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Add to SafariWhen comparing Balsamiq vs Avocode, the Slant community recommends Balsamiq for most people. In the question“What are the best mockup and wireframing tools for websites?” Balsamiq is ranked 2nd while Avocode is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose Balsamiq is:
All the Balsamiq UI elements are drawn by hand and have a really nice low-fidelity design.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Low-fidelity UI elements
All the Balsamiq UI elements are drawn by hand and have a really nice low-fidelity design.
Pro Clean and easy to use interface
Balsamiq has a very easy to use drag and drop interface that lets you quickly build and adjust your mockups. The UI is centered around low-fidelity wireframes that help focus the reviews on the core layout and functionality instead of getting hung-up on visual design.
Pro Large & extensible UI element library
Balsamiq has a built in library of over 75 built-in user interface components and 187 icons, as well as community generated plug-ins.
Pro Awesome team collaboration features
myBalsamiq has been built with teams in mind and has a variety of featured to support collaborating on the mockups:
Notifications - Real-time notifications to enable you to keep track of team member actions
Revision Control - All mockups have a revision history to enable reverting to previous versions and keeping track of design decisions.
Skype Integration - Easy to use Skype integration to host design reviews.
Access Control - Access controls allow sharing projects with team members as well as allowing external reviewers to leave comments on the designs.
Pro Usability testing features
You can link together pages to create shareable user demos
Pro 30-day trial available
Pro Keyboard shortcuts
You can use common keyboard shortcuts like Shift to select multiple elements or to resize while maintaing proportions, F2 for renaming labels etc.
Pro Offers a 14-day free trial
Allows users to be able to get comfortable and familiar with the service before signing up and paying the subscription fee.
Pro Includes collaboration tools
Allows designers and developers to view revisions and interact on the fly by posting comments on the revisions instead of going through multiple e-mails back and forth.
Pro Cross-platform
Usable on Mac, Windows and Linux.
Pro Sketch and Photoshop support
Contains plugins that allow designers to share any designs with developers.
Cons
Con Stifling innovation
Doing anything that is not directly supported by Balsamiq's conservative component library is next to impossible. User is forced to think within the corset of yesterday's standards.
Con No easy way to quickly play with the product
Con Subscription fee
After the free trial, users must set up your account with an option of their 3 subscription services - Garage, Business, and Enterprise [$8.99, $12.99, or TBD]. The cost is low, but monthly.
