
YUML – Easy Embeddable Diagrams - etaioinshrdlu
https://yuml.me/diagram/scruffy/class/draw
======
mcqueenjordan
Anyone familiar with PlantUML[1]? That's been my goto for declarative text-
based diagramming. I've always thought "there really could be a better tool,"
but I've never found anything better than PlantUML.

I don't think YUML is going to be my answer, though -- it's paid and doesn't
seem to be a local tool, but rather a SaaS model.

This product feels like it should be a local compile-into-image workflow. But
that's probably my bias for text-based declarative formats coming through. :)

[1] [http://plantuml.com/](http://plantuml.com/)

~~~
asicsp
I haven't personally used it so far, but check out mermaid[1] which I
bookmarked from a HN[2] discussion

[1] [https://mermaidjs.github.io/](https://mermaidjs.github.io/)

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16889181](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16889181)

~~~
ujuj
I found mermaidjs to be interesting in cases where you want to put down some
diagrams quickly. However the renders/SVG export are really wonky at the
moment.

------
lnyng
Not exactly for the same purpose, but anyone knows about Graphviz [1]? Super
expressive and you can visualize online in viz.js [2].

[1] [https://www.graphviz.org/](https://www.graphviz.org/) [2] [http://viz-
js.com/](http://viz-js.com/)

~~~
WestCoastJustin
I've been using Vis.js and
[http://shaky.github.bushong.net/](http://shaky.github.bushong.net/). You can
do really cool stuff with them. Highly recommend them both. I will import
those into gimp and create all types of animation with them [1, 2]. I've built
a db backend for vis.js and it makes to super simple to connect things and
saves the positions for Vis.js. You can see a demo of it here:
[https://sysadmincasts.com/map](https://sysadmincasts.com/map). Try zooming
in/out, moving things, etc. I should probably open-source the code as others
might like an example of it too.

[1] [https://assets.sysadmincasts.com/e/g/45-ansible-ping-
pong.pn...](https://assets.sysadmincasts.com/e/g/45-ansible-ping-pong.png)

[2] [https://assets.sysadmincasts.com/e/g/47-ansible-load-
balance...](https://assets.sysadmincasts.com/e/g/47-ansible-load-balancer-
serial-task-orchestration.gif)

~~~
victor106
This looks really cool. Will check it out

------
laythea
SaaS for diagrams? No thanks! It's probably very good software, but I can't
tolerate the business model, sorry.

------
weekay
Class, activity and use case diagrams are not in vouge with the development
teams. And if they do use them , they tend to be in Visio or with similar
tools when they need to be created for requirements / design documentation
etc., Somewhat related , [https://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-
diagrams/](https://bramp.github.io/js-sequence-diagrams/) could be used as
well.

~~~
tobinharris
What diagrams do you see used in dev teams these days?

In our team (non enterprise), there's a lot of visual flow models for UX, and
still some class/interaction/activity diagrams for explaining how stuff hangs
together.

~~~
pbowyer
I've been using BPMN to unpick what businesses are doing and document it. It's
been great to check assumptions like "We need software to do X in this way"
\-- which on inspection doesn't match with what needs to be done, but what has
been done.

I've done the diagrams using the free Camunda Modeler [1], and they have an
online version [2].

1\.
[https://camunda.com/download/modeler/](https://camunda.com/download/modeler/)

2\. [https://bpmn.io/](https://bpmn.io/)

------
fouc
How about diagrams that you can embed in your markdown documentation? Proper
ascii drawings: [http://asciiflow.com](http://asciiflow.com)

~~~
Hates_
Monodraw is a great Mac app for creating them
[https://monodraw.helftone.com/](https://monodraw.helftone.com/)

~~~
luckman212
Yeah Monodraw was great. Too bad he sunsetted it last October[0].

[0] [https://blog.helftone.com/monodraw-maintenance-
mode/](https://blog.helftone.com/monodraw-maintenance-mode/)

------
etaioinshrdlu
Previous discussion, from 2009:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=594682](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=594682)

------
jimmcslim
I'm a big fan of the C4 model [1] for diagramming and documenting software
architectures. There is a SaaS tool, Structurizr [2], for diagramming,
documenting, and exploring such models, plus also set of PlantUML styles [3]
for generating C4 using that tool.

[1] [https://c4model.com/](https://c4model.com/)

[2] [https://structurizr.com/](https://structurizr.com/)

[3]
[https://github.com/RicardoNiepel/C4-PlantUML](https://github.com/RicardoNiepel/C4-PlantUML)

------
rayrrr
Register to self-host a thing named after a well-known open source standard?
Nah...in fact, I'm feeling a sudden urge to make open source contributions to
PlantUML and/or MermaidJS.

------
frabert
Off topic, but seeing the word "embeddable" in this context reminds me of old
Microsoft OLE. It was kind of cool being able to drag an excel table inside an
Access form, together with a media player and stuff like that...

------
_ZeD_
Add
[https://www.websequencediagrams.com/](https://www.websequencediagrams.com/)
to the list :D

------
quickthrower2
Is UML cool again? I’ve been waiting 2 decades. Please say it is! Surely now
that monoliths are the new black, UML must be respectable.

~~~
ndnxhs
I am convinced uml was created to sell expensive tools for using uml. If I
never have to see it again I will be happy.

------
monkeydust
Nice I like the scruffy mode, something about it captures the eye more than a
clean cut shape you can put together on PowerPoint.

------
pknerd
I wonder why are they not using JSON?

