Book Image

Balsamiq Wireframes Quickstart Guide

By : Scott Faranello
Book Image

Balsamiq Wireframes Quickstart Guide

By: Scott Faranello

Overview of this book

<p>Balsamiq Mockups is an easy to use, engaging tool for anyone looking to strategize and brainstorm ideas around product design and information architecture. With Balsamiq, you can strategize, create, prototype and present your ideas clearly and effectively to audiences large and small.<br /><br />"Balsamiq Wireframes Quickstart Guide" is a fast paced and easy to follow instructional book that gets you up and running quickly while challenging you to be the best you can be using the tool. With this book in hand, it will take only minutes to present an idea on screen.<br /><br />Wireframing is one of the key steps of effective user interface design and architecture. Finding the right tools to get your thoughts onto the page quickly and clearly is vital to your success. This book will have you on your way in no time. "Balsamiq Mockups Quickstart Guide" will walk you through the entire application in a fast, simple and engaging way. You will be presented with wireframe samples, exercises and real-world examples that will engage, challenge and enable you to become an expert wireframer and Balsamiq user. Whether you are looking to communicate ideas to your team, a client, a product manager, an IT developer, or if you are wireframing for the fun of it, this book is for you. By the time you are finished, you will have mastered the tools to do whatever your mind can think up. The rest is up to you.</p>
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Creating a symbol library


When you return to symbols.bmml, you will see that Balsamiq has placed both the header and the footer symbols on the same page. While it may look crowded, this is actually a useful feature.

To demonstrate, I am going to share with you a very cool website that I am sure you will thank me for later. Please type the following address into your web browser:

https://mockupstogo.mybalsamiq.com/projects

Once at this web address, in the All Public Projects section, scroll to the section titled Social. Once there, perform the following steps:

  1. 1. On the Social page, find the wireframe called Blog Post. This wireframe has been created by Michael Angeles using Balsamiq Mockups.

  2. 2. Click the small, downward-facing arrow next to the title.

  3. 3. Select Download BMML, as shown in the following screenshot:

  4. 4. Place the .bmml file you just downloaded, Blog Post.bmml, into your project's assets folder.

Adding the symbol to your project

Let's take a closer look at your new symbol library...