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I was reading this Ubuntu Software Center design document and wondering, what software was used to design all those ui concept?

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See also Native, FOSS GUI prototyping tools? –  8128 Nov 24 '10 at 16:53

5 Answers 5

up vote 11 down vote accepted

Those specific designs are made by hand by Matthew Paul Thomas on graph paper.

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ah see, that's why it look more natural. –  ariefbayu Nov 24 '10 at 1:07

I've found Pencil to be most valuable when I need to pump out quick little UI mocks. It's a Firefox extension by default but you can also get a version that runs on XUL (the framework beneathe Firefox).

While it might not be what was used for this example, it's worth a look.

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yeah, I did use pencil (the downloaded version). –  ariefbayu Nov 24 '10 at 1:04

Mark Shuttleworth uses Balsamiq Mockups for his mockups (like the Window Indicators one). It's not free though.

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There is a web demo version of Balsamiq Mockups at: builds.balsamiq.com/b/mockups-web-demo –  jr0cket Nov 24 '10 at 5:57

Balsamiq Mockups is an application that occasionally gets used by Mark and the design team.

It's not free but it is cross-platform (through Java) and provides a lot more features than Pencil.

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Balsamiq is excellent. Though isn't it based on AIR? –  Grant Palin Nov 24 '10 at 1:47
Yes, Balsamiq mockups runs on top of Adobe AIR and not Java. Adobe AIR does work okay on Ubuntu, at least since Ubuntu 9.10 –  jr0cket Nov 24 '10 at 5:58

WireframeSketcher lets you do this kind of mockups. You can use it as a standalone tool but also as a plugin for Eclipse-based IDEs (like Aptana and Zend Studio).

Ubuntu Software Center Mockup

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For the benefit of the reader: this is $75 for a single license (You should really get other people to recommend your software by the way) :P –  Stefano Palazzo Dec 4 '10 at 15:43
I also give away free licenses to open-source developers and all kinds of do-gooders. –  Peter Severin Dec 4 '10 at 17:18
+1 for giving away free licenses –  Marco Ceppi Dec 6 '10 at 14:27

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