PowerPoint Storyboarding with Visual Studio 2012 vs Balsamiq

Both of these tools are designed for quick storyboarding, prototyping or wire-framing. Both are able to produce artifacts that can demonstrate user interaction to a stakeholder in a visual way. The focus of both products is on content and not on high definition end-product visuals. This document outlines their respective capabilities, prerequisites, ease of use and will make a recommendation.

PowerPoint Storyboarding with Visual Studio 2012:

An add-in to PowerPoint that comes with Visual Studio 2012, this application is an additional tab called “Storyboarding” within PowerPoint that allows users to leverage their existing PowerPoint skills to mock up applications. There is strong Microsoft support for this add-in and a number of additional templates exist to assist with mocking for different technologies including web, SharePoint and iOS to name but a few. 

A big benefit is the ability to add these mockups to a TFS work item which expedites the process of providing the development staff with documentation. This works best for organisations that rely on Team Foundation Server as both their code repository and their project and document management solution. It is useful to keep all artifacts and project related information in a central, accessible, managed environment.

Prerequisites:

• PowerPoint 2007 or later

• Visual Studio Premium 2012, VS Ultimate 2012 or VS Test Professional 2012

Figure 1 : The mocking environment within PowerPoint using the Storyboarding add-in

Balsamiq

This application has a strong reputation in analysis and design circles. It comes highly recommended for mocking up applications. With strong community support there are a large number of controls and templates to choose from. This application is available as a standalone install and as a web -based app within Chrome. Easy to learn and quickly create mockups this application is quickly becoming a standard.

Prerequisites:

• Chrome web browser for web version

• None if installing the standalone app

Figure 2: The mocking environment within the Balsamiq web application

Recommendation

These applications are very similar in functionality and the outputs that can be produced.  Having only had access to the free version of Balsamiq I can really highly recommend it and have on many occasions.  If it is within budget then the Storyboarding add-in would make a useful addition to any designer’s tool belt.

Advantages of Storyboarding are:

• TFS integration

• Transferable skill set for anyone who can PowerPoint proficiently. 

Advantages of Balsamiq:

• Web-based so can be used from any computer. 

• Large number of community generated artifacts. 

• Cheaper by a big margin

Further Reading

Balsamiq:

http://support.balsamiq.com/customer/portal/articles/107999-specifying-interaction-with-mockups

PowerPoint Storyboarding:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh409276(v=vs.110).aspx

http://techblurt.com/2012/09/13/balsamiq-vs-powerpoint-storyboarding-with-vs-2012/