Ask HN: What tools do you use for creating diagrams?
We're looking for some open source tools for creating UML diagrams and the sort. What's your goto tool set for creating diagrams/visual organizations of systems?
Graphviz and a text editor for quick structured or hierarchical diagrams.
AsciiFlow, for rough and ready diagrams that I need to share quickly or for inclusion in documents where Graphviz is unsuitable.
Those three are my go to tools depending on what kind of diagrams I am working on. I'll use yEd from yWorks on FreeBSD and Linux.
Finally when push comes to shove I'll wind up with Microsoft Visio usually because of either compatibility or having to work on windows.
For UML I think your going to struggle with a pure open source stack. I've found diagramming tools to be one of the weakest parts of open source productivity suites. UML is quite likely to produce a lot of diagrams and your going to want good tools to deal with this. I recommend you chose the best diagramming tool for your platform of choice and just pay for it if it's not free. Wrestling with poor diagram tools is a complete waste of time when good tools that make working with diagrams very easy. I've yet to see a diagramming tool that costs more than the time it saved me. Even Microsoft Visio earned its keep over the few years each license lasted me.
1. Draw.io [1] for general charts. Someone has already mentioned it. It's open source software. Draw.io supports flow charts and other diagram types. One thing that I love about Draw.io is compatibility. You can import and export the XML file that contains your diagram. So, I don't need to worry what platform I use. The final diagrams can be exported to SVG and images too.
2. UMLet [2] or StarUML [3] for UML diagrams. I have no experience with UMLet. I recommend this because it's open source UML tool and actively developed (they need contributors [4]). I know open source UML tools are not as good as paid tools, like Visual Paradigm and Enterprise Architect. Alternatively, you can use StarUML (not open source). It's free although you have to buy a license for continued use.
[1]: https://www.draw.io
[2]: http://www.umlet.com
[3]: http://staruml.io
I don't know if it's the best thing out there, but it's pretty low risk to try it out. I haven't needed to look for anything better, and it does have some neat features.