Visio Stencil

for web page prototyping...

[joshie76]

Does anybody know where I can lay my hands on a Visio stencil for rapid web page prototyping (with form elements, lorem ipsor text etc)?

[tedster]

Josh, I've got no experience with this, but a Google search turns up a number of options, some with greeked text and some with lorem ispum text.

[joshie76]

Thanks tedster - I obviously wasn't searching well.

<aside>What is Greeked text?</aside>

[tedster]

>> What is Greeked text?

Thanks for asking. I thought I knew this word, but a little research broadened my knowledge!

1) Sometimes, and even commonly, the phrase "greeked text" is used to mean the "lorem ipsum" text you asked about. (That's so weird -- using the word "greek" for ersatz latin!)

2) Othertimes the phrase is used mean illegible markings - which are not fonts - that represent or place-hold for aactual text.

An example for number 2 would be the display in layout or word processing programs when otherwise visible text falls below a certain screen size. Instead of bothering to render a font, which wouldn't be readable anyway, a uniform substitute marking is rendered instead.

I thought number two was the principal meaning. Turns out that's not true at all.

[joshie76]

Tedster, you're a veritable mine of knowledge!

[tedster]

You too, Josh. Your JavaScript savvy is a real boon to the community here.

[joshie76]

Happy to help :)

[mivox]

I thought number two was the principal meaning. Turns out that's not true at all
I thought so too. Must be a desktop publishing misnomer... Pagemaker always had that Preferences setting: Greek text below [ ] pt. (or something like that). And everything smaller than that would be replaced with little grey bars.

Wouldn't have thought of the greek/pseudo-latin connection...

Now, if joshie could explain to me what this nifty-sounding Visio stencil business is, I'd be truly happy. ;)

[joshie76]

Probably not as nifty as you're thinking ;)

Basically a set of pre-drawn objects which I can drag and drop onto a visio diagram to create my first run prototype. Not really for prototyping *designs* as much as the process of developing this prototype really gets you thinking about how the interaction is going to work.

A good place to start before the slightly more time consuming HTML mock-up's.

PS - I found a good one here [studioid.com]. Look for the Download link