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Oftentimes, when users propose a UI change (in the meta sites, for example, but not limited to) they often create a mockup using a screenshot of the existing UI with elements modified.

I have seen some samples (I regret that I searched and I couldn't come up with one) that have introduced new text into the picture. I am wondering what software these users employed to match the fonts, and in some occasions scale them. I suppose they could have found samples of each letter and weaved them together, but my sense is that this isn't the case.

I am also amazed by the color matching, I'm assuming that a program even on the level of Paint can have an "eyedropper" tool to grab the color, but some of the samples that I've seen have used it more elaborately.

The simple answer to both of these questions may just be Photoshop/GIMP/etc (as I'm not an advanced user of any of those, I may not be aware of the features to do so), but are there any tools designed for the sole purpose of doing UI mockups?

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Can you clarify the question? I don't think you are looking for UI mocking? – Tom Wijsman Aug 14 '11 at 6:21
@Tom I think jcrawfordor hit the nail on the head, actually. I wasn't making the connection (a proverbial brain fart) that the end user has all of the code, graphics, and window dressing they need to make up their own version. No, I'm not really looking for UI mocking. You are correct that I probably could have searched a little harder, but I was sifting the meta sites to see if anyone was forthcoming about their tools. – jonsca Aug 14 '11 at 6:27
I had thought about asking this on one of the Metas, but I thought it wasn't really related to the site itself, just a general concept. – jonsca Aug 14 '11 at 6:31
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closed as not a real question by Tom Wijsman, random♦ Aug 14 '11 at 8:19

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1 Answer

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Those people are almost certainly just downloading the source code of the webpage and editing it, then screenshotting the edited version open in their web browser. This means their mockup is being rendered in the exact same way, so there's no need to do some trickery to match up fonts.

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Yes. I didn't have that in the front of my brain, but it makes total sense. – jonsca Aug 14 '11 at 6:22
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