Easily Mock-up Web Pages – No Artist Required

I’ve been playing around with a great piece of software that will help you describe, layout and design web pages more easily than you ever thought could be possible.

Its called Balsamiq – and it allows you to create simple user-interface mock-ups (aka wire-frames) for web pages or software applications without any software to download or without any artistic talents whatsoever.

The software is written in Adobe Air – which means that it works on all software platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and is offered as a free/demo web-based version or as a download that allows you to work with it offline for $79.

I like it.  I like its simplicity.  I like the way that the controls are designed to look hand-drawn .. so that everyone clearly knows that its just a mock-up.

This is a great tool for anyone who is having to work with software developers or web designers and you are trying to get your own design requirements across clearly.

This is especially useful for anyone needing to create landing/squeeze pages for internet marketing and relying on the skills of a graphics designer as not all web designers “get” the key requirements that make a strong landing page.

Once you are complete with the mock-up – you can export it to a PNG file to save, email, etc.

I would love to see this application progress to the next stage in this process and offer prototyping capabilities (the ability to string a number of mock-ups together so that they you can describe how to USE what you are designing – not just how it will look.

I highly recommend you all to take a look.