Prototyping in Web Development

This chapter addresses issues, alternatives, and best practices for prototyping in Web development. The chapter’s primary objective is to provide a clear and concise overview of key concepts and best practices for practitioners and students, as well as other audiences. The chapter focuses on graphical user interface (UI) prototyping for Web development, but many of the principles apply to non-UI prototyping and other sorts of software development. First, we introduce and motivate the chapter, and review the major objectives, benefits and risks, and classifications of prototypes. Second, we describe the major approaches to prototyping. Finally, we conclude with future trends and a summary of best practices.