It’s not often us UX folk are offered anything truly new – and actually useful – in terms of tools. Especially free tools. So my discovery (thanks to Mike Jones) of Moqups.com was the best kind of surprise.
Moqups is a nifty little HTML5 application for creating wireframes, mockups or other prototypes. It loads quickly, has a wonderfully simple interface, and produces nice clean wireframes that you can easily export and share.
I frankly couldn’t believe how easy it is to use. Just give your page a title, then set the width and height. A left sidebar contains “stencils” – shapes, widgets, text boxes, placeholder images, etc. – that you simply drag into the work area and adjust as desired.
When you’re done, you can preview your work without grids, and share it via email.
Everything works exactly as expected; I never once had to seek help. Included in the free version are:
- 60+ excellent SVG stencils
- Export to PDF and PNG
- Auto-save
- Smart guides
- HTTPS
- Customizable grid
- Snap to objects/grid when manipulating objects
- Locking & Grouping of objects
- Familiar keyboard shortcuts
- A “stencil search” function
- Image uploads
- Linking to other pages
- Email sharing
It’s completely free. You don’t even have to register. According to the moqups.com blog, they will be introducing a premium version with a fee. It’ll include:
- Collaboration
- Advanced privacy settings
- Enterprise capabilities
- Feedback tools
- Probably some other cool stuff
But they’ve promised that this basic version – which fills the needs of many users – will always be free. Check it out at https://moqups.com/
