Balsamiq Mockups: mockup vs prototype

[Gian Franco]

Hi Peldi,

...in your experience in which situations would you opt for a
prototype instead of a mockup or vice versa?

Cheers,

Gian

[Peldi Guilizzoni]

Good question!

I'm no authority on the subject (I tend to wireframe and then go to code, and back to wireframing if needed. I don't do very much prototyping at all).

One answer though comes from the awesome "Sketching User Experiences" book by Bill Buxton. Look at this image:

http://www.balsamiq.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/buxton-263x300.jpg

Mockups fits 90% in the "Sketch" category, though we know some users use our linking feature to build prototypes with it.

Here's the link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Sketching-User-Experiences-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0123740371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239781301&sr=8-1