Archive for the ‘Prototyping’ Category

GUI Design Studio 3.5 Released

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

New Version 3.5GUI Design Studio version 3.5 is now available for immediate download. This is a maintenance release with some fixes and changes based on customer requests. It’s a free upgrade for all registered users.

For customers using any prior version of GUI Design Studio, simply install the new version and your existing licenses will continue to work.

Tree Icons
Tree IconsUntil now, Tree elements have come with just a couple of basic sets of icons and the only way to change individual item icons was to place other icons on top.

That worked well until scrolling and item expansion/contraction functionality was added in version 3.3. After that, you needed to jump through a few hoops with components to get custom tree icons working properly.

Well, we’ve finally given Tree items their own icon property so you can now select them directly and everything works as it should. For convenience, the icon selector also keeps a record of the 10 most recent icons for fast, one-click selection.

Other Changes
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Software Prototyping – Part 2: Throw Away or Evolve?

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

In the first part of this article we discussed the difference between functional and user interface prototypes.  In this one we’ll discuss whether your prototype should have a role beyond the discovery and design phase.

Throwaway PrototypesPeople often talk about “Throwaway Prototypes” versus “Evolutionary Prototypes” and it’s very important to understand the difference and exactly what type you are creating before you begin.

Throwaway Prototypes

A Throwaway Prototype, as the name suggests, forms no part of the final application. Its purpose is to prove (or disprove) a design and get approval for actual implementation.

It can be produced using any quick and dirty technique and the quality can even be quite poor, so long as it satisfies the requirements of identifying what’s right about a design, what’s wrong and what’s missing.

Because of the speed at which Throwaway Prototypes can be put together and changed (usually on-the-fly), they encourage feedback and continual revision until the design is about right.

Because the effort required to produce them is relatively small, (more…)

Software Prototyping – Part 1: Why Prototype

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Car Prototype WireframeIn just about every field of manufacturing, from soap dispensers to performance cars, prototypes are used to validate and test an idea or design.

Prototyping in the software industry is not so common but the benefits are just as compelling.

There are two main types of software prototype: functional prototypes and user interface prototypes.

Functional Prototypes

Functional prototypes are nearly always technical in nature and their purpose is to (more…)

GUI Design Studio 3.4 Released With Enhanced Team Collaboration Support

Friday, August 28th, 2009

New Version34GUI Design Studio version 3.4 is now available for immediate download. This is a maintenance release with some important changes based on customer requests, and is a free upgrade for all registered users.

For customers using any prior version of GUI Design Studio, simply install the new version and your existing licenses will continue to work.

(1) Project Organisation

Now you can re-organise your projects with ease. In previous versions, we restricted the ability to move and rename design files to ensure that references remained intact and to help with project sharing.

In version 3.4, you can rename files and move them around using drag and drop. GUI Design Studio will track the changes and keep those references working.

Renaming design files
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Short Demo on How to Create Scrolling Regions in GUI Design Studio

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Following on from the GUI Design Studio v3.3 release, here’s a short video (05:52) that demonstrates how the scrolling region shown in the previous post was constructed:

For best viewing quality, click on the HD and Full Screen icons once play has started!


Here’s a quick summary of how to produce a scrolling region:

  1. Create a large design.
  2. Create your container design.
  3. Drag and drop your large design onto your container design as a ‘component’.
  4. Double-click the component to edit its properties, as follows:
    • Check the “Maintain size when component changes” option on the Style tab
    • Uncheck “Fixed Width” and “Fixed Height” on the Position tab
    • Set an arbitrary small size to make it easier to work with, say 300 for “Width” and “Height” (Position tab)
    • Hit “OK”
  5. Resize the component to the actual desired size.

That’s it!