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My Goal

Im using Axure for prototyping and I've created widgets which reflect my application UI.

One thing I would like to achieve is the ability to add text-shadow onto certain elements, without having to type the same text twice and layer them over each other.

What I've tried so far

I've tried several methods and hacks to get this to work with no luck. The closest I have got is creating 2 dynamic panels, one which I type the desired text into and then when previewing the protoype, I can click on the element to trigger the onclick event to update the shadow element. Which is far from ideal.

Existing Examples

Im pretty sure this can be achieved as I have seen it done in other peoples Axure libraries.

For Example: http://axutopia.com/axure-widgets-libraries/axure-iphone-widgets-library/

text-shadow-in-axure

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Why the close votes? Are we not supposed to be asking questions about UX software? – DA01 Jan 30 at 13:33
@DA01 No, not according to the highest voted answer to the meta-question Should tool-related questions be on-topic? It's better to direct users to the tools user forum instead. – Benny Skogberg Jan 30 at 13:41
Bummer. I've found the Axure forums to be rather quiet a lot of the time. FWIW, it appears that Graphic Design software tool related questions are on-topic for the GD stackexchange site (actually, that seems to be the primary type of question there, for better or worse). I'll contribute to the Meta discussion. – DA01 Jan 30 at 13:45
Sorry, but as discussed on the linked Meta post and in comments here questions about UX software usage aren't on-topic as thry're not User Experience questions directly, they're software usage questions. Feel free to pop into chat though to see if anyone there can help you out. – JonW♦ Jan 30 at 13:52
does the stack exchange offer a home for this question? Superuser? – Blowsie Jan 30 at 14:48
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closed as off topic by Mervin, Benny Skogberg, dhmholley, Matt Obee, JonW♦ Jan 30 at 13:50

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1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Axure is a wireframing/prototyping tool. It's not a graphic design/UI design tool.

Obviously, you can push its limit to some extent, but creating shadows is not something it does out of the box and I'd strongly recommend not adding to your stress levels trying to figure out cumbersome hacks to get around it.

I encourage people to use the 'sketch' style and never go beyond that. Once you start trying to do visual design inside of Axure, you quickly build up an arbitrary limitation to what you can do and that will negatively effect the process going forward.

All that said, as for the 'other libraries' it certainly looks like they've managed to find a workaround. I'd suggest installing the library and dissecting what they did. Post back what you find! I'm curious, too.

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Axure is totally capable of doing high fidelity wireframes, although in many cases it has to be used in collaboration with a graphics package for effects. – Stewart Dean Jan 30 at 13:37
'Capable' sure. Is it a practical tool for that? I'd argue, no, it's not. But yes, you are correct that for true high-fidelity, you have to go outside the tool for visual design as the tool, itself, isn't designed for that. – DA01 Jan 30 at 13:46
If you're creating prototypes then it works well. I've worked on projects where high fidelity results have been created for user testing. We found it practical for that purpose. It's not perfect but what would you see as an alternative solution? – Stewart Dean Jan 30 at 13:50
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I'm not saying don't use Axure for prototyping. I'm just saying that as you creep towards higher-and-higher fidelity, the limits of Axure become more and more apparent and actually start to get in the way more than anything. Ideally, your team at a certain point decides that a particular fidelity means you switch over to prototype code. For example, with web-based user-testing, we've found that there are fairly definable points where it makes sense to switch into writing HTML/CSS/JS vs. pushing Axure beyond a particular point. – DA01 Jan 30 at 13:53
Thanks for your answer. I'm not planning to design a UI, as my questions states, I'm building an Axure library which reflects my application. By doing this, when we are required to prototype new functionality and layout I can simply drag and drop elements from my library and create prototypes which truly reflect my application. Doing this prevents my colleagues asking the questions how will it actually look, or how will it work. I appreciate your answer, as you can imagine like a lot of designers im quite anal about the details. The better my prototypes the less revisions I have to make. – Blowsie Jan 30 at 14:52
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