User Experience Software

by June 27, 2006

The list of software tools available for user experience professionals continues to grow. From card-sorting applications for Information Architects to prototyping applications for Interface Designers, here are a few tools I’ve been exposed to recently.

Update: I'm only including software specifically built for a particular user experience methodology like card sorting, user recruiting, requirements gathering, etc. General purpose software like Photoshop, Visio, Flash, and Omnigraffle are therefore omitted from this list.

Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer

Deliver exciting next generation user experiences that leverage the full capabilities of the Windows platform to provide greater overall performance, improved usability, and increased customer satisfaction.

xSort

xSort is a card sorting application for Mac OS X developed to streamline the workflow of user experience professionals and social scientists.

Axure

Axure RP enables application designers to create annotated wireframes, interactive, browser-based prototypes, and professional functional specifications for applications and web sites faster and easier than creating static mockups with their current tools.

Intuitect

Intuitect creates a single unified structure that holds all the information about your website project. The three Intuitect views are: Navigation (sitemap) View, Wireframe View, and Flowmap View.

Aurora

An adaptable WinFX-based graphics authoring tool that generates instant XAML documents. It can be used as a development tool to create fresh user interfaces for Windows and Web applications.

GenoPal

A color picker and color matching software. GenoPal mimics intuitive ways of referring to color: starting with your best guess it presents options and allows you to refine choices.

Morae

Morae Usability Testing for Software and Web Sites enables product teams to observe actual users, giving these teams a clear picture of where problems exist and stimulating ideas for fixing them.

Ethnio

Recruit users live from your website. Capture feedback from users as they use your site or application. [thanks Geof]

WebSort

A web-based software tool that enables researchers to perform remote card sort studies. Create a study, send a link to participants, and analyze the result. [thanks Jed]

GUI Design Studio

A graphical user interface design tool for Microsoft Windows that you can use to rapidly create demonstration prototypes without any coding or scripting. [thanks John]

iRise

iRise Studio is used for new custom applications, portals, enhancements to existing systems and Web-based front-ends to packaged software. [thanks Parker]

uLog

Enables you to log computer events such as mouse clicks, scrolling, and keystrokes, the recording of text strings, the resizing of windows, pop-ups, which windows and applications are active, and more. [thanks Dave]

Serena Composer

By providing a shared visual taxonomy for defining application requirements and prototypes, Serena Composer helps business and IT work better together. [thanks Dave]

GUIguide

Contains industry standards for effective GUI and web design and for meeting Rich client and HTML standards compliance. [thanks Dave]

stpBA Storyboarding

A Microsoft Visio based GUI storyboarding and prototyping tool to visually validate requirements with business users. The tool generates HTML storyboards, screen flow diagrams, reader friendly UI specifications, functional specifications and test scripts. [thanks Sam]

UserVue

A Web-based service that allows you to remotely connect to, interact with, observe and record users as they navigate an application or Web site. [thanks Faron]

User Testing

UserTesting.com provides quick and cheap Web site usability testing. Delivering video and written reviews of people utilizing your site for only $19 per user. [thanks Dave

Ovo Logger

Geared mostly towards usability testing, this software is used for observational logging, digital video capture, highlights generation, and reporting & analysis. [thanks Rich]

MindCanvas

Though not a software package you can run yourself, MindCanvas (part of Uzanto’s research service offering) enables researchers to gather insights about customers' thoughts & feelings through Game-like Elicitation Methods (GEMs).