If you are in the process of building a website, either for yourself or for a client, you are probably concerned about user experience (UX). After all, your website won’t be very successful if visitors can’t figure out how to navigate and find the information they need.
Fortunately, there’s a handy strategy you can use to work on improving the UX before your website ever comes onto the web. By using a wireframe, you can test user flows and page layouts so you know exactly how they will work on your live site.
Reading: How to create a wireframe website
In this post, we will discuss what wireframes are and why they are used in Web design essential. Then we will show you six steps to help you create mockups for your own website. Let’s get started!
An introduction to wireframes (and why they’re useful)
A wireframe is like a UX blueprint for your website. It maps certain features of your website like menus, buttons and layouts while stripping away the visual design. This will give you an idea of the underlying functionality and navigation of your website without distracting elements like color scheme and content.
The purpose of a wireframe is to maximize the UX potential of a website before it’s even available to visitors. By creating mockups of your website’s UX on paper or with a digital wireframing tool, you can fix issues before they become a problem for your users. This can save you time and money across the board.
Whether you’re planning a small one-page website, a massive corporate portal, or something in between, wireframing can be a beneficial part of the planning process. Unless you reuse a tried and tested template with a UX design that you believe in, wireframing could bring significant benefits to your website.
Finally, effective UX design focuses on preserving the key of your website Functionality just right. Without a design that supports a strong, positive UX, you run the risk of seeing higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates. A wireframe will not only smooth out your creative process; it could also help boost the overall success of your website.
Related: How to Optimize Your Website with Responsive Design
How to Build a Website with Wireframe (in 6 Steps)
Creating a wireframe can become a time-consuming process, especially when things aren’t going well during testing. However, if you take the time to iron out UX issues upfront, your site has a much better chance of success across the board. The six steps below will get you started.
Step 1: Gather the tools to wireframe
There are two main ways to create wireframes – by hand or digitally. If you choose the former option, all you need is a pen and paper to get started. Some designers start with a “low fidelity” paper wireframe for brainstorming, and then later create a “high fidelity” digital version.
When it comes to digital options, there are a variety of wireframe tools . If this is your first wireframe, or if you’re just a do-it-yourself (DIY) website owner and not a designer, you can try a free tool like Wireframe.cc.
This simple wireframing tool keeps your designs from becoming cluttered by limiting your color palette. You can create simple designs using the drag-and-drop interface and annotate your designs so you don’t forget important information.
Another option is Wirify, a bookmarklet that you can add to your browser.
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This tool’s interface turns existing web pages into wireframes. Rather than helping you draft the UX design for a new website, it’s most helpful for website redesigns.
On the other hand, if you’re willing to spend a little money, you can check out Balsamiq mockups.
It features an easy-to-use, collaborative, wireframing interface that’s great for teams and professionals who need real-time collaboration. However, it is limited to static wireframing. If you want a more comprehensive tool that can also be used for prototyping (which we’ll discuss later in this post), you can try Prott.
Step 2: Do your target user and UX design research
Before you start designing your wireframe, it’s helpful to do a little research. First, you want to know who your target audience is.That way, you can determine what features need to be most important on your site in order for visitors to find what they’re looking for.
User personas can be a helpful design tool for this part of the process. Try creating a few for your potential user groups so you have a reference to refer to throughout the wireframe design process. Personas can also help later in creating a marketing strategy, so stay tuned.
It’s also wise to research some UX design trends and best practices. This can provide insight into elements such as menu layouts, the positioning of your logo and other key branding elements, and content layouts. Users find it easier to navigate a site that follows conventions when it comes to these features.
Step 3: Determine your optimal user flows
A “user flow” refers on the path a visitor needs to reach a specific goal on your website. For example, if you have an e-commerce site, a user flow can range from a product page to the bottom of the checkout process.
Determining the top tasks that users need to complete on your site will help you create the simplest user flow to create for each potential target. This helps maximize UX by making your site easy and enjoyable to use.
Nevertheless, it can be difficult to get inside the head of a hypothetical user. Asking yourself these questions can be helpful when trying to determine your primary user flows:
- What problems do you intend to solve for users? What goals might they achieve when they come to your site?
- How can you organize your content (like buttons, links, and menus) to support those goals?
- What should Users see first when they arrive at your site, which can help them get their bearings and know they’re in the right place?
- What are user expectations for a site like yours?
- What call-to-action (CTA) buttons will you provide and where can you place them so users notice them?
Each of these responses will mean something Saying important things about the way you ll need to design your pages.
Related: 7 Tips for Writing Successful Calls-to-Action for Your Website
Step 4: Start Designing Your Wireframe
Now that after you’ve gathered your tools and key information for your wireframe, you’re ready to start designing start Keep in mind that the purpose of this task isn’t to create a complete design for your website. They focus solely on UX and how you can create a page that is easy to navigate and understand.
To that end, your wireframe should include features and format that are important to how your users interact are using and using your site. This could include:
- A layout indicating where you will place images, branding elements, written content and video players
- Your navigation menu, including a respective list of contained element and the order in which they appear
- Any links and buttons on the page
- Footer content, such as B. Your contact information and social media links
Your answers to the questions in the previous step will likely also be helpful at this stage of the process. Remember to consider web design conventions, user expectations, and information hierarchies when placing these elements on your page.
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There are also several elements that do not lend themselves to a wireframe. Visual design features such as color scheme, typography, and decorative displays should be omitted from your wireframe. In fact, it’s best to keep your wireframe grayscale so you can focus on usability.
You also don’t need to include images, videos, written content, or your actual branding elements like your logo and tagline. Placeholders for these functions do the work. The idea is to avoid anything that might distract from the user flow and navigation elements that are fundamental to UX.
Step 5: Run usability tests to try out your design
Once you’ve completed your first wireframe, you need to do some testing. This way you can see if it has achieved its goal of mapping the simplest and most natural user flows and UX for your website. There are several ways to do this.
If you’re working with a team, your first round of testing will likely be internal. Each team member should spend some time with the wireframe to see if it makes sense. Have everyone work independently so as not to influence each other, and make notes of any problems they encounter.
However, there are tools that you can use to conduct more objective usability tests for your able to wireframe. These tests are designed to mimic actual users, which can be especially helpful. Just because your team of web designers finds your wireframe logical doesn’t mean that the average website user will too.
UsabilityHub is a platform that connects designs with real users to give you feedback on how the average visitor perceives your wireframe.
It offers a free plan, so even small websites and non-designers can make good use of this tool. For professional designers and teams, there are also plans that provide advanced features to enable richer and deeper testing.
Related: The 6 most important basic elements of web design
Step 6 : Transform Your wireframe into a prototype
Once your wireframe has been tested and you’ve determined the best possible UX design for your website, it’s time to turn it into a prototype. Unlike wireframes, which are static, prototypes include some basic functionality so you can test user flows more realistically.
As we mentioned in the first step, it can help to choose a platform that rotates yours can wireframe into a prototype. For example, you can use Prott to create high fidelity interactive prototypes from your wireframe.
However, if you prefer a different wireframing tool, some platforms focus specifically on prototyping. InVision is a high-quality platform that makes it easy for teams to collaborate and communicate via mockups.
Whatever tool you choose, you’ll want to put your prototype through another round of user testing once it’s finished. After your prototype is passed, you can start creating your actual website confident that your UX will be top notch from the launch date.
Create wireframes to enhance the UX
When it comes to designing a website, a solid UX is crucial if you want to make your project a success. Wireframing your website before you start building pages can help you get UX right before you launch your website.
After you’ve finished designing your website, you’ll need a hosting plan , which can keep up with your outstanding UX. At DreamHost, we offer quality shared hosting plans that won’t let your users down. Try them today!
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