Jaime Gago Condensing Information Systems From the Vapor Of Data

Weapon of Choice for Diagrams > Omnigraffle Pro

I'm gonna start this "blogging thing" smoothly with a short review of OmniGraffle Pro 5. I've enjoyed this tool since 2005 (when I got my first Mac) I believe it came bundled for free with Os X 10.3  maybe with an earlier version. As I am currently working in an Independent School I got the educational price ($119.95), download the trial, enter the license, let's diagram!

If you design Information Systems (from decision trees to networks) and like the Os X experience this is for you. Don't get me wrong Omnigraffle can do much more than diagrams for Information Systems Architects, after all at its core it's a vector based drawing software. One thing that would be great is to be able to map my Master Os X Server Open Directory,ACLs and SACLs  into a nifty diagram automatically; something you can do with Visio and Windows Server (Adding Todo: talk to Omni guys at MacWorld)

But let's forget about what's missing, here is what I like:

-Possibility to go into "presentation" mode and highlight all different items of your diagram while in full screen.

-A great library of vector based objects including UML, Network Symbols, et cetera, et cetera...

-Ultra User Friendly Interface. A good example is the "Smart Guides" something I have first seen in Omnigraffle then in iWork (Pages & Keynote) and Microsoft Office (for Mac). These are lines and numbers that appear and disappear as you move/resize objects. I am pretty sure they have something to do with Os X itself in any case it's the kind of  "Eureka!" feature that pushes you a little more into an all digital world.

-Microsoft Visio compatible via export feature (reads visio files natively)

-Great support by Omni Group ( tutorials, tech support) and a fair size users community (extras, forums, GraffleTopia)

Voila for OmniGraffle Pro 5 review.

For free as in beer check out Dia, Kivio and Xara Xtreme

That's all folks!