User interface specification for interactive software systems

or low-fidelity prototypes are generally limited in function but only need limited prototyping effort. They usually do not require programming skills and coding. They are constructed to facilitate discussion of UI concepts and design alternatives, rather than to model the user interaction with a system. Low fidelity prototypes (see Figure 63, left) therefore mainly demonstrate the look, but rarely demonstrate the feel, of a UI. They will show design direction but will not provide details about how navigation is going to work or what interaction behaviour is like (Rudd et al. 1996). Table 55: Popular low-fidelity prototyping methods (Memmel et al. 2007f) Method Description Content inventories Simple lists inventorying the information of controls to be collected within a given interaction context Sticky notes Visual content inventories; incorporate position and spatial relationship between UI contents Wireframes Schematics outline the areas occupied by interface contents Paper prototypes, Paper mock-ups Rough sketches of the UID; for usability studies or quick reviews; rated as fastest method of rapid prototyping Storyboarding Sequence of paper prototypes, e.g. arranged with users A road map for prototyping? Lowand high-fidelity prototypes