Balsamiq

A Thriving User Community

Adopting Balsamiq Mockups means joining a growing community of programmers, designers, product managers and usability experts who are passionate about creating software and web sites that delight users every day.

This page highlights some community tools and websites which might be useful to you.

More UI Controls #

• MockupsToGo is a user-contributed collection of ready-to-use UI components and design patterns built using Balsamiq Mockups. New patterns are added all the time - we hope you'll want to contribute as well!
• Mock4U is a set of UML stencils for Balsamiq Mockups.
• Blackboard Learn Symbols is a series of assets to help design user interfaces for custom Blackboard Learn (9.0 and 9.1) extensions.

Custom Icon Packs #

• Hand Drawn Icons

Instructions on how to use custom icon packs are here.

Exporting your Mockups to Code #

• to HTML/CSS/JS: try Napkee (commercial, blog post intro)
• to HTML/CSS: PHP Mockup to HTML exporter (open-source)
• to HTML/CSS: nedeco converter (freeware)
• to HTML Image Maps: try vi.to/bmml (open-source, blog post intro)
• to Coldfusion: try this CFBuilder extension called Gilt

• to MXML/AS: try Napkee (commercial, blog post intro)
• to MXML: try QXmlEdit (open-source)

• to iOS and Android: try Canappi
• to an Android UI prototype: try Mockups2Android

• to PNGs: try this set of command-line scripts or this Ruby script to generate mockup images in batches

• to a 3-tier application: try the WebORB Exporter
• to a live application using MS Word: try SoftwareServant (blog post intro)
• to XAML: learn about the MockupToXaml project (open-source)

Want to run Mockups via the command-line on a headless server? Ian Norton created these open-source scripts to help.

User Testing your myBalsamiq Prototypes #

Prototypes made with myBalsamiq can be user-tested with the following tools:

• How to test your myBalsamiq prototypes with Loop11
• User-testing your myBalsamiq wireframes with Usabilla
• User-Testing your myBalsamiq Prototypes with Kupima
• and more...

Other Products that use our file format #

Mockups saves your data in an open, human-readable, documented XML-based file format called BMML.

• Flairbuilder, a prototyping tool that imports BMML
• SketchyPad and iMockups are iPad applications that exports to BMML. An iPad application is on our roadmap too.
• Looksie is a tool that extends Mockups in a few different ways (helping with documentation, for instance)
• MockGen turns web pages into BMML mockups with one click
• If you work with SWT, you'll like this open-source SWT to BMML importer
• LiveMockups is an application that helps you show your Mockups prototypes on an iPhone or iPad
• Wirify Pro is a bookmarklet which turns web pages into BMML mockups
• Clickdummy can be used to get feedback on your prototypes
• Mockups.me is an iPad, Android, Web and Desktop wireframing app that imports and exports BMML files

More Community! #

• Questions on the Balsamiq GetSatisfaction forums always get answered quickly and respectfully, new features are designed collaboratively and in the open (here's a sample, and another) and bugs get prioritized based on customer votes there. Take a look!
• Twitter loves us, and we love it back! You can follow @balsamiq to keep up with what we're doing - you can also follow Val, Marco, Luis, Mike, or Natalie. Or simply search Twitter for "balsamiq" and see what people think about us.
• Become a fan of Balsamiq Mockups on Facebook and connect with other Mockups lovers out there! Learn more...
• We are proud to sponsor the best events, blogs and websites related to UX, IA and startups. It's just our way to help our community flourish. Learn more...
• Free Balsamiq Mockups for UX Training. If you are a usability professional, you might be interested in our Free Mockups for UX Training program. Learn more...
• Mockups by Jon is an ever-growing collection of wireframes created by Jon Edlund, one of our most prolific fans. Check it out!

• Adrienne Travis created a downloadable Cheatsheet of Keyboard Shortcuts (PDF).

Join us!

Do you know of any other Mockups-related tool or website out there, or are you building one? Email us about it, we'd love to help you in any way we can! :)