That’s great if it works. I’ve yet to see a tool give me the same diagram layout I as a human can work out in roughly 20 minutes of trial and error. Not to say tools with auto layout aren’t helpful, but most of the diagram DSLs I’ve used have the ability to add constraints that will affect diagram layout which generally accomplish the same thing: have the human intervene in the diagram layout to create a better layout.
Note I’m not even talking about colours and spacing, I know computers can do a better job at that. I’m simply talking about how the graph is laid out and the decisions humans can make about what is still easy to read or which lines are more important than the other lines. Sometimes — often — the layout algorithm isn’t given all the information, the human doing the layout can re-interpret the graph data in real-time.
The best layout system, I imagine, is one that makes layout even easier for humans to control—but still puts the human in full, graphical control, at least as a form of data-entry. The problem I often have with visual tools is they make it hard to “add to the diagram” in a way that feels natural. I often wish I had a command that would push multiple objects out of the way, or a command to align some boxes to a grid such that I could add more to a “list”. I also wish I had a tool that would change the diagram as I zoom in and out, for diagrams that need progressively more detail, and so on. Maybe Miro or similar would do the trick, but then I’ve less visual control.
I think there’s a lot of room for improvement in diagramming tools but there’s also a steep learning curve perhaps. The easiest tool I’ve found to use interactively, personally, is OmniGraffle and I’ve heard Visio has some of what I’m looking for, yEd is nice too, but ultimately each tool has its limits, often because they’re designed around building one graph or diagram disconnected from the rest. The Brain or WebBrain is a nice data graphing tool but isn’t designed around producing diagrams. Often the beat we can do, it seems, is embed multiple diagrams within a document or to use layers to show and hide more detail manually, but then those layers need to me maintained manually also.
Note I’m not even talking about colours and spacing, I know computers can do a better job at that. I’m simply talking about how the graph is laid out and the decisions humans can make about what is still easy to read or which lines are more important than the other lines. Sometimes — often — the layout algorithm isn’t given all the information, the human doing the layout can re-interpret the graph data in real-time.
The best layout system, I imagine, is one that makes layout even easier for humans to control—but still puts the human in full, graphical control, at least as a form of data-entry. The problem I often have with visual tools is they make it hard to “add to the diagram” in a way that feels natural. I often wish I had a command that would push multiple objects out of the way, or a command to align some boxes to a grid such that I could add more to a “list”. I also wish I had a tool that would change the diagram as I zoom in and out, for diagrams that need progressively more detail, and so on. Maybe Miro or similar would do the trick, but then I’ve less visual control.
I think there’s a lot of room for improvement in diagramming tools but there’s also a steep learning curve perhaps. The easiest tool I’ve found to use interactively, personally, is OmniGraffle and I’ve heard Visio has some of what I’m looking for, yEd is nice too, but ultimately each tool has its limits, often because they’re designed around building one graph or diagram disconnected from the rest. The Brain or WebBrain is a nice data graphing tool but isn’t designed around producing diagrams. Often the beat we can do, it seems, is embed multiple diagrams within a document or to use layers to show and hide more detail manually, but then those layers need to me maintained manually also.