A wireframe is a rough schematic created in the early stages of digital product design to help visualize and communicate the structure of a product or website.

Why are wireframes used?

The same screen can be built in a lot of different ways, but only a few of them will get your message across correctly and result in an easy-to-use software or website.

The purpose of a wireframe is to define a skeletal layout that is easy to understand, and encourages iteration and feedback. Getting to agreement on a good interface structure is a critical part of the software design process.

Wireframes are important because doing this work now, before any code is written and before the visual design is finalized, will save you lots of time and painful adjustment work later.