If you're looking for a fantastic diagramming site, I would recommend checking out [Whimsical](<a href="https://whimsical.com/" rel="nofollow">https://whimsical.com/</a>). I've tried out a lot of solutions over the years (draw.io, LucidChart,Gliffy, etc.). Whimsical is the first that really nails the UI/UX. You spend less time fighting the system to make something that looks great and more time just building out your diagram.<p>I'm not associated with the product at all, but it definitely needs more love in the space.
An incredibly useful tool. I started using it in university for coursework, I used it to create figures for my master's thesis, and now I use it in my industry job. I would give it the highest statement of praise you can give any software: it just works.
Well no kidding. I used this a couple days ago with a coworker where we had to make a quick diagram and didn't know what to use. I searched google, this came up quickly, was able to get it on drive so he and I could each do work on it, and then able to export to pdf pretty seamlessly. Figure if it shows up on HN a few days after discovering and using it myself, I should write about the positive experience.
For those without MS Visio or other paid alternatives, Draw.io can pretty much get you covered at zero cost, with the option of doing it client-side, online, etc. Not sure if the founders have the option, but I would encourage folks to donate a couple of bucks to encourage high quality free software such as this.
I used to use Draw.io a lot more than I do now, and it is a wonderful tool, the only reason I use it less now is because I've been using:<p>PlantUML (<a href="http://plantuml.com/" rel="nofollow">http://plantuml.com/</a>) with demo at (<a href="http://planttext.com" rel="nofollow">http://planttext.com</a>). Creating most diagrams through a simple markup language that can be version controlled and rendered on demand has been really nice for me, and sometimes I would spent SO MUCH TIME in draw.io making sure my arrows were even, making the pixels line up, making sure I used the right shape with the right font size, etc, that it was liberating to just succinctly describe my data and have it automatically render.<p>For more complex diagrams or to plan a diagram, I've also gone back to paper. There really is nothing better than a notebook in front of you and a collection of colored pens and stencils.
> draw.io is a client-side, static web application. There is no user authenication or data storage concept in this repo. The online version stores data in mainstream cloud storage options, currently Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Github, Gitlab or Trello.<p>I love this about Draw.io. This is how I want to build my applications. I don't want to deal with storing any user data and rather let them handle it how they see fit.
I really like that you can export as PNGs and embed the diagram information inside. Being able send around PNGs that everyone can view, but can still be edited with draw.io makes sharing and updating much simpler.
I've tried drawing diagrams with these tools and it seems so much harder for quick drafting than just using pen and paper and also a lot of work to get anything even remotely good looking (like aligning things or making boxes of the same size, ie performing mass operations).<p>I would like to use a tool where I first describe the relations in text/code and the layouting and formatting is done separately, and formatting should be hierarchical.
I love draw.io. I work for one of the big brand-name tech companies, and still routinely use draw.io for diagrams whenever I have to give presentations (high-level, system architecture things mostly).<p>It's easy to get something that looks relatively pretty made relatively quickly, and unlike something like Omnigraffle, it works on Linux.
I use Draw.io for work all the time. It's far less clunky than Vizio. My one minor issue is, due to security restrictions, I can't really save a whole lot outside of my local and it doesn't give me the option to choose my preferred directory.
Is it possible to add Monodraw (<a href="https://monodraw.helftone.com/" rel="nofollow">https://monodraw.helftone.com/</a>) style text art to this ?<p>I would pay for something that is browser only and generates really nice text art for diagrams.
Draw.io is a great application. I integrated it into BookStack (Documentation System) as a way for people to create and manage drawings in the platform. Was much easier than I expected and David (davidjgraph) was very supportive.
Anyone have recommendations for a simple text-based flowchart specification format? Something that a human can read and easily understand in plaintext, but can also be rendered as a graphic?<p>The current solutions we have at my work are extremely difficult to use with VCS.<p>I've looked at Mermaid [0], but it is pretty limiting in its feature set.<p>I typically use draw.io/mxGraph [1] when I'm making diagrams and flowcharts, but the XML-based file format is pretty overwhelming for humans to read.<p>[0] <a href="https://mermaidjs.github.io" rel="nofollow">https://mermaidjs.github.io</a><p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/jgraph/mxgraph" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/jgraph/mxgraph</a>
We recently had management ask for some diagrams of our applications infrastructure. Draw.io made that so easy with their pre-made components and export to PDF. Will definitely use it again.
Long time draw.io user here. A couple of weeks back [brainio](<a href="https://brainio.com/#/" rel="nofollow">https://brainio.com/#/</a>) was posted on HN. Though it's still in beta, it works really well and I like the concept of going from Markdown to Mindmap and vice-versa.<p>Drawio is also trying to implement this through PlantUML but it's not fully functional yet with only some constrained types on PlantUML support.
This has been my go-to software for making diagrams since I was an undergrad. Absolutely stunning. I recommend their stand-alone version for offline editing as well.
Just 10 minutes of playing around with it and I'm hooked. What a great tool. Much easier that having to deal with Visio. And, it's cross-platform!
It is a great tool !<p>Only issue with it is that the source code (of the front-end) is quite hairy to understand and modify. I tried to add support for Github Enterprise (<a href="https://github.com/jgraph/drawio/issues/473" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/jgraph/drawio/issues/473</a>) and was quite lost.
It's a really nice software, great tool, thanks to people behind it!<p>I'm wondering about the licenses of icons, clipart or other shapes that are available for the diagrams. There are a lot of shapes, are they all usable without counterpart in any document (private or public)? If not, is there a way to check the licenses of the shapes we want to use?
After looking for good tools in this space, to create documentation diagrams, I stayed with Draw.io and yEd[1].<p>The latter has a pretty cool feature that re-arranges all objects according to some predefined layout. Quite neat.<p>[1]: <a href="https://www.yworks.com/products/yed" rel="nofollow">https://www.yworks.com/products/yed</a>
Wow, this is a really slick experience on mobile. I've tried most tools in this class and this might be the most responsive & snappy. Maybe because everything is client-side.
When trying to create a new drawing, if I select the "not in my root folder" option, it a) tries to log me in despite my already being logged in, and b) fails anyway.
I used draw.io a bit a few years ago, before running out of reasons between jobs. Tried out a few paid alternatives recently before re-stumbling across draw - connected it to my personal gdrive and uncovered a whole bunch of old (very useful) diagramming - forget slick UIs, draw.io a remarkable balance of simplicity, flexibility and function. And free! Someone mentioned handbrake and vlc, would definitely agree with the comparison.
Just adding to the choir. This is a great tool. I prefer using open source software when possible, but I also like to pay for the tools that makes my job easier. The developer is aiming at corporate, volume licensing and I understand how a Patreon account would run counter to their business strategy. I wish there was a 'small dollar donations' channel, though. I like this tool enough to throw them some regular money.
We use draw.io at work for embedding diagrams into our process wiki which accepts basic HTML. It's great and allows us to update the drawings at any time.
I was just using this today for an ER diagram for class with a group. Working on a single document as a group works well, which has come up quite a few times in my time at university. Draw.io offers everything I need (which isn't very much) without being overly complicated.
Funny, I just used it this afternoon to create an diagram of our technical infrastructure. Initially I was looking for the "Sign up" button so that I could save my diagram in the cloud but then I realized that it's all run in the browser. Love it!
Does it allow boolean operations on shapes? <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_operations_on_polygons" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_operations_on_polygons</a>
I've been using draw.io massively over the last years everywhere from concepting & mindmapping up to integrating it directly into website editors where needed - huge kudos to the authors, such a useful and well designed tool.
Been using draw.io for years and have turned many people at my work on to it. Simple, elegant, and works a treat! Thank you so much for sharing this work and for helping make the work day run a little smoother :)
The draft of my (part time) PhD thesis uses draw.io to present a flowchart of the findings - hopefully it makes the final cut next year.<p>Fascinating to hear the other uses, and thankyou for a wonderful and elegant tool!
I used the javascript and java versions of mxGraph (jgraphx) in several projects. Very powerful libraries with many features and many possibilities for customization. Documentation sucked, though.
I use draw.io all the time. It's incredibly simple and that's what makes it work so well. I can whip up a good architecture diagram in a few minutes using it.
I've used it as a lightweight alternative to LucidChart and was impressed. Pretty cool to be able to just download it as html, in addition to as an image.
A tremendous useful feature, well to me at least, is to let user specify graph data structure with associating data and export the data after drawing is done
Draw.io is a phenomenal program, easier to use for new users than visio. I had everyone use it in my college's robotics team to draw system diagrams.
Ok, just a note to everyone !
It is online service and your diagrams are stored in the "cloud" and you have zero control over it.
Please, do not post your company's secret in form of diagrams. Recently, we caught one of the contractors using Draw.io to make diagrams of brand new systems that we are designing(we are fortune 40 company). System is expensive, very sensitive.