OmniGraffle maybe the best tool for wireframing a web site layout
I know it goes against every good web design how-to book on the market, but I rarely start with a real pencil and paper. In fact, I rarely sketch out wireframes even digitally. I just go for it.
Part of my design resolution for this year has been to start sketching and wireframing before opening Photoshop or Illustrator. On that note, I’ve started tinkering with possibly the best known application for wireframing a web site, OmniGraffle from OmniGroup.
A lot of us Mac fans have had this diagramming application in our toolkit for a while, as it used to come installed on Apple machines. It has taken me years to warm up to it after poking at it here and there for sitemaps and such, but I’ve finally come around to deciding that wireframing in OmniGraffle will be a permanent part of my workflow.
Learning OmniGraffle was pretty darn easy. It’s one of those apps that you can learn in 10 minutes if you’re used to using pallettes and inspectors. Recently, I discovered that it also supports layers, which is even better for my wireframing needs. Once you’re ready to jump into the main design phase, OmniGraffle can export PDF vector graphics, PSD, or plenty of other formats.
The only complaint I have is that the shortcut key combinations don’t match the Adobe shortcut combos, and since I live and die by toggling the grid and snapping, it will take a while to get used to the new combos.
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Audacitor
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Ellie