Storyboard. A storyboard is a paper mock up of the appearance of the user interface, with each interface screen shown on a separate piece of paper. Each screen, switch, keyboard, button etc. is depicted exactly as the user would see it. Each page includes annotations so that the user can "walkthrough" the entire application. These are cheap, fast and very effective in terms of value gained versus construction time.

Examples:

• A simple storyboard of a console application (Traffic Jam). (HTML)
• A storyboard for a console application (Hangman). (HTML)
• A storyboard for a Swing version of Hangman. (HTML).
• Here is a student example storyboard for a computer game. (Originally done with paper and pencil)
• Here is an example powerpoint storyboard for Revelation9. (2MB) 
  

Scripted prototype. The user interface screens are presented on the computer, but there is NO underlying functionality. User inputs are hard-coded, and the interaction is pre-scripted. Here are some examples of good and bad prototypes.

"Wizard of Oz" prototype. The user interface screens are displayed on the computer, but there is NO underlying functionality. User interacts with what appears to be a system, but the user inputs are channelled to a designer who simulates the response of the system. The interaction can vary since a human can control the responses given.

Functioning prototype. This is an executing program which may lack any real functionality except for the user interface. Typically you would use a prototyping tool or 4GL environment such as Visual Basic, Delphi, or an HTML editor.  This is a "throw-away" prototype which is discarded after the requirements are written.

CHANGE HISTORY

Date	Notes
1/5	Document Released
9/14/01	minor edits
9/21/01	Minor edits
10/25/02	Added links to examples