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Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

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Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#161

Post by base698 »

k7d wrote: post #155
blakeburch wrote: post #137

If you're looking for a fantastic diagramming site, I would recommend checking out [Whimsical]( https://whimsical.com/ ). I've tried out a lot of solutions over the years (draw.io, LucidChart,Gliffy, etc.). Whimsical is the first that really nails the UI/UX. You spend less time fighting the system to make something that looks great and more time just building out your diagram. I'm not associated with the product at a…

(co-founder of Whimsical here) Thanks for the mention! Couple fun facts - Whimsical is written 100% in Clojure and we are self-funded ( https://whimsical.com/business/why-bootstrap/ ).

I'm on Linux and just signed up. How do you pan around? The arrow keys work, but opposite the direction I'd expect. Don't see any panning tool obvious. Is the use case touchpads like on a Mac?

Cheers

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#162

Post by somishere »

I used draw.io a bit a few years ago, before running out of reasons between jobs. Tried out a few paid alternatives recently before re-stumbling across draw - connected it to my personal gdrive and uncovered a whole bunch of old (very useful) diagramming - forget slick UIs, draw.io a remarkable balance of simplicity, flexibility and function. And free! Someone mentioned handbrake and vlc, would definitely agree with the comparison.

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#163

Post by darkandbrooding »

Just adding to the choir. This is a great tool. I prefer using open source software when possible, but I also like to pay for the tools that makes my job easier. The developer is aiming at corporate, volume licensing and I understand how a Patreon account would run counter to their business strategy. I wish there was a 'small dollar donations' channel, though. I like this tool enough to throw them some regular money.

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#164

Post by artur_makly »

blakeburch wrote: post #137

If you're looking for a fantastic diagramming site, I would recommend checking out [Whimsical]( https://whimsical.com/ ). I've tried out a lot of solutions over the years (draw.io, LucidChart,Gliffy, etc.). Whimsical is the first that really nails the UI/UX. You spend less time fighting the system to make something that looks great and more time just building out your diagram. I'm not associated with the product at a…

We started drafting our architecture for https://VisualSitemaps.com with Draw.io but then when we discovered Whimsical and it’s intuitive design speed modern UX..it was hard to go back.

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#165

Post by justasitsounds »

CivBase wrote: post #157

Anyone have recommendations for a simple text-based flowchart specification format? Something that a human can read and easily understand in plaintext, but can also be rendered as a graphic? The current solutions we have at my work are extremely difficult to use with VCS. I've looked at Mermaid [0], but it is pretty limiting in its feature set. I typically use draw.io/mxGraph [1] when I'm making diagrams and flowchar…

plantUML[0] may be what you're looking for, specifically the activity diagrams[1].I've been using it extensively for sequence diagrams (has more features than websequencediagrams.com). Most recently I've been using this C4 architecture diagrams extension[2]. There's a VSCode preview extension[3] and a docker image[4] for running a plantUML server locally that lets me create and share version controlled diagrams with my colleagues easily.

I especially like that there's an ascii renderer for the sequence diagrams that makes embedding them in Readme's very easy

[0] http://plantuml.com/ [1] http://plantuml.com/activity-diagram-beta [2] https://github.com/RicardoNiepel/C4-PlantUML [3] https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=jebbs.pl... [4] https://hub.docker.com/r/plantuml/plantuml-server/

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#166

Post by k7d »

base698 wrote: post #161
k7d wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(co-founder of Whimsical here) Thanks for the mention! Couple fun facts - Whimsical is written 100% in Clojure and we are self-funded ( https://whimsical.com/business/why-bootstrap/ ).

I'm on Linux and just signed up. How do you pan around? The arrow keys work, but opposite the direction I'd expect. Don't see any panning tool obvious. Is the use case touchpads like on a Mac? Cheers

You can pan by holding down Space key (and then use mouse to drag the board). In general Whimsical's UX patterns are quite similar to Figma, Sketch and other UI design tools.

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#167

Post by justasitsounds »

criley2 wrote: post #45

I used to use Draw.io a lot more than I do now, and it is a wonderful tool, the only reason I use it less now is because I've been using: PlantUML ( http://plantuml.com/ ) with demo at ( http://planttext.com ). Creating most diagrams through a simple markup language that can be version controlled and rendered on demand has been really nice for me, and sometimes I would spent SO MUCH TIME in draw.io making sure my arr…

Big fan of plantUML here. recently been using this C4 extension (https://github.com/RicardoNiepel/C4-PlantUML) for high level architecture diagrams.

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#168

Post by Aeolun »

AlanYx wrote: post #149
Paul_O_Meany_Jr wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're delving into paid services, I find Miro to be another incredible product in this space that absolutely nails the UX. My whole design team collaborates on Miro now and we love it. https://miro.com/

Another lesser-known diagramming tool that shares elements of Whimsical and Miro is Plectica: https://www.plectica.com/

The website doesn’t actually show me anything but a nice picture though?

How will I know what I can do with this?

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#169

Post by bernardom »

k7d wrote: post #155
blakeburch wrote: post #137

If you're looking for a fantastic diagramming site, I would recommend checking out [Whimsical]( https://whimsical.com/ ). I've tried out a lot of solutions over the years (draw.io, LucidChart,Gliffy, etc.). Whimsical is the first that really nails the UI/UX. You spend less time fighting the system to make something that looks great and more time just building out your diagram. I'm not associated with the product at a…

(co-founder of Whimsical here) Thanks for the mention! Couple fun facts - Whimsical is written 100% in Clojure and we are self-funded ( https://whimsical.com/business/why-bootstrap/ ).

Freaking love whimsical. Keep it up!

Re: Draw.io: Online Diagramming Website

#170

Post by hatmatrix »

Gravityloss wrote: post #64

I've tried drawing diagrams with these tools and it seems so much harder for quick drafting than just using pen and paper and also a lot of work to get anything even remotely good looking (like aligning things or making boxes of the same size, ie performing mass operations). I would like to use a tool where I first describe the relations in text/code and the layouting and formatting is done separately, and formatting…

I have been using yed for a while now - I don't think it exports to PDF well (not all elements are editable) BUT it is hierarchical and has some tools for automatically laying out your elements. Overall I have found it to be great for flowcharts and diagramming (atrocious was of default colors aside...) - I liked it more than draw.io when I compared them several years ago.

You can download and use yed for free - I think their business model is that you pay for integration with other tools. It's not open source though.

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