Prototypes Are Essential for Web Projects

The long standing ‘page’ paradigm of websites is on its way out, and the complexity and functionality of an individual page is becoming more on a par with a software UI.   Before, it was quite reasonable to map out your user experience with static page designs and do some user testing to iron out any issues.  Now, the only way to be sure how the interactive functionality within each page will work is to build and a prototype. 

Forrester recently put up an article pointing out (and they’re not the first) that with the power of AJAX, Flash and other web 2.0 techonologies comes responsibility.  The complexity of these features is unpredictable as a customer experience.  The experience and knowledge of how to successfully implement these things hasn’t yet grown much in the web community either.  

Prototypes are the best way to cut through these issues.  You’ll see the UI in action and immediately spot interaction flaws that weren’t apparent on the static designs.  You can put it in front of customers and identify areas that need better usability – ideally several times, so you can chip away until the solution is 90% good.

Prototypes offer value beyond developing a good user experience too: They’re a great sales tool for showing clients or internal stakeholders your vision, for getting that all important buy-in.  They’re also a great way of pulling your team out of a linear, waterfall process and having everyone actively engaged at the same time on developing the solution.

A final thought: The best scenario of all is that you can actually develop your site in place of the prototype and iteratively test and refine the site itself.   If you’re in a position to do that, you can take the same approach but with your actual site build.  We don’t all have that luxury though.

PS. There’s a good rounded article about the value of prototyping on A List Apart

Filed under: creative delivery , AJAX, buy-in, Flex, prototypes, prototyping, user testing, UX, wireframes