Practical
Axure RP 8
Advanced Training

Course description

This is an advanced course, and some basic knowledge is assumed. If you are not already familiar with Axure RP, it’s a good idea to go through the official Axure core training modules first.
The course includes topics that are either not covered anywhere else, or scattered around a number of forum threads that are difficult to find, categorise, and go through. Those that were deemed as most important are examined in the greatest detail, with plenty of tips and examples to cover all possible scenarios.

You can get an overview of the topics by checking the online demo, which includes all content (in HTML only, and without the explanations). Please note: pages may take some time to load; once you download the file on your computer, pages are only going to render much faster (about 1 second each).

Keywords are associated to each page, so you can easily find topics and a link to the right page, by just opening the "INDEX-Keywords" panel, from anywhere in the prototype.

With the exception of the template for mobile prototyping, all of the training material for this course is included in a single Axure .rp file. The examples are paired with contextual explanations, where important points are bolded so they can serve later on as a quick reference. Interactions in Axure consist of one or more cases. The vast majority of cases have been given a descriptive label, in order to make them self-explanatory. Widgets that are the target of interactions are assigned descriptive labels, so they can be recognised easily.

The course does not include any videos, since the content is self-explanatory, and videos would only make for a more convoluted and passive learning experience. Instead, the way the material is structured makes it easy to jump from one section to the other and find a certain topic again later.

Content outline

Software overview

Workspace, page and widget styles, masters, and how to set up a project. Useful shortcuts and practical tips. Complete overview of the different widget types available, their properties and everything you can do with them. Includes the latest widgets and features (Axure 8), such as custom vector shapes and the pen tool.

Interactions

All you need to know about interactions and event triggers, described in detail one by one, and illustrated through practical examples. Includes use of variables to store and retrieve data, drag and drop, animated transitions, raised events, and expressions. Learn which Javascript components are worth using if you want to take your prototype to the next level, and without investing too much time on it.

Conditional logic

Add conditional logic to interactions, in order to recreate virtually any front-end pattern. Get a detailed description of all conditions, and when they should be used. Understand how to combine actions and conditions, and why a certain sequence works, and another doesn’t.

Repeater widget

Add datasets to your prototype and simulate real data. Learn how to make the content update dynamically by adding, filtering, sorting data, and much more. Create lists, search result templates, product catalogues, and so on, by adding expressions and conditions that give you full control over the dataset.

Mobile and adaptive prototyping

Settings and best practices to produce mobile prototypes that fit any Android and iOS device. Create a master prototype that adapts to different screens sizes via adaptive views. Generate layouts that share common elements but also scale from desktop to mobile or tablet devices.

Advanced UI patterns

Master Axure’s graphic capabilities to get high-fidelity prototypes. See how you can create modern, slick UI patterns and effects, such as advanced form controls, mouseover transitions, pinned headers and sidebars, scroll-based animations. 

About the author

Luca Benazzi has been working since 2003 as an independent user experience consultant, and has been involved on a large variety of projects in Europe and the US. His clients range from start-ups and medium-sized companies, to large corporations - among these: Thomson Reuters, Expedia, eBay, PayPal, Sky, T-Mobile, O2, Unilever, Dubai Holding.

Back in 2009, he created what was the most comprehensive showcase of Axure functionality available on the Internet, Axure in action. Since then, he has released several Axure-related tutorials, which have been watched and downloaded by tens of thousands of people all over the world. He has also provided face-to-face Axure training to corporations based in Europe and the US. In 2014, he published one of the most comprehensive reviews of prototyping tools ever made available online (now in dire need for an update, but he was too busy working on this course).

In 2016, he released UX Map, an Axure widget library to optimise the UX documentation generated in Axure. UX Map allows the addition of contextual annotations that are triggered on mouseover and can be toggled on and off globally. It also includes a ‘UX Map’ mode where all interactions are specified in great detail, using a simple visual language. UX Maps are navigable diagrams that depict all steps of product-specific interactions.

He's currently working on a brand new UX training program with a practical, evidence-based approach.

Discount for students

Students can get a personal license for $49 instead of $99. Just write an email at info@humaneinterface.net using an email address from an educational domain (or alternatively, by attaching a proof of enrolment, such as a student ID, with the name and expiration date on it).

A school/university can also get in touch to receive unlimited access for all its students at $149 instead of $189.

Discount for UX Map users

Those who have already purchased a UX Map license can get a discount of $20 (individual license) or $40 (corporate license). If you buy an Axure training license, you are entitled to the same discount on the purchase of a UX Map license. Just send an email at info@humaneinterface.net with your request.

UX Map is a widget library for Axure RP that helps designers deliver a better, far more accurate design documentation, in no time. You can add interactive annotations that can be toggle on and off globally, and map user journeys and interactions in great detail using a simple visual language.

Why Axure?

An election tool for UI/UX design

Axure 8 comes with such a variety of features that there’s really little you can’t do. Instead of importing static mockups and stitching them together via hotspots, you can build your interactive UI entirely in one place, and rely on external software only for the most sophisticated graphic assets.

Axure is the ideal tool to make your product evolve and take shape progressively, through incremental design iterations. Start from static wireframes and high-level concept. Later on, apply the desired look and feel using custom styles, and then gradually add interactivity. What you get is a fully functional prototype that you can use for usability testing purposes, or as a high-fidelity product demo.

Adding graphic elements and making them interactive is quick and easy, and there’s a lot you can achieve with minimal effort. The drag and drop canvas is ideal for quick sketches that are going to change many times, before you nail down how the final design will look like. And no need to jump from one piece of software to the other, or browse through an endless list of plugins.

It’s ideal for low-fidelity prototypes

Many believe that Axure is a complex tool to handle, but creating simple interactive prototypes is actually very simple and requires a fraction of the time it would take with tools such as Balsamiq or Omnigraffle. On top of that, Axure offers an extensive range of customisation, to take your design documentation even further. You can even use repeaters and datasets to create lists that can be filtered through and sorted (think of a search results page, for example). And you can style an early-stage prototype to look like a sketched wireframe.

It’s more practical than modern Website-builders

The HTML code generated in Axure is not production ready and cannot be reused in any way, but it’s a good trade-off, if you consider that you can create virtually any front-end pattern at a fraction of the time you’d need if you were to write real code. No need to define CSS classes every time you create a new element. No need to rack your brains in order to guess what the right HTML properties should be for the desired layout, or to make sure that elements are nested correctly into one another... these are things that you don’t want to deal with when you are still at an early stage of design. Instead, spend your precious time to explore and test different interaction paradigms and layouts. Visual tools to build front-end code are tremendously useful to ramp up productivity, but they are meant to be used when you already know exactly what has to be implemented.

Document and map the user experience in great detail

Axure’s prototyping and diagramming capabilities can be further augmented using the UX Map widget library, that allows you to convert your prototype into an authentic live spec demo. Add interactive annotations in context, and describe all interactions using the UX Map visual language. This is ideal to get developers and all other stakeholders informed, and leave no space for ambiguity at the moment of handover.

Many prototyping tools are conceived as collaborative design platforms, where everybody can add comments and suggest ways to improve the design. While that may be common in certain work environments, it can also make the UX documentation more decentralised and confusing, and distract designers from creating outstanding user interfaces. Axure RP lets you focus on what matters the most: great design.