Website Wireframes: What You Need to Know (Examples & Tools)

A lot of planning goes into building a website. So much so that, usually you can’t simply jump in and build one, but you need to come up with a plan beforehand. A website wireframe is an important tool for this as it allows you to conceptualize your page layouts, create a visual representation of the finished product, and plan your user experience.

However, what if this is the first time you hear the term “website wireframes”? How can you take advantage of the benefits they offer?

Don’t you worry about that even a little bit. In this detailed guide, we will lay out everything you need to know about this topic. From a definition of what a wireframe for a website is, why it makes sense to use one, examples, tools, and a step-by-step template on how to create a wireframe for your own website – it’s all here.

In this article:

What is a Website Wireframe?

Let’s start off with a definition. What exactly is a wireframe? In a nutshell, it’s a map of the layout, content structure, and functionality of your pages.

A wireframe visualizes what your site and pages will consist of detached from color schemes, typography, or even its final content. It is purely concerned with structure, usability, and what a screen is supposed to accomplish, not what it looks like. To that end, it only maps where main features and elements like images, buttons, or navigation menus go and how visitors interact with them.

It’s also important to know that there are different kinds of website wireframes as well as visualization tools that are similar but have a different purpose:

Low-fidelity wireframe – This is what you can see in the example above. It represents many elements simply with boxes, is very structure focused, and does not contain any graphical elements yet.
High-fidelity wireframe – A more detailed version of the above. It already contains things like shadings and actual logos or typography. It’s a closer representation of the final product but still quite rudimentary and usually without colors.
Mockup – Built on top of a wireframe. Uses colors, icons, and other visual elements to get close to the final site. However, it’s not interactive.
Prototype – More advanced than a mockup, a prototype includes functionality such as hover effects so that you can get a very clear picture of what the website will look like in the end.

Depending who designs the wireframe, these can also have some overlap. You’ll see in the wireframe examples below.

When and Why Should You Start Your Website With a Wireframe?

Wireframes are a part of the earlier planning stages of the design process. They allow you to create a page skeleton and paint the broad strokes of your site before worrying about how to make it look good. A wireframe is also a good way of getting everyone who is involved with building the site – like designers, developers, and other stakeholders – on the same page about what the end product will look like.

Besides that, they offer several other benefits:

Test drive page layouts and iterate on different versions
Time and cost efficiency due to the low effort and short time it takes to make them
Find potential roadblocks for conversions before settling on details
Receive feedback and input from clients and team members
Provide a roadmap and template for the rest of the design process

But why disregard the visual side? Couldn’t you achieve the same outcome with a more detailed illustration?

A common argument for wireframes is that, if the user doesn’t understand where they are supposed to click on a simple diagram, they will also have a hard time on the finished website. That’s why the barebones approach is not a bug, it’s a feature.

This approach makes wireframes especially useful for pages with high interactivity, like shops, landing pages, or homepages. They allow you to plan the content and functionality without the distraction of optics.

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Examples of Website Wireframes

Let’s go over a few examples of wireframes for different types of websites. That way, you have a better impression of what they look like.

Blog Wireframe

A wireframe for a blog is naturally very content focused. Above, you can see that this one is very image centric, which makes sense for a travel-related blog.

As you can probably understand, we are dealing with a high-fidelity wireframe here. It already uses the established logo, contains some colors, and likely the same text and font as the finished site. At the same time, most of the main content only exists as placeholders so you can understand the overall structure without being distracted by actual images.

Small Business Website

This wireframe example is for the website of a service provider. It, too, is more of the high-fidelity variety since certain assets like the logo and some of the written content is already present. Click through to the image source to see how the wireframe translates to a prototype that includes photos and colors.

eCommerce site

The last wireframe example is for an online shop. It stands out a bit because it shows both the homepage as well as a product page and the mobile design.

In addition, here we have a low-fidelity wireframe. As you can see, it’s much simpler than the examples above, however, it still provides enough information to clearly understand the structure they are going for so you can form an opinion and iterate on it.

What Tools Do You Need to Create a Wireframe?

If you want to create your own website wireframes, there are plenty of tools at your disposal. The simplest approach is to go completely analog and use pen and paper or paper cutouts on a pin board or whiteboard.

There’s even special paper templates that have a stylized browser window on them as a frame for your scribbles.

At the same time, digital tools such as those below also work well, allow for fast modifications, and often already come with common elements that you need for wireframes. Which one you choose is up to you.

Flowchart Apps

The first option for wireframing tools are simple flowchart apps. They are especially useful for visualizing user flow through your website and from page to page but many also offer functionality for wireframing.

Lucidchart

Lucidchart is a great tool for creating diagrams online that also comes with wireframing templates and a shape library. In addition, you can work together on documents and provide immediate feedback. There is a limited free plan, paid plans start at $7.95.

Diagrams.net

Next, we have a completely free diagramming software to either use online or download and install on your computer. It is available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It, too, has collaborative features, is privacy-focused, and has templates for mockups and wireframes.

Miro

Another useful piece of software to create website wireframes that’s based on a virtual whiteboard. Miro comes with templates for low-fidelity prototypes, sketching user design, and screen flow out of the box. It also offers a multitude of design elements for creating website wireframes. There’s a free plan with limited functionality. Paid plans, on the other hand, begin at $8/month.

Zen Flowchart

Though this option has the word “flow chart” in its name, it can do a lot more. The program offers easy drag-and-drop wireframing and prototyping and has loads of readymade elements for that purpose. It’s also highly customizable and collaborative. For wireframing you need a paid account which is at least $7.95/month.

Google Slides

Google’s free tool for presentations also has functionality for creating shapes that you can use for website wireframes. While not its biggest strength, with a little creativity, building wireframes is absolutely possible. Plus, they have an integration with Balsamiq (see below) and you can find templates for wireframe elements online.

Creately

Next up, we have Creately. Their main product is a flowchart tool, however, they also do wireframes. Common design elements, easy-to-use drag-and-drop functionality, wireframe templates, and collaboration tools – it has everything you need to get started. As usual, you can begin with a limited free account, after that it’s $5 a month per user.

Edraw Max

The final flowchart tool that you can use for wireframing is Edraw Max. They offer editable templates and design elements for this purpose and you can work together with other people. The program is available to test for free, after that you need to either subscribe for $8.25/month or buy it for a one-time fee of $198.

Dedicated Wireframing Tools

Besides the above options, we also have a number of tools whose only focus is letting you create website wireframes.

Figma

Figma is a browser-based wireframing tool. It comes with pre-made wireframing kits and extensive collaboration tools. The tool even makes it easy to create high-fidelity prototypes from wireframes. As many other options, you can use the free plan to get your feet wet, the lowest paid plans command a price of $12 per editor per month.

Mockflow

Another digital online whiteboard that allows you to create wireframes but also style guides and prototypes. Mockflow has many templates, intuitive usage, and CSS support. You can also use it for things like personas, mapping customer journeys, creating sitemaps, and more. When you outgrow the free plan, it will cost you at least $14 per editor per month.

Balsamiq

One of the most popular tools, Balsamiq only allows you to build low-fidelity wireframes. That’s because they want you to fully focus on structure and functionality. For that purpose the tool has an entirely hand-drawn look and drag-and-drop functionality.

What’s more, the program is available in different versions: As an online tool which costs $9/month for two projects and desktop versions that cost $89 per user (there are discounts for higher volumes).

Adobe XD

Next we have a powerful prototyping tool with many features and components. Adobe XD has UI design kits for wireframing that you can also turn into prototypes easily. It allows you to add interactivity such as page jumps for that purpose and also has feedback tools. You need to subscribe to the program as part of Creative Cloud where it starts at $9.99/month after the free trial phase.

Sketch

Sketch is mainly a desktop application for Macintosh computers though it also syncs with an online version for feedback and collaboration. The program allows you to create wireframes for different screen sizes and has great typography support and options. In addition, it offers reusable components, templates, colors, and more. There is a free trial, after that you need to invest at least $9/month per editor.

UXPin

Another online tool suitable for both wireframes and prototyping. Features include templates, drag-and-drop functionality, real-time collaboration, and code export. You can build responsive site visualizations directly in the browser. The price is $89/month per editor after a free trial period.

JustInMind

Last up is this design and prototyping tool that also offers free wireframing functionality. Use web and mobile emulators to design for all your users. Create wireframes via drag and drop and with the help of free templates. JustInMind is free to use for wireframing. The prototyping tool has paid plans starting at $9/month per user and one-time payment options.

How to Wireframe Your Own Website

After all that theory and tool recommendations, let’s finally talk about what you have been waiting for: A step-by-step template for how to apply wireframes to your own website.

1. Identify Your Goals

Before you start sketching, it’s useful to first get clear about your goals. While everyone’s plan with their website is to bring in traffic, wireframing is about deciding what happens to your visitors after they come to your site.

Do you want them to make a purchase? Sign up to your newsletter? Sign a petition? Plus, what are the goals of your visitors? What are they trying to achieve on your site and need assistance with?

Knowing this beforehand makes it much easier to plan subsequent steps.

2. Figure Out Your Site’s User Flow

Once you are clear about your objective, how should visitors get there? Especially when entering different parts of your website? How should they move through your site and what pages should they visit? You can easily use the tools above to create flowcharts for that purpose.

Besides that, on the pages themselves, what will move them towards their goals? Determine conversion points and elements (buttons, images, links, etc.) that guide them on the way.

3. Determine Device and Screen Sizes for Your Wireframe

In this day and age, you need to design your website for many different screen sizes. Mobile phones, tablets, monitors of different sizes – it has to look good on all of them. Your website wireframes need to accommodate that.

To do so, like in responsive design, it makes sense to use a few cutoff points at which the design changes and then create a wireframe for them separately. Here are a few common widths that make sense to use as breakpoints:

Desktop: 1080px and 768px
Mobile phone: 480px
Tablet: Between 480px and 768px

Read the article above for more detailed instructions.

4. Decide Which Pages You Need and Their Content

After that, the next step is about deciding what pages are necessary in order to accommodate those goals and what they need to contain. Your user flow should already provide a lot of input for that.

For example, logically, if you want a person to buy something, you need to offer them a shop environment and, most likely, product pages. Those, in turn, also require certain elements such as a buy button or product images. Start listing both of these.

Keep in mind that this step is not about settling on every single finished content part that will show up. It’s more about clarifying the general elements your pages will have. Think logo, navigation, text, images, buttons, forms, widgets, footer, etc. This is important for later steps.

At the same time, it’s super useful if you already have the final written content. That way, you can accommodate its length in the layout and don’t have to change your design because of text changes.

5. Settle on Your Site’s Navigation Structure

The navigation menu is one of the most central elements of any website, not just for site structure. Because it’s one of the main tools visitors use for getting around your site, it also determines what the most important pages are that you want your audience and search engines to discover. For that reason, it deserves extra attention in your website wireframe.

What’s more, there are different ways to show your navigation on the page. While the classic method is to put it on the right side of the header, recently we also see more slide-in or fold-out options.

Naturally, this is an even more important consideration for the mobile version of your site where you don’t have the space to show a full-size navigation menu. Here, you will most likely go for something like the typical hamburger menu.

Settling on this allows you to implement it in your wireframes or at least gives you different ideas to try out in order to make a decision.

6. Sketch Out Your Wireframe

Once done with the preparations, it’s time to get sketching. Either use pen and paper or one of the many wireframing tools provided above. If you are going analog, consider using dotted or grid paper to make converting design to a digital version easier.

You can start off with the basic locations of your most important elements and then add details as you go along. Remember, you are outlining ideas and features, not making an illustration. Plus, it’s always easier to add more than to take away, so start simple and work your way up.

While creating your wireframe, keep these questions in mind:

How do different content elements relate to each other? Which elements belong together?
What’s their hierarchy? What’s most important and should appear higher on the page?
What should visitors interact with?
What do visitors need in order to achieve their and your goals?

Feel free to do several tries. Remember, the goal of website wireframes is to iterate quickly and get your ideas on paper fast so you can refine them. Therefore, don’t be afraid to create several versions and experiment a little.

Plus, be sure to include different versions for your screen sizes. In fact, it’s often a good idea to start with the mobile design and then work your way outward as the reduced space will force you to focus on what’s most important.

7. Test Your Website Design

Once you have arrived at a version you like, it’s time to refine and – most of all – test it. Sketching out your ideas is an opportunity to remove redundant steps, combine pages, and reduce clicks. So, take the chance to go over what you have produced with that in mind.

In addition to that, make sure to get feedback. Talk to your team, stakeholders, coworkers, and your customers to get their opinion on your wireframe. It’s easier to fix problems now than in later stages.

Therefore, take what you hear to heart and go back to the drawing board. Consider how you can address issues that have come to your attention and use that to improve your website wireframe. You can also do several rounds of this to further refine the site structure.

8. Turn Your Wireframe Into a Prototype

Finally, when you are done and satisfied with the wireframe, it’s time to transform it into a prototype. Remember, that’s an outline of your site that already contains the functionality of the final version. Many of the tools above can help you do this. Once ready, use the prototype for additional user testing and as a template for your finished website design.

If, after that, you want to use it for your WordPress website, on our Business and eCommerce plans, you have the ability to upload custom themes with any design you desire. Or, look into building a custom theme with the Site Editor to turn your wireframe into reality.

Summary and Quick Template to Wireframe Your Own Website

▢ Identify your goals

▢ Determine your site’s user flow

▢ Determine device and screen sizes for your wireframe

▢ Decide which pages you need and their content

▢ Settle on your site’s navigation structure

▢ Sketch out your wireframe

▢ Test your website design

▢ Turn your wireframe into a prototype

Wireframes Are Important Tools for Website Design

In the process of planning and building a website, you can use all the help you can get. Wireframes are a means to quickly produce a top-down view of your website and its functionality quickly with little investment. They are useful to clarify site structure, sketch out main elements, and collect feedback.

As such, creating a website wireframe is an indispensable step for making sure you provide a sensible user experience. They are also easy to make, pen and paper is enough. If you want to go digital, there are many wireframing tools to choose from. After that, simply follow the laid-out template to create your own website wireframe.

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