Why Should You Use JustProto?
In today’s agile development world, many newer developers haven't ever used a wireframing tool - and they’re missing out on a chance to save a lot of time and money because of it. You like time and money, right? So do we and our clients! That's why we developed JustProto. We wanted to help everyone who creates web sites, Android & iPhone apps, email creatives and everything else that makes today's interactive world so cool.
What Makes JustProto Different?
Traditionally there've been two kinds of wireframing or prototpying tools. Those chained to your computer on the one hand and some web-based flowcharting tools (with a few stock browser icons tossed in) on the other hand. Even moving beyond the typical, there hasn't really been an affordable, web-based tool that offers a fully collaborative, WYSIWYG experience that you, your development team and your client can all participate in quickly and easily.
To address this gap, we developed JustProto with a huge library of built-in icons, images and elements (massively customizable elements, mind you) as well as a file manager that allows you to build your own library. We also made it easy to share interactive previews or fully interactive prototypes with a single URL that clients and partners can tag, comment on, edit or help create while chatting in-app. That's just the tip of the iceberg, though, so if you really want to see what makes it different...
What's So Great About Wireframing?
What's so great about seeing the architect's blueprints for your house before it's built? What's so great about letting pilots use flight simulators before they take to the skies? Yeah.
Whatever approach you take to wireframing - barebones or rich format - there are two key benefits:
- Wireframing lets you flesh out your ideas before you start building, so that you can discover any potential problems or logical inconsistencies before you write your first line of code.
- Prototypes give the client a chance to look at a model of the final product up front, so that they can get an idea of what they’ll be paying for and so that they can do their complaining, commenting (and, with JustProto, make changes) up front instead of at the end - after you thought you were done with the project.
See, JustProto was built from the ground up by developers for wireframing collaboratively, so it gives you and your clients a quick and easy way to experience your prototype and avoid tomorrow’s problems today. You can read about all of JustProto’s great features here, but the bottom line is that JustProto’s features, built just for people like you (and us), will help you start saving time, money and headaches immediately!
How Exactly Does JustProto Save Me Time, Money And Headaches?
Two of the biggest hurdles in development are communication and managing expectations. Most clients hire you because they lack the expertise you have in your field, but that means that you can’t rely on them to intuitively understand how elements of an app or a site (or anything) will look and function. Because of this, you routinely have to explain what everything does and why it's there. Even worse, it means that after you've explained everything, the client doesn't always have realistic expectations in his or her mind. So, when it’s time to release the alpha, beta or the final product, you’re left dealing with email after email saying “Jenny in accounting needs you to move the red button to the left this is a HIGH PRIORITY.” And that’s assuming the release doesn’t land like a thud altogether.
Wireframing with JustProto eliminates problems like these by aligning your client’s expectations with reality early on in the development process. Most of the niggling changes and scope creep you deal with at the end of a project are taken care of quickly, immediately and interactively before development even starts. Additionally, because JustProto is built to let you and the client wireframe together and chat about things inside the app, you’ll have a record of exactly what they want and exactly what they mean when they say “Make the button black, duh.” Getting everyone on the same page up front means fewer surprises and more realistic expectations, which saves you AND your client time, money and headaches!