[HN Gopher] How to tame a user interface using a spreadsheet
___________________________________________________________________
How to tame a user interface using a spreadsheet
Author : msephton
Score : 59 points
Date : 2025-10-11 00:11 UTC (5 days ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.gingerbeardman.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.gingerbeardman.com)
| tracker1 wrote:
| Nothing wrong with something that works... I used Balsamiq for
| years for this type of thing, but to each their own.
|
| Note: not a fan of Balsamiq's current rent model... I bought a
| long time ago when it was < $100 for a regular license/download.
| Been a while since I used it.
| stronglikedan wrote:
| > Note: not a fan of Balsamiq's current rent model... I bought
| a long time ago when it was < $100 for a regular
| license/download. Been a while since I used it.
|
| Me too, which is a shame, since I've found nothing that beats
| it's simplicity and speed of idea-to-wireframe.
| skydhash wrote:
| I have a balsamiq license, too. But I just bought a whiteboard,
| and in addition to helping me with diagrams, I'm hoping to
| create wireframe on it too. I will snapshot iterations with the
| phone camera.
| treetalker wrote:
| As an appellate attorney, when I'm dealing with my own legal
| writing or someone else's, I similarly break it down into the
| mental models of layout, structure, content, style, and the
| tools/software used to work with the documents.
| lesinski wrote:
| I love to use spreadsheets for prototyping too! 1) moving around
| a spreadsheet is very fast and lightweight 2) it forces you to
| think about layout first, before getting into imagery, colors and
| design
| xnx wrote:
| The overall effect of Figma is probably net-negative because
| people start futzing with the visual/aesthetic aspects of an
| interface instead of working out the functional aspect as you
| would in a low-fidelity/paper/wireframe prototype.
| skydhash wrote:
| Figma can work, but you have to restrict yourself to not
| embellish the wireframe. Choose one font only and use basic
| shapes only. Use colors only if you must (warning states,
| primary actions, ...)
| bigiain wrote:
| I really like/use Balsamiq. Although perhaps in a not common
| use case.
|
| I'm really bad at doing neat pencil sketches and handwriting.
| Balsamiq easily lets be draw something up on my computer that
| looks obviously like it's "hand drawn style" and make is
| clear both to me while creating wireframes and to everyone
| else when I shard them that it's not intended to be high
| fidelity. I intentionally use Comic Sans to emphasize that.
|
| If I were better with a pencil, I'd do these in a notepad or
| on graph paper - and then share phone camera photos of them.
|
| F<or anyone who's ever died a little bit inside when their
| PM/boss say "Those wireframes are perfect. lets just hand
| those off to the devs!", I _highly_ recommend using whatever
| tooling or personal restrictions that workj for you - to
| generate output that is clearly "interface ideas" instead of
| being misinterpreted as "finished UI/UX designs".
| jasonjmcghee wrote:
| > perhaps in a not common use case
|
| > Balsamiq easily lets be draw something up on my computer
| that looks obviously like it's "hand drawn style" and make
| is clear both to me while creating wireframes and to
| everyone else when I shard them that it's not intended to
| be high fidelity.
|
| I thought this was the core value proposition of Balsamiq.
| cpeterso wrote:
| Maybe Figma needs a prototyping mode that actually looks like
| rough whiteboard drawings or index cards. Later you can
| refine the designs, retaining history linking back to early
| prototypes.
|
| Using rough drawings is useful for user research. Users are
| less likely to criticize or suggest big changes if you
| present a polished design, even if it is just a mock up.
| pdyc wrote:
| i admire the people who are able to bend the spreadsheets to
| their will while i struggle with creating simple charts with it!
| i even created my own tool to create charts from it because i
| found spreadsheet interface overwhelming.
| zkmon wrote:
| I have used spreadsheets for designing floor plans and building
| elevation etc. I used each cell to represent 3 inch by 3 inch
| area. In more detail views I used each cell for a square inch
| area.
|
| Spreadsheets (specifically Excel) are the most general-purpose
| end-user software I have ever seen. I saw people using it for
| art/painting. Someone used it for demonstrating graphics shaders
| and ray-tracing.
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2025-10-16 23:00 UTC)