Prototyping on the Web

Posted on Friday, March 8th, 2013

Prototyping on the Web is an online course, presented by the folks at Vuact, aimed at teaching people what web/app prototyping is and how we can use it to refine our website and application ideas.

The course describes it as…

…a key step in turning a vision into reality. Done right, prototypes help you think through your idea, get valuable feedback and shorten your development time.

Part of the course requirements are to create your own prototype and post it so others can leave comments and give feedback. My prototype can be found here.

The course talks about using applications like Powerpoint, Keynote and web apps like FileSquare to create you prototypes. You can even create an interactive PDF as long as you can get your vison across to the user. I made my prototype using HTML, CSS and jQuery because I am confortable working with these tools.

After taking the course and learning why prototyping is important, the best takeaway I can offer, is that making a prototype will save you time and money durring development. The ability to receive quick user feedback and highlight potential usability flaws, proves that making a prototype should be considered a critical step in site and app development. It’s as easy as using whatever means you have at your disposal. Just get started and see where it takes you.