Interface prototyping is a fantastic way to try out new applications and website designs before they go live. If you have a large user base, or are emerging into a new market, it is especially important that interface prototyping is carried out to ensure that all important use-cases are catered for and that the user experience is optimized as much as possible before the final iteration of design is created. If you are expanding your website to cater for a new audience, there are several things to consider with interface prototyping.
Think about the internet habits of the users of your new website, for example. Do people use the internet for social media or work? Does your target audience belong to a region, where internet connections are particularly slow? This will affect whether you should include video and flash content in your designs. Also consider whether your users read from right to left, or if there are any other layouts that will be particularly fitting for your target audience. Incorporating these design decisions into interface prototyping means that you can experiment with different options and carry out user testing before programming begins. You might also want to show your prototypes to content specialists and translators to see whether the templates you create will be fitting for the written and visual content that should go in its place. Also look at the site structure of your proposed website. There are some interface prototyping tools that enable you to create site maps. These are particularly useful if you plan to translate only part of your website for another audience. You should look to see whether the user flows will still make sense and whether some valuable content should be placed onto a different page of your prototype.
