Confessions of a Former Visio Junkie: Axure RP

My name is Erin. E-R-I-N.

I used Visio for the first time in 2005 and continued using it on an almost daily basis for around 4 straight years thereafter.

I’ve collected Visio stencils out the wazoo, and can produce a Visio drawing so slick you’d have sworn it was built in Photoshop.

But earlier this year, as I interviewed candidates for a growing UX team, I realized that I couldn’t deny the wide variety of tools with which practitioners were dabbling — Fireworks, InDesign, Axure, Balsamiq, iRise, Illustrator — you name it.  Would my die-hard commitment to a semi-antiquated tool make me less marketable than the next guy?

Freedom and broadened horizons were both top considerations in my decision to move from permanent employment to consulting, and I realized that my technological toolbox had to be a part of that — no matter how steep the learning curve seemed. The first new tool I tried was Axure RP.

Axure RP for Rapid Prototyping

The need for rapid prototyping originated with the project’s specifics; We were planning a social, dynamic web experience with a large group of stakeholders from across the organization.  History has taught me that detailed annotations explaining all the possible states would not be easy for the business to understand, if they even read them at all. Interactive wires were the way to go.

We were considering Axure, iRise, Photoshare, and Balsamiq.  Having reviewed each of their features, I thought the easiest way to decide would be by trying each of them.

I started and ended my trials with Axure. Just a couple of hours after having downloaded it, I was surprised to find myself fairly well along in an interactive prototype, full of unexpected functionality that would have taken days to wire up and annotate in Visio.

I spent around a week polishing a prototype that made it much easier to communicate dynamic interactions to a diverse stakeholder audience, at which point I’d probably reached the edges of the tool’s functionality.

Pros and Cons of Axure RP

Off the top of my head, these are a few considerations to keep in mind if you’re considering Axure RP.

Strengths of Axure RP

Weaknesses of Axure RP

Basic Microsoft-based controls, very low learning curve for anyone familiar with PPT or Visio Extensive availability of masters reduces redundant design dramatically Allow for hover/rollover states and other rich interactions (unlike most drawing tools) Very easy to create many standard interactions Automatic and customizable outputs in both HTML and Word Embed annotations contextually in interactive prototypes.

Overall, wires created within the tool (and the tool itself) are a bit aesthetically lacking. Interactive HTML prototypes consist of multiple files, so to allow users to review work independently, you need a server where it can be posted.  Otherwise, you’ll have to zip the files together and hope that stakeholders can figure it out. Layered elements can cause hover/rollover states to be fickle. Dynamic panels within the experience can be hard to keep track of – only discreet pages are easily navigable. Strangely, hyperlinks can’t be inserted within blocks of text. The hyperlink has to be a separate element, which can be hard to position just so.

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Although Axure RP offered lots of advantages that I haven’t seen in other tools, some of the glitches were substantial. I’d encourage anyone comfortable with standard Microsoft controls to give it a shake. I’m eager to see where the developers take it.

Expect more entries from me in the future detailing my trysts with other technologies — the next of which will be Omigraffle.

Have you tried Axure RP? What’d you think about it?

See also

1. Axure 6.5 Beta! Woo hoo!
2. Questionable Designs: Visio Installation
3. What exactly does a User Experience (UX) Architect do?