What is a website wireframe?

According to Wikipedia a website wireframe is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website which basically means to visually plan the layout of each individual element of the website e.g. the content, navigation system and other functionality and how all of these elements will work together to create a user-friendly experience / website.

A wireframe can be broken up into three main components namely: information design, navigation design and interface design.

Information Design

Information design is the process of preparing/planning the presentation of data so that the end user can understand it and use it efficiently. The layout of the information depends on the data type you want to present and the interaction between the user and the data.

Navigation Design

Navigation design is part of the information architecture or structure of a website. This includes different methods of finding your way throughout a website or careful planning on how the end user will flow from one piece of information to another so that the user can achieve a goal.

Interface Design

User interface design is to make the user interaction with your website as simple and efficient as possible. Good interface design is getting the balance right between functionality and visual elements to create a website that works well and is visually appealing.

Why is a website wireframe important?

There are a number of reasons why a website wireframe is of high importance. These reasons include: promoting usability on the website; enabling you to look objectively at elements which can help you improve your website’s conversion rate; it gives you a visual presentation of your website structure or sitemap that can help you identify possible flaws and how a visitor will navigate the website. It also clarifies how a feature/functionality will work and if the functionality/feature will reach the goals you have set out for it to achieve and if it is even necessary to implement the feature or not. Most importantly it saves you a lot of time in both the design and development phase. The developers will know and understand exactly what they are building and the designers will be able to design more sufficiently.

I hope this article helped in explaining what a website wireframe is and how you can benefit from it. Wireframes don’t need to be visually impressive with fancy graphics. It can be as simple as drawing a couple of blocks and naming each element. There is a number of software available that can help in creating basic wireframes. One of my favourites is Balsamiq Mockups which is very easy to use and not that expensive. See a basic example wireframe below made in Balsamiq Mockups.

Facebook announced on Monday 9th April that they would be buying the leading photo sharing application ‘Instagram’ for a total of $1Bn in cash & stocks, marking their biggest acquisition to date.

Instagram, launched in October 2010, allows users to take pics, digitally filter them & share them to various social networking sites including Instagram itself. The application has accumulated 30million users since January 2011 & 5million pictures are uploaded daily.

Upon its launch, Instagram was only supported on iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch. Earlier this month the application was extended to work with Android Camera Phones running 2.2 (Froyo) or higher, seeing more than a million downloads within the first 12hours. The app is distributed via iTunes App Store & Google Play.

Both CEOs posted the acquisition announcement on their respective platforms, adding that the companies would continue to run independently, though the staff would be integrated & work together to strengthen and grow each company independently in areas where the other has achieved success. Mark Zuckerburg’s statement added that Instagram users would continue to be able to share their pics with users of Facebook’s competitor social networking sites as they had been able to before. They will also maintain the ability to have followers & follow other people independently on Facebook.

Users have expressed worry about Facebook’s Privacy policies being carried over to Instagram because of the acquisition, & that Facebook would use information on them gained from Instagram to target Ads to them. Some even adding that they will be closing their Instagram accounts.

With Instagram currently being a fully Mobile Application, the purchase will give Facebook a much sought after ‘in’ to the mobile market.

The acquisition is sure to strengthen Facebook as a force given that the companies are both built on Photo Sharing & have done relatively well in their own rights. We will be watching to see what great ideas & improvements are brought to both these products with the fresh ideas & outlook the new staff will bring to each company.

References:

http://blog.instagram.com/

http://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10100318398827991

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instagram

http://mashable.com/2012/04/09/facebook-instagram-buy/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/facebook-acquires-instagram-for-about-1b/2012/04/09/gIQA180H6S_story.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/onmarketing/2012/04/11/what-facebooks-acquisition-of-instagram-means-for-brands/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-voakes/the-numbers-behind-facebo_b_1418406.html

There are a few new buzzwords filling the air and as much as it is enthralling and intriguing, it is feared to a great extent in Social circles…

Timeline… Milestone… Cover picture… You almost want to add the word ‘Mufasa’ to the mix!

But just like ‘Mufasa’ in the story brought so many good changes, Timeline brings so many business benefits to the table:

1. Identity: Timeline allows brands to create a personal identity with rich images.
2. Timeline: The chronological view featured in Timeline allows brands to show off their history.
3. Image: The new cover photo creates a great image when done right, and says a lot about the brand on first contact with fans.
4. Private messaging: The new interface allows fans to reach out to their favourite brands via private messaging.
5. Highlighting:  This newly added feature allows important page updates to be highlighted and pushed to the top of the timeline for users to view.
6. Admin Panel:  Opening the admin panel has never been easier.  Instead of navigating to another page to make changes, updates, view analytics, etc. you can now open your admin panel directly on the Page.

All of this taken into consideration, the new Timeline will make Social for business faster, more effective and give the fans an attractive page to visit and interact with, inevitably building brand awareness and association.

Apple announced on Wednesday that they would be releasing the third generation iPad to their Retail Stores & the Apple Online Store in the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland and the UK; along with Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands today.

From March 23 the new iPad will be available in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

The new iPad features a stunning new Retina™ display, Apple’s new A5X chip with quad-core graphics and a 5 megapixel iSight® camera with advanced optics for capturing amazing photos and 1080p HD video and still delivers the same all-day 10 hour battery life* while remaining amazingly thin and light. iPad Wi-Fi + 4G supports ultrafast 4G LTE networks in the US and Canada, and fast 3G networks around the world including those based on HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA.** Additionally, iPad 2 is available at a more affordable price starting at just $399.

The Wall Street Journal reported that consumers were lining up outside Apple Stores around the world looking to buy themselves the computer device, furthering Apple’s lead in the fast growing Tablet Market and sending the company’s share price to a record $600.01 (R4587.72) extending the market worth of the world’s most valuable company to almost $560 billion.

The official launch date for the iPad 3 in South Africa is yet to be announced. So we wait for the beloved iPad to hit our shores in anticipation.

Sources:

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/03/14New-iPad-Arrives-in-the-US-Nine-Additional-Countries-on-Friday.html

http://www.euronews.com/business-newswires/1439175-apple-touches-record-high-as-ipad-3-sales-run-hot/

http://www.ponder.co.za/ipad3-release-date-and-what-to-expect/

This week I finally upgraded my Internet Explorer for test purposes and it prompted me to look into the web market share. The last time I did so was about two years ago and I reckon it might be interesting to investigate the latest browser war statistics, as it seems to me that more and more people are switching over to Chrome and Firefox (with the increase of Mac users – and subsequently Safari – also playing a role). SAbest also asked the following question on our Facebook page this week: “Browser wars! What’s your favourite browser – Firefox, Chrome, or Explorer?”. We should perhaps have added Safari, but no biggie. The overwhelming majority of people voted for Chrome (including me – I will briefly discuss at the end of this article what my reasons are).

So let’s take a look at the latest (February 2012) stats from W3Counter. (http://www.w3counter.com)

These stats reflect a different picture than the one that was prevalent about two or three years ago. I think it is safe to say that, unless Microsoft comes out with a totally fresh and usable product, both Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox will surpass it in the near future. Chrome is by far the fastest growing browser, having gone from nearly non-existent in early 2008 to the browser with the second biggest share in 2012. In that same time period Internet Explorer’s usage has nearly halved. It should be noted that these statistics represent all the versions of a given browser as a collective whole. For example: Internet Explorer 8 usage is at 14.71%, Chrome 17 at 14.4% and so on – with the total for all Internet Explorer versions making up 30.7%, Chrome 25.1%, Firefox 24.4% etc.

I am sure many web developers and designers would smile when looking at the latest Web Browser Market share statistics. It seems as if the days of endless struggle with older versions of Internet Explorer might be a thing of the past very soon.

Personally, I use and prefer Google Chrome. What first drew me towards it back in 2008 was the screen real estate. The bottom bar disappeared and the top and navigational bar minimalistic, allowing for an overall clean and visually pleasing browser. Secondly, I loved Chrome’s speed.

In the end however, the important thing is that the game has changed. Microsoft no longer has monopoly, competition is healthy.  Who knows – Microsoft might still come back and surprise, but at the moment the picture is different. The browser war has been fought again and again and it seems there just might be a new winner soon.