which is really important for me and getting participation from a wide range of people. No one's going to be intimidated by some sketches on a piece of paper, so it's great for creating conversations with programmers, marketers, etc. If anyone's interested in a longer explanation, I gave a presentation on prototyping at Adobe last month and a good chunk of it was about how much I love paper: http://tr.im/gMJ9 http://tr.im/gMJ9 (slideshow + audio)
  - LukasMathis 18y ago
    You're absolutely right, and for people in the same office, I'd use paper, too. But I have to collaborate with people who live far away from me, which is why I created this web version of pen and paper for myself. The idea is that several people open the same mockup and move stuff around on the screen while they're on the phone, talking about the mockup, similar to what you would do with plain old paper when sitting next to each other.
    - alabut 18y ago
      I like that you're trying to tackle the specific problem of real-time remote collaboration and made a tool to address that - that's great! The difference for me is that I rarely see value in it, compared to just scanning in a quick sketch and then collecting input via IM or email, or even with getting other scanned sketches back in return. For example, here's a quick sketch by Jason at 37signals to get across the overall layout of their new home page: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1629-preview-of-the-new-37signalscom-launching http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1629-preview-of-the-new-3...

kwamenum86 18y ago

This is a cool app but why not just muck around with the iPhone App interface builder that comes with the SDK. It is basically a much better version of this web app.

LukasMathis 18y ago
Two reasons: First, those mockups are not supposed to look "real". The idea is to give somebody something that very obviously is not anywhere near a finished product so as not to give the wrong impression of how "finished" the product is. Second, it's easy to share my mockups since you can simply share the URL, and all changes will be synchronized live. So you can collaborate over the phone and see each other's changes (which is why I've made the thing).

huangnankun 18y ago

+ Uses Canvas + Javascript + Loads faster than flash based solutions ( balsamiq or IPlotz ) + I like the hand-drawn look - not enough tools such as align , snap.etc - no multiple pages Really nice work though! I've been looking at these mockups tools lately and none really does 100% of what I want. Maybe I'll write one.

LukasMathis 18y ago
I've been putting this together for myself in a few hours, so there are not too many features yet. Automatic snap-to is certainly something on my to-do-list, align probably too. Not sure about multiple pages since it's easy to just create additional mockups.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]