51–60 of 120 posts
I want to write a blog whose posts will be all about the technical details of how the blog works.
That fits perfectly with the idea that everything should actually be in the repository. At last, I no longer have to update the images myself. Thanks!
Another option I use open is to ask the code-agent to make a diagram using Tikz (as a .tex file), which can then be converted to pdf/png. But in general AI-diagramming is still unsolved; needs several iterations to get rid of wonky/wrong arrows, misplaced boxes, misplaced text etc.
I have tried a lot of tools in this space. If it comes out looking alright, that's usually because it was so simple that it didn't actually need a diagram. Anything with a bit of non trivial structure seems to quickly escalate with essentially no good options other then esoteric hacks with styling to make it look any good.
This seems to be a thing where you can have pretty automated layouts, complex diagrams, or correct diagrams and can only have two out of three.
Which means that almost 100% of my use cases for these tools never really work for me unless I sit down and grab some old school drawing tool (or just give up on the whole notion, which is much more likely). If it was trivial, I wouldn't bother making a diagram. These tools seem only usable for stuff where diagrams were overkill to begin with. I saw no examples on the linked article (and the rest of the site; I browsed the top few recent articles) to really counter this.
I love diagramming, but I genuinely don't understand how people can use these wonky looking tools. It looks off, I had to make my own[1] to create something that's easy to use and looks good/normal. [1] https://grafly.io
I like the wonky, hand-drawn looking style. I think it fits well beause usually if I use a diagram it's not 100% precise and accurate, but more a high-level illustration. The wonky style conveys the approximate precision of the presented concept. Also, and that's personal, I think it's cute.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I like the wonky, hand-drawn looking style. I think it fits well beause usually if I use a diagram it's not 100% precise and accurate, but more a high-level illustration. The wonky style conveys the approximate precision of the presented concept. Also, and that's personal, I think it's cute.
I agree with you. I think the 'wonky' comment was more to serve as justification for the plug than an actual criticism of Excalidraw. Excalidraw is my favourite thinking tool, and the style it produces is just the right level of limiting, disarming, and professional at the same time.
I love diagramming, but I genuinely don't understand how people can use these wonky looking tools. It looks off, I had to make my own[1] to create something that's easy to use and looks good/normal. [1] https://grafly.io
This looks really clean, nice work. I’ve had the same issues with most diagramming tools, it's either not so good looking or the insane pricing . I went a different route using diagram-as-code with Mermaid instead of manual drawing. [1] https://graphlet.xyz
I have noticed diagrams are most useful early in thinking, but once things get complex they either become outdated or too hard to maintain. Curious how people here deal with that, do you keep diagrams in sync with code, or treat them as disposable?
Do use diagrams to explain an abstraction, and attach a word to it. Don't use diagrams to represent the exact state of a system.
I love diagramming, but I genuinely don't understand how people can use these wonky looking tools. It looks off, I had to make my own[1] to create something that's easy to use and looks good/normal. [1] https://grafly.io
It's pretty effective to immediately communicate to folks that 'this is a concept' approach. Too many people instantly jump to conclusions about diagrams - if it's written down it must be done / fixed / formal.
Everyone does that these days and they are becoming AI tells like the em-dash or the blue-glow of the early AI generated images that everyone added to their blog posts.
AI can generate mermaid diagrams, not excalidraw. If you use the mermaid to excalidraw, i guess it can be, but it just looks like a mermaid diagram then and not an excalidraw.