11–20 of 110 posts
I have an almost exhaustive list [1] of browser based text to diagram tools. Some specialised tools (like https://sequencediagram.org/ ) so much better at what they do than any generic ones like mermaid. [1] https://xosh.org/text-to-diagram/
70! That is awesome
Little weird to see this on the lead page… mermaid has been around for a long time. And in general I’ve found its real world use pretty lacking.
I use it and see it many times per month as it’s the preferred way of sticking graphics and diagrams in markdown in git repos and generated static sites. It’s so handy for putting a sequence diagram in your docs and then tracking the changes over time using git. I’m curious what other software developers use if not this. I’ve tried specific graph and drawing tools like lucid and Visio, but the simplicity of mermaid i…
You could do this with any diagrams-as-code tool, no?
- There’s an almost wysiwig editor for mermaid at https://www.mermaidchart.com/play . It’s very convenient and appropriately changes the layout as you draw arrows!
- Notion supports inline mermaid charts in code blocks (with preview!) It’s awesome for putting some architecture diagrams in Eng docs.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use it and see it many times per month as it’s the preferred way of sticking graphics and diagrams in markdown in git repos and generated static sites. It’s so handy for putting a sequence diagram in your docs and then tracking the changes over time using git. I’m curious what other software developers use if not this. I’ve tried specific graph and drawing tools like lucid and Visio, but the simplicity of mermaid i…
> And I don’t know anything else that shows git blame for who changed what in my diagram, when. You could do this with any diagrams-as-code tool, no?
Like PlantUML?
Nicer looking but fewer diagram types Also, AFAIK, their "render locally" story is "boot up headless chrome, good luck" which isn't great
The "render locally" situation was enough friction to keep me happy with my .jpgs and .pngs generated from various sources and/or screenshotting.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use it and see it many times per month as it’s the preferred way of sticking graphics and diagrams in markdown in git repos and generated static sites. It’s so handy for putting a sequence diagram in your docs and then tracking the changes over time using git. I’m curious what other software developers use if not this. I’ve tried specific graph and drawing tools like lucid and Visio, but the simplicity of mermaid i…
> And I don’t know anything else that shows git blame for who changed what in my diagram, when. You could do this with any diagrams-as-code tool, no?
I think you are talking about "just change the text and regenerate", which achieves much the same goal.
I'm not sure in what cases the former is better.
1. Draw a DAG of whatever pipeline I’m working on with pen and paper.
2. Take a photo of the graph, mistakes and all.
3. Ask ChatGPT to translate the image into mermaid.js
Given how complicated the pipelines are that I’m working with and the sloppiness of the hand drawn image, it’s truly amazing how well this workflow works.
One of my favorite applications of multimodal LLMs thus far is the ability to: 1. Draw a DAG of whatever pipeline I’m working on with pen and paper. 2. Take a photo of the graph, mistakes and all. 3. Ask ChatGPT to translate the image into mermaid.js Given how complicated the pipelines are that I’m working with and the sloppiness of the hand drawn image, it’s truly amazing how well this workflow works.
I draw a fair bit on a Kindle Scribe. I’d love to try this, but I bet your prompt would be helpful.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nicer looking but fewer diagram types Also, AFAIK, their "render locally" story is "boot up headless chrome, good luck" which isn't great
Another comment mentioned along the lines of, "it's the goto used by developers in readmes", and I suspect it's more specifically javascript-adjacent developers (as is the case where I work) The "render locally" situation was enough friction to keep me happy with my .jpgs and .pngs generated from various sources and/or screenshotting.
The "in readmes" is a special case because the markdown rendering in both GitHub and GitLab support it without drama
I have an almost exhaustive list [1] of browser based text to diagram tools. Some specialised tools (like https://sequencediagram.org/ ) so much better at what they do than any generic ones like mermaid. [1] https://xosh.org/text-to-diagram/
Note that DrawDB (www.drawdb.app) does this, although it does not yet handle views. But I have been happy with what it offers so far. Still, I would welcome suggestions of other tools.