[Sigia-l] Diagramming tools?

[Will Parker]

On Apr 4, 2007, at 2:51 PM, Stew Dean wrote:

> Visio has survived because it does
> diagrams very well with minimum fuss, but little else.  For many the
> symbols provide a quick way of working and the line connectors are
> vital to many.

Personally, I find that Visio does far, far too much -- especially if  
you give it half a chance to automagically generate some other  
allegedly useful deliverable using some Microsoft quasi-standard. But  
hey, that's just personal opinion and taste.

For the record, since Troy asked for some personal data to help  
categorize responses - I'm an experienced software QA person moving  
toward user experience design and IA, including some academic work.

> Dude, Visio is the tool used by the most IAs.

I'll state up front that I'm coming to this knife fight armed with a  
box of kitchen matches and a tube of blueberry yogurt. Unfortunately,  
I haven't had the privilege of working with other IAs, and I'm only a  
baby IA myself. Furthermore, I haven't had an opportunity to check  
out add-ons like Axure and Intuitect. For the sake of argument I'll  
take it as received wisdom that most IAs do indeed use Visio, or if  
bent Macward, OmniGraffle Pro. (That's my tool of choice for  
wireframe diagrams and desktop UI mockups.)

Now .... I'd like to explore why that's the case. (A topic slightly  
more closely related to Troy's original question than Who Knows The  
Pulse Of The Industry, yes?)

- What would you use if both Visio and OmniGraffle disappeared tomorrow?
- What are the core capabilities that make these tools the particular  
favorites of IAs?
- More importantly -- what other programs can be used as field- 
expedient replacements?

BTW, regarding the specific task of creating website wireframes, I  
sketch the general layout on paper, then hand-code the skeleton in  
BBEdit, adding false colors to the CSS for the structural DIVs. It  
takes a bit longer, but it gives me a chance to think about whether  
my structural assumptions are sound. I'm hoping Dreamweaver CS3 will  
have an improved rendering engine, but I'm not holding my breath.

- Will

Will Parker
wparker at ChannelingDesign.com

"The only people who value your specialist knowledge are the ones who  
already have it." - William Tozier