

Blockdiag - simple diagram images generator - mtrn
http://blockdiag.com/en/index.html

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dhx
Does anyone know of other software that can be used to prepare network
topology and rack layout diagrams from simple text files? Blockdiag seems to
be one of the few options available so it'd be nice to see a focus on this
"niche".

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greendestiny
There's graphviz, which is pretty damn cool. <http://www.graphviz.org/>

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mtrn
I like simple tools like this. They fit both nicely into various workflows and
into the 'Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text
streams, because that is a universal interface'-mindset.

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shadowfox
It would be interesting if it could generate some tex/latex code :)

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clumsysmurf
A quick and informal tool I have used over the years to create simple block
diagrams is yEd. Since it is Java it runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Its
free, but not open source.

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Elrac
yEd is a beautiful simple diagram-drawing tool but it's essentially "just" a
slimmer cousin of e.g. Visio: Click to draw blocks, join them with arrows,
drag things around with your mouse until everything looks nice.

I'm one of those obsessive-compulsives who can be completely infinite-looped
by any product that lets you manually tweak the appearance of your diagram by
hand and mouse. "Another 1/8 inch to the left, now a bit more spaced out,
oops, now this part isn't centered, so pull this..."

blockdiag is different insofar as you specify the diagram by text only. It
doesn't offer enough degrees of freedom to engage in the "creativity" that is
so lethal to me. You tell it the names of your boxes and how you want them
connected, and the software does the layout in a simple and unambiguous way.

I also highly appreciate that this allows me to source-control the diagram in
text form and at what is probably the most abstract level possible.

