Website Wireframe: What is it and how to use it?
What is a website wireframe?
A website wireframe is used to map out the main features and navigation of a new website design. It gives an idea of the site’s functionality before considering visual design elements, like content and color schemes.
Layouts and features such as menus and buttons are mapped out to assess the overall experience of the end user.
A website wireframe also provides a practical map of the project for team members to see where everything will go as they complete related digital tasks.
The Purpose of Website Wireframes: Key Takeaways
- Wireframes give the content creators and owners a visual overview of how the site will look and function.
- Using wireframes in web design will trigger additional decisions on elements that may be missing and not noticed until now – which helps further decision making.
- Wireframing increases the chance of the final website being intuitive, easy-to-use, and visually pleasing.
- A web wireframe will save content creators (especially website engineers) time but not have to make adjustments later.
How to Create a Simple Wireframe?
Identify the goal of the website.
Before taking pen to paper to mock up a wireframe, you’ll find it helpful to understand the goal of your website. While it might seem obvious that you want to bring in as much traffic as your server can handle, think through what you want all those visitors to see and do while you’ve got their attention.
Understand the user flow.
Wireframes help you identify and evaluate user flows so that everyone on your team understands how the visitor should interact with each page on your site. During this step, you should outline each entry point a visitor could use to land on your marketing homepage, then choose a few primary entry points to create a journey flow.
Determine your website wireframe size.
Your wireframes will need to vary in size depending on what screen size you’re creating it for. Mobile devices, tablets, and desktop screens will vary in size — not to mention the window on a desktop can be scaled up or down. To get the most accurate measurements for your wireframe, use pixel measurements rather than inches or points.
Begin your website wireframe design.
Now it’s time to visualize your user flow in a wireframe. If you’re using physical pen and paper, we recommend using dotted paper or grid paper to keep things in alignment. This will help you transform the physical version of your wireframe to a digital copy more easily.
Determine conversion points.
Once you’ve got your wireframes sketched, it’s time to decide exactly how the user should move through each step. Just because you’ve outlined the steps the user should take doesn’t mean they’re intuitive for them to flow through. At this stage, you’ll determine what buttons, hyperlinks, images, or other elements on the page will guide the reader onto the next step until they reach the end goal that we discussed in step 1.
Remove redundant steps.
Wireframing is an iterative process. It’s rare to do a single round of sketching wireframes that are production-ready. You might notice some marketing web pages are redundant and can be combined to create fewer clicks for the digital user.
Get feedback on the wireframe.
Your website will go through several rounds of tests and revisions before it goes live, but it’s still a good idea to get feedback on your wireframes in the beginning stages. Collaborate with your design and development teams, as well as any internal staff, and customers to get their opinion on the flow itself.
Benefits of Website Wireframing
- Visual layout overview
- Save resources in the design process
- Test usability and refine marketing website navigation
- Internal design team communication
- Receive feedback sooner
- Easy information architecture.