A critical step in any web design or development effort is determining the layout or templates of the site, or page. This visual representation is often referred to as a wireframe.
Wireframes are synonymous with blueprints for a house. Just as an architect needs to know the details of the home before creating a blueprint, wireframes are typically created after the information architecture (i.e. site navigation) and site features have been determined. The goal of the wireframes is to provide designers with a visual representation of all the site's features to aid their design.
There are a number of tools you can use to generate wireframes. Methods can range from a simple sketch, to Photoshop templates, to HTML mockups. Somewhere in the middle of these options lies Protoshare.
Protoshare is a tool developed by Site 9, Inc., located in Portland, Ore. Users can create interactive wireframes including features ranging from hyperlinks to light boxes ("pop ups") and scrolling images. It also provides an export to web option allowing clients to leave comments and annotations associated with specific items within the wireframe, similar to commenting on a Word document.
It's been a critical piece of our Strategy Process for several years, and allows us to deliver a more professional and conversational piece of a potentially underwhelming portion of our process (remember, we're talking about blueprints here). With Protoshare, we're able to create wireframes with ease and improve the efficiency and effect of a typically time consuming task.