Wireframing is a staple for a number of software roles, from graphic designers and web developers to product owners and marketing managers. Wireframes enable you to express your vision clearly and early in the design process. Essentially, it’s software on paper. A visual outline of how all of your pages will work together as a seamless interface.
If you’re designing an Android app (or any mobile or desktop app), then you’ll need to use some sort of wireframe tool for this, and we’ve got a whole list of great free prototyping tools for Ubuntu!
Webflow
As you may have noticed, we are Webflow. We know that you want a smoother and faster design process, and we’re here to help you out.
Webflow takes care of two jobs at once. While you’re designing and building a high-fidelity prototype, you’re creating a live website that’s complete with all of the HTML, CSS, and associated JavaScript. You don’t end up with just a mockup — you’ll have the real deal.
With an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, a powerful CMS, and the capability to create advanced animations, transitions, and microinteractions, Webflow makes it possible to create any type of professional-level website.
If you want a speedy way to design and prototype, Webflow gives you what you need, all without knowing how to code, making it one of the best prototyping tools whatever your skill level. Designers and marketers can easily collaborate in Webflow as well.
You can also check out Webflow University for a wide range of tutorials on how to get started with prototyping in Webflow.
Axure RP 9
Axure RP 9 puts the power of wireframing and prototyping all in one package. It allows designers to create low to high resolution interactive prototypes of websites and apps, all without having to code.
Along with what you need to build the visuals, interactivity, and organization, Axure RP 9 also offers a comprehensive documentation tool, which makes keeping track of notes, tasks, and other important assets organized and accessible to those who need to see it.
Axure RP 9 also facilitates a better handoff to developers by letting a prototype be published on their cloud, with all of the code, specifications, and other assets they would need to build it.
Built for professionals, with attention to all of the intricacies of building functional prototypes, Axure RP 9 is for those designers who demand more from their prototyping tools.
Origami Studio
If you’re Facebook and your designers don’t have an app that they need, you build it for them. Origami Studio was created for Facebook designers out of necessity, and Facebook so graciously shared it with the rest of the design world.
For designers who need a more advanced system, Origami Studio offers powerful prototyping tools for websites and mobile apps. Central to Origami Studio is a patch editor that lets you build logic, behaviors, animations, and interactions. It comes with many prebuilt patches, and the site says you’ll most likely use just 15–20 of these for most of your prototyping work.
Origami Studio does have a bit of a learning curve that can be daunting at first. But the payoff of knowing how to use their prototyping tools and pulling off sophisticated prototypes makes it well worth learning. This power, along with its compatibility in working with Sketch, makes Origami Studio an important tool for designers who want to go above and beyond standard prototyping.
Justinmind
Justinmind has been gathering momentum as a popular prototyping tool. There are quite a few reasons why, from drag-and-drop functionality, the capabilities to create the simplest to most sophisticated of apps and web prototypes, and plenty of support, like videos and blogs to help you learn how to use it. Justinmind isn’t as huge as some of the other prototyping tools out there, but they’re certainly an up-and-comer.
Justinmind comes with UI libraries and templates, as well as many other practical features. It lets you create the logic for conditional navigation, allows for user testing, facilitates design team management, and more. There’s also a number of integrations that let you use Justinmind with Sketch, Adobe Suite, Azure DevOps Server, and Jira in your workflow.
Its simple interface makes it a great starting point for a beginner UX designer but also offers enough for more advanced designers.
Design interactions and animations without code
Build complex interactions and animations without even looking at code.Start animating
Sketch
So many UX designers use Sketch as a part of their workflow — and for good reason.
Uniformity and consistency drive much of Sketch’s functionality. Reusable elements can be used sitewide with a smart layout feature that changes their dimensions depending on what content is inside of them. Then there’s the ease of use. Along with a well-designed user interface, Sketch offers a host of shortcuts at your fingertips to speed up the design process.
Many consider Sketch an industry standard when it comes to wireframes and prototyping, and its feature-packed and user-friendly interface are just a few reasons why so many designers choose it.
Fluid UI
Fluid UI’s software makes for lightning-fast prototyping. With ready-made libraries for material design, iOs, and Windows, as well as gestures, Fluid UI gives you so much to get started with. And their simple user interface makes it super easy to put these components together.
Framer
Framer is a design tool that lets you build interactive prototypes extremely fast. With Framer, you can create completely functional prototypes — everything from linking pages together to creating 3D effects.
Framer also has thousands of resources in the Framer X Store. You have access to everything from live maps, UI kits, and media players all at your fingertips.
Marvel
Do you need a prototyping tool that will let you whip up apps and websites quickly? And do it for free? Marvel gives you a complete suite of prototyping tools, without skimping on functionality.
Marvel lets you go beyond static mockups and offers interactivity, dynamic transitions, and gestures to bring prototypes to life and give a real user experience to anyone testing them out. Another nice addition is the handoff tool that gives developers all of the code and assets in their most current iteration to dive in and create a live website, automatically.
Marvel’s collaborative features let anyone on a design team — no matter how spread out, or whatever the stage of production — add notes, make changes, and share ideas in real time.
Proto.io
ESPN, Amazon, and PayPal are just a few of the big names that have used Proto.io. With a comprehensive selection of components and tools, interactive prototypes are made possible without having to type in a single line of code.
Within its web-based editor, Proto.io gives you a variety of drag-and-drop UI web components, templates, icon libraries, and audio and video integrations. You can also bring in anything you have created on your own in Photoshop or Sketch.
With an array of templates, tools, and other components to build prototypes, Proto.io has so much to offer.
Principle
Principle lets you create dazzling interactions and eye-catching animations, giving you prototypes that go beyond dull static representations.
With multiple artboards, a timeline-based animation builder, and the ability to import Figma frames, Principle allows you to design an impressive app or web design in a short amount of time.
With an attention to motion and interactivity, Principle stands out among the other prototyping apps out there.
Balsamiq
Balsamiq is a low-fidelity wireframing tool. While it’s not necessarily designed specifically for ready prototypes, like some of the tools mentioned above, it is a great place to create website wireframe mockups. But it can be used for more than just websites. Balsamiq is great for sketching product design, web apps, desktop software, mobile apps, and user interface wireframes.
UXPin
UXPin is the best Ubuntu wireframe tool for handling off design documentation to developers. It also specializes in UX design and prototyping. It allows you to put together wireframes at high speed by dragging and dropping custom elements. It comes with Android, iOS, Foundation, and Bootstrap libraries that are regularly updated, and quickly converts your wireframes to high-fidelity mockups. Therefore, it provides the capability to make fully interactive and animated prototypes for the final product. UXPin also has interesting features like share, review, and comment, as well as task assignment, approval request, and Slack and email notification that allows you to streamline workflows. As an administrator, you can set team and role-based permission access and lock up significant projects.
Pros
- Easy to work with and hence needs no experience level.
- It works in multiple platforms
- It consistently has an improved design
- Intuitive project and comment tracking and design approvals
Cons
- It has a slight learning curve so may not be very easy to use
- Does not provide a birds-eye view of the prototype
Figma
Figma is another recommended wireframe software for Linux that easily creates, designs, and shares wireframes with others using a live URL link. As you design your own UI components or upload them, you will notice that creating artboards, adding text and shapes, and keeping all organized is easy. It also comes with a pre-made Wireframe kit to assist in jump-starting a project. It supports real-time collaboration on a file without interfering with overlapping or versioning, making it the best Linux wireframe tool for real-time collaboration. Its team collaboration opportunities stand out because it is a web-based application that allows multiple members to log in, as they access design files simultaneously.
Pros
- Simple and thus easy to use
- Provides cloud-based storage
- Does prototyping alongside wireframing
- Comes with zeplin integration
- Has the majority of the XD tools
Cons
- Hogs all of your RAM
- The application may freeze when dealing with a medium to the rigid task.
Moqups
Moqups creates wireframes for Ubuntu users, making it popular for wireframing, as well as UI prototyping. This platform’s popularity has earned it about a million users, including companies like Intel, Amazon, and Microsoft. It is designed for real-time designing, planning, and collaborating. Its interesting features include a built-in library of numerous popular icon sets and stencil kits with drag-drop functionality. Therefore, it is easy to drag and drop images from apps or desktops and import them to the platform. It also has a powerful page management feature that handles complex projects with impeccable scalability and flexibility.
Pros
- It is fast and easy to use
- It does not require plugins
- It supports 960 grid system
- It has a clean and very intuitive design
- Has an extensive list of keyboard shortcuts
Cons
- The free plan only allows two projects and does not include Privacy settings, Real-time collaboration, Master pages, and Unlimited revisions.
- Functionality is too basic, preventing you from being super detailed about things
Marvel
Marvel is also a great Ubuntu wireframe tool that is often referred to as an all-in-one design platform. It has a pleasant, intuitive, and beautiful design and user interface and is the best option for pre-designed wireframe templates. It has the necessary tools for not only wireframing but also user testing, prototyping, and general design. It provides you with templates for Apple products like Apple TV and Watch, Android, iOS, and web. Additionally, Marvel can integrate with applications like Confluence and Dropbox to propel your workflow. It also comes with multiple simple wireframe assets for every device to allow dragging and dropping to use.
Pros
- Comes with a user-friendly interface
- Setting up and working is easy
- Conducts cloud-based wireframing as well as prototyping
- Allows you to share URL with other people in one click
- Have Plugins for photoshop and sketch
Cons
- It is dysfunctional online
- It doesn’t allow you to animate mockup screens
- The trial version allows two projects only.
Comparison among the Best Wireframe Tools for Linux
| Wondershare Mockitt | UXPin | Figma | Moqups | Marvel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compatibility | Web-based, MacOS, Windows, Linux | Web-based, macOS, Windows | Web-based, macOS, Windows, Linux | Web-based | Web-based |
| Price | Basic is free Personal- $12.9 per month or $69 per year Team and Enterprise – $99 per year | Basic is free Professional- $20 Premium -$24 per month for a single user Team- $79Enterprice- Custom | Starter-$0 Professional $12 Organization -$45 per month for each editor | Creative Team- $19 for 3 users and $6 per each other user. Personal- $13 Enterprise- Custom | Basic is free Pro-$12 Team- $42 Team Plus_ $84 per month that is billed annually Team Plus_ $84 per month that is billed annually |
| Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe | Safe |
| Easy-to-use | YES | NO | YES | YES | YES |
| low, medium, and high fidelity | High fidelity | High fidelity | High fidelity | Low fidelity | High fidelity |
Conclusion
This is something that everyone should know when using computer. There are many ways to create wireframes, makes the job of the developer easier when designing. You like Linux? Well, you can install Ubuntu on your PC or Laptop. It’s easy and simple. But in terms of Prototyping tools, they are not always easy to find…