Prototype is a simple visualization of a website for testing its usability.

Why do you need to prototype your site?  As a designer or developer you know your website perfectly.  You know what each button is for.  You know where the navigation bar is and where the banner of your site is.

But with a user and your client it is different situation.  Perhaps they are not heavy Internet users at all.  For them if a navigation bar is not on the usual place of the web page (on the top of the page) could be very confusing.  To check how your website works in other point of view you have to prototype it.

Prototyping is a method which helps to find different design alternatives and assess usability. There are a low fidelity prototyping and a high fidelity prototyping.  The advantage of low fidelity prototyping is its simplicity.  It is a cheap and quick way to develop new ideas and explore alternative designs.

Low fidelity prototyping is simple drawing or colour paper craft.  Every paper craft (A4 size) presents each web page with navigation system.  It is time-consuming process and not very effective for building a website.

However, to build a website it is better suited to high fidelity prototyping, where a user and your client will see materials very similar with final product and fully interactive navigation system.

For faster result you can use Photoshop and Fireworks.  Your prototype will be ready to email to your client in 30 minutes.  And when he confirmed your prototype you can build your website without worrying that he could change his mind.  Certainly, you have to define this point in your contract.

Afterwards your client confirmed your site design you will be able to ask your friends to help you to test a site.  What is the test?  It is just a simulation of real life situation.  Give your friend a set of tasks such as

1. Open a home page
2. Click ‘Register’ button
3. Fill the form
4. Confirm the form

And watch how your friend succeeds in those tasks.  If he is confused and can’t find the button, consider moving it to a different place of the page.  Testing is very useful to find your design faults.

So prototyping is very helpful to discuss ideas with all types of users and to find effective way to test them.  If you want to learn more about prototyping a website using  paper or software such as Powerpoint, Fireworks or Dreamweaver, buy the book ‘Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide’ by Todd Zaki Warfel.

It is packed with easy to follow tutorials for prototyping. In each chapter of the book you can find advantages and disadvantages of every method and tool of prototyping.  And then the author walks you from basic to advanced techniques for using tools.   So this book is full of valuable information, which you can apply to your project immediately.  Todd Zaki Warfel also demonstrates in his book how prototyping can help you market a product, what is really essential for any Internet marketer.