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Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

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Re: Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

#32

I enjoy using Mermaid: https://mermaidjs.github.io It does not support all the diagrams yet, but it's completely themable and you can code away your diagrams like you would with dot/graphviz. It integrates well into any Markdown tool, Gitlab integrated it about a year ago so it's natively available in Gitlab flavored Markdow.

I've been using mermaid for almost 2 years now, great software and still improving. It's nice too that I can keep the code in a note and change in in meetings.

Re: Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

#33
post #6

I also use Draw.io and recommend it highly. It's web-based, so it's also cross platform. However, Lucidcharts has a better UI in that I can build diagrams after in LC than Draw.io. https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/ LC is paid if you need more than 1 chart (who doesn't?). But Draw.io is free. LC is also web-based and is cross-platform. I've heard OmniGraffle is also excellent (never used it myself) but it only works o…

OmniGraffle is freaking amazing. If you're on a mac then RUN (don't walk) to grab a copy and try it out.

it's also SO much more than just UML. I have found SO many uses for it.

Re: Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

#35
post #29

https://monodraw.helftone.com/ for MacOSX is great

I love monodraw, but i don't know if it counts as "modern looking" Yes, the rendered versions of the output look reasonably good, but there are still some rough edges, like trying to create a "diamond" shape to put text in (typical decision point in flow chart) ends up with a HUGE diamond.

also, i see it as primarily useful for generating ASCII diagrams for inserting into source code or docs. If you don't care about that tools like OmniGraffle do a much better job.

Re: Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

#37
Have you seen Kumu? https://kumu.io

It doesn't support standard UML diagrams but between sketch mode [1] [2] and icons [3] you may be pleasantly surprised. I personally use it to map out Kumu's own internal application structure and flows.

Full disclosure: I am the lead developer and cofounder of Kumu.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX3kbCyOamQ (Gene Bellinger's intro to Kumu's sketch mode)

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFOz67co0yA (Benjamin Mosior sketching wardley maps in Kumu)

[3]: https://docs.kumu.io/guides/icons.html (Kumu docs on Font Awesome support)

Re: Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

#38
post #37

Have you seen Kumu? https://kumu.io It doesn't support standard UML diagrams but between sketch mode [1] [2] and icons [3] you may be pleasantly surprised. I personally use it to map out Kumu's own internal application structure and flows. Full disclosure: I am the lead developer and cofounder of Kumu. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX3kbCyOamQ (Gene Bellinger's intro to Kumu's sketch mode) [2]: https://www.you…

If enough people are interested I'm happy to do a webinar specifically for the HN crowd and do a deep dive on the technicals. Built on top of CouchDB and pretty neat stack overall.

Re: Ask HN: A modern-looking UML diagram tool?

#39
I have used UMLet since 2005. The diagrams won't win a beauty contest, but they are quick to edit and depict the necessary information. https://www.umlet.com/

From the UMLet web page:

> UMLet is a free, open-source UML tool with a simple user interface: draw UML diagrams fast, build sequence and activity diagrams from plain text, export diagrams to eps, pdf, jpg, svg, and clipboard, share diagrams using Eclipse, and create new, custom UML elements. UMLet runs stand-alone or as Eclipse plug-in on Windows, OS X and Linux.

UMLetino runs UMLet in a web browser. Refer to the UMLet FAQ and sample diagrams for help. http://www.umletino.com/umletino.html

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