When drawing connectors, having lines with multiple connectors make diagrams look messy and confusing.
Once you register, you can install the Google Chrome extension, which allows you to work wherever you are.
Gliffy’s standout feature is its offline option. It includes shapes for doing room/house layouts, as well. In addition to offering the common sets, Gliffy allows you to create your own shape libraries by signing up for a free account ( Figure D). Like the previous two, Gliffy is another broad-featured diagramming app. Draw.IO can save to Google Drive, Dropbox, or a local device. It also contains various specialty shapes for mocking up mobile device interfaces, laying out Cisco or other network hardware designs, and doing electronic schematics. Use cases are represented with a labeled oval shape.
Figure B 3: Draw.IOĭraw.IO is another traditional diagramming app that contains many common sets of shapes ( Figure C). UML is the modeling toolkit that you can use to build your diagrams. Paid plans are also available with more features.
Creately does require a free registration to activate the save feature, as well as one import and export. It also includes templates for Gantt charts, electronic logic gates, and networking hardware.
On the other hand, Creately is a more traditional diagramming tool that includes a variety of shapes and lines for free ( Figure B). It offers very few object shapes it’s limited to boxes, plain lines, and arrow lines. Instead of the fancy, graphical displays of most diagramming tools, ASCII Flow uses ASCII characters to draw the elements of the flowchart. 1: ASCII Flowĭepending on your situation, ASCII Flow ( Figure A) may not be the choice for you, but it does fit a nice niche market. Note: This article is also available as an image gallery. In this edition of Five Apps, we take a look at five free, web-based tools you can use to create different types of diagrams. Now IT departments can create diagrams such as flowcharts, use cases, and UI layouts all within the browser quickly and easily. Luckily, several free diagramming apps are available, and you don’t even need to download anything. However, most of these packages carry a price tag - and many are quite high.
Whether you need to create a flowchart, a use case diagram, a mobile device interface mockup, or network design specs, one of these free web-based tools will simplify the task.Ĭreating great-looking, eye-catching, and unique diagrams is a fairly simple task these days, thanks to all the software available on the market. Five free web-based tools that make diagramming a snap