

Ask HN: How do you create diagrams in documentation? - ahtomski


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BraveNewCurency
If you want a diagram you can embed in text and check into source control,
take a look at GraphViz. [http://www.graphviz.org/](http://www.graphviz.org/)

You can even embed it in other things, like Wikis.
[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GraphViz](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:GraphViz)

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alok-g
Microsoft Word and PowerPoint.

Sometimes Excel when diagram could be made by drawing borders around cells and
resizing rows and columns as per need. This helps when unplanned non-linear
horizontal and vertical scaling is needed while making the diagram.

The SmartArt concept they introduced was quite promising, though I find the
current state of it lagging. I am sad that it never picked up.

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fromdoon
I had started with using MS Visio at my job. Though I had absolutely no
experience in making diagrams, Visio was quite easy to get started and become
comfortable in quick time.

The downside of course is that it is not free.

I would also like to know open source alternatives to MS Visio. I can see that
Ubuntu 12.04 comes with Libre Draw, but I haven't tried it yet.

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ahtomski
Have you tried UMlet? It's limited but great for nailing UML diagrams.

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phantom_oracle
LibreOffice Draw is reasonable if you are coming from Linux.

Otherwise there is GIMP too.

+1 to all the other open source solutions mentioned here.

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radq
I use Dia: [https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dia](https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Dia)

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ahtomski
Yeah I quite like Gliffy. More often than not, we take photos of whiteboards
and email them round the team.

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hnjake
Give www.draw.io a go. I have used it a few times at work.

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rsmaniak
Gliffy(www.gliffy.com) works great for me.

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atsaloli
Blockdiag

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chatmasta
Balsamiq

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bsaunder
Inkscape

