Being in the software / web development industry requires me to do a lot of application and website prototyping for the projects that I work on.  Until recently I was using a combination of a whiteboard/markers and grid paper/pencil to draw up some mockups.  For those who do rapid application prototyping like I do, Balsamiq Mockups is the app for you!

Mockups is an Adobe Air application which you can use to quickly develop mockups using its 60 pre-built controls.  The app is very easy to use, and has drag-and-drop functionality to place the controls you want on your work area .  When saving your work, a .bmml file is generated which consists of XML formatted data.  When you are done with the mockup, you have the option to export the image as a PNG. 

After watching the sample video and playing with it for about five minutes I was able to quickly put together several mockups of applications and websites. I took Mockups with me in a recent meeting I had with a client and was able to draw up the web app they wanted me to create for them quickly and they were quite impressed with the tool.

One feature that I wish the application had was the ability to create a story-board which consisted of a few mockups.  Presently, you can only work on one at a time.  Being able to group two or more Mockup designs together would be very useful.  What I have had to do is export the images as PNG’s and then use another application to group them together.

Mockups is definitely a must-have application for all software/web developers.  It’s available for $79 from the Balsamiq website.