advertisement

Weblog:   Mac Mini and PCs That Don't Work
Subject:   Visio
Date:   2005-01-12 09:00:40
From:   jimothy
If you do make a leap over to The Light Side (you know, as opposed to The Dark Side), you'll find OmniGraffle a welcome substitute for Visio. While I've always viewed Visio as a tortuous tool for creating ugly little diagrams, OmniGraffle is a pleasure to use and produces beautiful diagrams.


Since you're using an old version of Visio, you won't be able to import your existing documents into OmniGraffle. OmniGraffle Pro will import Visio 2003 documents saved in XML format, however.


If you ask me, OmniGraffle is such a pleasant tool it is itself a reason for switching. A $500 Mac just makes that easier.
Main Topics Oldest First

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

  • Visio
    2005-01-22 20:58:00  cscoble [Reply | View]

    So, does OmniGraffle (or any other mac application) convert Visio 2002 files (import and export)? I need to have a visio viewer application for a database class I'm using and I don't want to have to add Virtual PC just for the one viewer (I can create my documents in Word if I have to).

  • Visio
    2005-01-14 04:23:17  Michael Brewer | [Reply | View]

    I'll second the OmniGraffle recommendation. It blows Visio away. Just yesterday I was giving a design review and one of my team members asked me what I used for my diagrams and I told them I used OmniGraffle on my Mac so I could de-uglify Visio's output. They were disappointed that it didn't run on Windows but were impressed with its quality.

    It also easily exports to PDF and EPS vector images for inclusion in printed publications.
  • Jonathan Gennick photo Visio
    2005-01-12 12:45:16  Jonathan Gennick | O'Reilly AuthorO'Reilly Blogger [Reply | View]

    Thanks for the tip. I depend on Visio for the figures I draw in my books. I have no real need though, to convert files that I've already drawn, so it's reasonably fine that OmniGraffle doesn't convert older files. Would be nice if it did, but it's not a critical issue. It is nice to know that there's a drag-and-drop drawing tool for the Mac. I've tried some other drawing tools, Freehand for example, and I'm astounded at how difficult they make the task of drawing a simple, box diagram. Partly, I chalk that up to my ignorance of, in this case, Freehand, but still...
Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.