welterweightUX

Twitter told me about the Hot Gloo wireframing tool sometime last summer. I created an account immediately, did a very rudimentary wireframes with it, then shelved it for a while.

Over the last few months though, there’s been a groundswell of need for wireframes both in my 9-5 and for freelance work. As a result of this, I decided to dig deeper into Hot Gloo. And guess what? I kind of love it.

The app has been in beta, but will have a full launch this coming Sunday, February 14, 2009.

Here’s what I love about the tool

• It’s web-based, so can be used any/everywhere.
• It’s dead easy to learn and use.
• The ability to add interaction and show the wireframes on-screen is extremely compelling when proposing an IA to stakeholders. Beats the pants off of handing out flat, dull hard-copies.
• Has a nice range of pre-defined UI elements (buttons, tabbed sections, etc.) that you can just plop in.
• It’s so cool that, where I work, even management/executives are getting stoked on it.

Here’s what I hate about the tool
No bullets needed for this, because there’s really only one thing (but it’s a biggie): The collaboration sucks.

Yeah, it’s nice that you can collaborate with another person on a project. But to do so, you need to add them to the project. Then they sign in basically to your account. They have access to that project alone, using the logon you provided.

This can be problematic if you work with a static team. Say, for example, your team is working on 5 different projects. You’d have to give additional users permission to use each individually. They don’t show up in the other users’ accounts at all. To access a project, the user has to go access an email that they got from you about that individual project and log into it.

(At least, as far as any of us can tell, this is how it works. If there’s a different way to go about things, the UI doesn’t make apparent in the slightest.)

The email that Hot Gloo sent out about their full launch (see below) says that there will be improved user management. Hopefully that means they’re making the whole sharing/collaborating process more logical, better.

Here’s what Hot Gloo said is coming with their full launch

• A completely reworked site
• Improved user management
• New features (duplicate projects, improved export functions, page setup, improved guides function and much more)
• Optional add-ons
• New tutorial videos
• New support/ user forum
• Monthly paid plan with base rate starting at $ 14

Ok, that’s all
If you haven’t tried Hotgloo yet, you should. Its beta was impressive and it sounds like some stunning enhancements are coming. It’s definitely going to be worth the monthly fee.

Payola?
Oh yeah, Hotgloo didn’t bankroll this post. I just really, honestly like the thing a whole lot.