Axure RP enables application designers to create annotated wireframes, interactive, browser-based prototypes, and professional functional specifications for applications and web sites faster and easier than creating static mockups with their current tools.
Used by professionals including business analysts, information architects, usability experts, product managers, and IT consultants around the world from Fortune 1000 companies to independent agencies, Axure RP has become an essential tool for successful application design.
Features
Each feature in Axure RP Pro was designed to make it the fastest, easiest, and most effective tool for creating wireframes, prototypes, and functional specifications.
Creating Wireframes
Rapidly create wireframes in a familiar drag and drop environment. Snap to grid, nudge, and the ability to specify a widget's position and size make it easy to layout widgets. In addition, menus and toolbars are available for aligning, grouping, distributing, ordering, and locking widgets. Common widget operations like editing button text and checking radio buttons can be done inline to speed the process. Use toolbars to edit properties like font style, color, and text alignment, and use menus to edit widget specific properties like the enabled state of form widgets, radio button groups, and rollover images.
Built-in Widgets
Commonly used widgets like buttons, images, text panels, radio buttons, checkboxes, droplists and more are built in to Axure RP. These widgets also include a table widget. A feature to copy data from Excel and paste to create a data table make incorporating sample data a breeze. Simple vector widgets like rectangles, button shapes, and lines are also available. Advanced widgets include image map regions, inline frames, and dynamic panels. Image map regions are useful for adding annotations and interactions to regions of an image, frequently a screen capture of an existing application. Inline frames allow you to load pages into a frame on a wireframe. And dynamic panels enable you to design dynamic interfaces from drop down menus to tabs to more advanced AJAX or RIA functionality.
Leveraging Masters
Masters are a powerful concept when designing wireframes that can save frustrating time making repetitive changes across wireframes. Masters are commonly used collections of widgets such as headers, footers, or even a login panel that can be reused on wireframes. A change to a master will be reflected everywhere that master is used. In Axure RP, masters can even be nested in wireframes of other masters making them an even more powerful tool for reuse.
Masters as Custom Widgets
Masters can be defined as Custom Widgets. When a custom widget is placed on a wireframe the widgets are not bound to the master and can be edited like other widgets. This is useful to create a library of commonly used widgets with predefined properties and annotations and interactions such as a rectangle widget with a blue fill color.
Generating HTML Prototypes
Generate interactive, HTML prototypes from the wireframes that function in popular browsers including Internet Explorer and Firefox. This means that you can email the generated prototype files to clients or publish the prototype to a web server for clients and users to view and interact with without installing a player. The prototype includes the sitemap, page notes, annotations, and functioning interactions making it a truly effective tool for testing proposed functionality and clearly communicating the design.
Generating Functional Specifications
Generate easy-to-read, professional functional specifications in Microsoft Word format that are an effective way to document, communicate, and get sign-off on a design. The specification includes a preface document (frequently a title page), a table of contents, sitemap; pages and masters with notes, screenshots, annotations, interactions and widget-specific information; and a postscript document like an appendix. The contents and style of the specification are configurable to fit the audience.
Generating CSV Reports
Generate comma-delimited reports of page notes and object annotations that can be viewed in Microsoft Excel or imported into requirements management solutions supporting CSV import. The pages and master as well as the fields to include in each report are configurable.
Multiple Generator Configurations
Store one or more configurations for generating prototypes, specifications, and CSV reports. Configurations can be created for each intended audience including clients, developers, testers, and designers. They can also be created to generate portions of a specification or CSV report for updating a specification or requirements list without modifying the primary configuration.
Screenshots
Annotated Wireframes
Wireframes are an effective tool for collecting and presenting functionality, navigation, and content of an application or web site. Annotations or notes attached to elements or widgets on the wireframe help to communicate specific functions.
Rapidly design user interfaces in a familiar drag and drop environment with features like snap to grid and zoom.
Use built-in widgets such as buttons, images, and text panels to design your wireframes.
Easily edit widget properties like font, color, and radio group using the wireframe editor, menus, and toolbars.
Define the behavior of the widgets on your wireframes by adding interactions.
Add basic links or advanced links to open pages in popups or inline frames.
Design dynamic or AJAX interactions with dynamic panels.
HTML Prototypes
Whether you are creating a proposal or a specification, using browser-based prototypes can help you gain numerous benefits that translate into reduced cost and time for implementing a higher quality application.
Configure the annotations and interaction behavior in the prototype to fit the audience.
View and interact with prototypes in popular web browsers without installing a player.
Publish the prototype to a web server for clients to view with ease.
Navigate your design with the sitemap available in the prototype.
View page notes as you click from page to page.
View annotations in the prototype by clicking footnotes next to annotated widgets.
Functional Specifications
With Axure RP Pro, you can generate an easy-to-read, professional functional specification in Microsoft Word format. The specification is an effect way to document, communicate, and achieve agreement on a design. With Axure RP, the specification is kept in sync with your wireframes and prototypes.
Edit a Microsoft Word template to customize the style of your specification as well as add headers and footers.
View the generated specification in Microsoft Word.
Navigate the document using the table of contents
Online Demo:
In 90 seconds, you can see how quickly and easily a wireframe, prototype, and specification can be created in Axure RP. Click here.
