Improving User Experience Design Tools – The Spirit is Willing, But the Flesh is Weak

User Experience professionals are frequently concerned with bridging the gap between themselves and the users of systems they design. However, there is a parallel gap that needs to be closed between UX designers and the developers of UX design tools. A series of surveys conducted in 2006 by associates of The Information Architecture Institute revealed that many IAs feel they lack adequate tools to do their jobs. Not surprisingly, Microsoft Visio and the standard MS Office suite were the most commonly used tools. Although it’s been a few years since this survey was conducted, I haven’t seen these complaints subside in IA or UX overall. If we are so willing to complain, why have we not yet acted to remedy this problem?

There appears to be a continuum along which existing UX tools fall. At one end we have the enterprise-level tools which are typically very robust desktop applications. At the other end are webapps with specialized functions useful to independent freelancers. Most existing tools fall toward either extreme, failing to balance features and ease of use. Let’s check out some tools that come close to striking that balance, and see where they need work.

Rapid Prototyping

Jumpchart is used to create “online collaborative wireframes”. This is an excellent tool for rapid prototyping of static, brochure-style websites. However, it offers no easy way to simulate interactive forms or conditional situations, which occur quite often on the web these days.

Axure, a desktop application for rapid prototyping, allows modeling of most any interactive aspect of a page. Unfortunately, this program doesn’t provide efficient ways to perform repetitive actions. It’s also a large program that you must download; you can’t access or edit your prototype from anywhere. I have yet to try out the latest version, so perhaps it’s improved recently.

Building Site Maps

Visio seems to be the standard for mapping information architecture and other types of  user flow diagrams. It allows for control over small details, and some services act as plug-ins or add-ons to enhance the Visio feature set. Manipulating each individual part of a diagram is not always necessary though, and entering labels into the shapes is cumbersome if you have to click each one every time.

WriteMaps is a very simple online tool that allows you to quickly create site maps. This service is, like Visio, too slow when entering numerous page titles because you have to switch between mouse and keyboard constantly. The main problem with WriteMaps is that it doesn’t provide a professional looking, printable output that could be presented to a client.

Bubbl.us is much like WriteMaps, but it solves the quick data entry problem – to an extent. By using the Enter or Tab key, you can create a new sibling or child bubble off the selected bubble. But, you still have to click to start adding sub-bubbles to a new parent node. An intuitive way to navigate to other bubbles in the tree without using the mouse would be the arrow keys. Unfortunately all these do at the moment is move the whole map around within the viewing area. And again, this does not output in a format that is professional, clean, and printable.

While these tools have many strengths, their weaknesses lie at critical points which make them difficult or even unsuitable for practical use. They also offer very little support for transitioning between project phases or deliverables. As both UX designers and the users of these tools, we have the knowledge and capability to specify exactly what we need in a way developers can understand and implement. If we design it, they will eventually build it. There have to be some developers out there who will listen. Right?

I certainly haven’t used or even discovered all the UX design tools out there, so if you’ve found a great new tool or you’re working on creating one, please do post a comment. Got any ideas for features you wish existing UX tools had? What ways do you see for UX professionals to take action in this matter?