Axure RP vs. OmniGraffle

Still the best IMHO for dynamic prototyping. Sometimes you need to wireframe novel on-page widgets, such as draggable search areas (in the context of map-based search), or interactive annotations on diagrams. And sometimes real data values are necessary for test participants to give good feedback. However, this is something of a niche scenario. The majority of uxers prefer xd or Figma and find that static prototypes (screen1->click->screen2) is sufficient.

Omnigraffle is great for documentation, mapping, flowcharting, and other technical diagramming scenarios. It's simple enough to bang out a quick illustration and powerful enough to build complex blueprints for complicated technical systems. If you need cross-platform compatibility, though, you're probably better off looking elsewhere. If you want complex integration with data sources (ala Visio's SQL Server integration for shape metadata), OmniGraffle also falls short — but those scenarios are few and far between in my experience.

Incentivized

• Adaptive views enable us to create truly responsive designs, even when they are very complex.
• The platform’s many available templates and ability to create a library of reusable designs enables us to prototype faster and more efficiently than creating every single design from the ground up.
• The company provides a lot of support options, from training videos to online forums. This is a pretty complex tool, so knowing that we can always look up or ask a question and get a quick answer has helped us immensely.
• Axure’s comprehensive suite of tools to portray interactivity in prototypes has truly helped us show stakeholders and clients what an end product will look like, which has really helped us gain necessary internal and external buy-in.

Incentivized

• OmniGraffle is fairly simple to use, but the one thing I think it does best is working with curved lines, particularly if you are using some of the available arc templates. Drop an arc onto your page, then tell it the dimensions it needs to be, and viola! Done. Manipulating the arcs is as simple as clicking and dragging offset points.
• OmniGraffle has also done an excellent job in stirring up the creative minds of many people who create templates and tools to work with OmniGraffle (not that Microsoft hasn't done so either), and managed to get the bulk of those into well organized repositories.
• What it all boils down to for me is: it just works. One doesn't need to have a computer science degree to work with it either. It is as simple or complex as you want it to be.

Incentivized

• The user interface is somewhat old and not always the most intuitive.
• I've been using Axure RP for 5 years and often forget that it has a steep learning curve, which makes it harder to onboard new employees.
• The "teams" functionality, as far as working and sharing the same files, has some room for performance improvements.
• Results of the Preview function varies per browser (although it works best on Chrome).

Incentivized

• There could be more scaffolding to support new users in getting to know how to best use all of the many features and tools it provides.
• There could be more support for printing. Many of our process flows extend beyond just one page, and OmniGraffle is rather finicky about printing multipage documents.
• We could use this tool more effectively if there was the ability to have real-time team collaboration. Document handoffs can be a point of missed communication, so it’d be great if we could ever have the option of working together in the same place at the same time.

Incentivized

Best product for my needs on the market

Incentivized

Axure feels like a tool that started with a simple interface that wasn't redesigned over time. Simple tasks sometimes require clicking through multiple layers. Crucial pieces of functionality are hidden under text links, or just flatly aren't discoverable. Much of the quirks of the interface only come from having screwed up numerous times, and knowing that certain things are just difficult to accomplish.

Incentivized

I've never used the support for Axure but they do have an online community that can be helpful when you're unsure how to accomplish a specific bit of interactivity. Overall the community for Axure is a great benefit for the software. There are also a lot of shared library assets which can help reduce the time you spend on projects.

Incentivized

OmniGraffle is an excellent application for chart and diagrams development. Been using it for a while now and it's a multiple platform application.

Incentivized

I think that the online training videos cover all product features and are a great resource to point people to. The newsletter is also frequent and passes on a range of tips and techniques for users that are eager to learn more, or just want to keep themselves up to date

Since Axure RP is a desktop software that can work without a cloud connection, it is easy to have approved within a highly restricted corporate environment for a low cost with a small team. iRise is a solution that requires greater amounts of management, best service a group of designers in a corporate environment. InVision is cloud-based and, although not impossible, would require a long-term agreement to be made between the corporate and InVision. These could take years. Origami is free and desktop based and has great control of the transitions and data - but is so granular that additional time commitments may have to be made to make a prototype of this fidelity

Incentivized

To sum up:

• use Omnigraffle for diagraming or for quick wireframe drafting
• use Sketch for more in-depth wireframing that you can then flesh out into a high fidelity mock-up, export assets for production, and integrate with prototyping tools like Proto.io and UXPin.

Incentivized

• Axure allows for us to quickly get the entire sales team trained on a specific narrative and gives them a fool proof click path for them to use in the demo.
• Axure is relatively inexpensive and allows for purchasing the software without having to pay a monthly subscription (although they do have that option).
• The Sketch integration has allowed for a 10 fold increase in productivity by taking designs already created in another program and quickly adding them to Axure.

Incentivized

• Instrumental in smoothly transitioning a 3rd party development team from designs to requirements.
• Across cultures, US, Chinese, and Icelandic, OmniGraffle allowed our teams to speak the same language.
• The depth of the software make some elements that are useful less accessible than they should be.

Incentivized