I recently had to create a handful of class diagrams. To document existing stuff, vs as a design tool. Just the level of detail needed to make the point.

It's been ages since I've done UML stuff. Surely things are better now?

I tried a handful of tools. PlantUML, whatever comes with IntelliJ Ultimate, something that had recently been front page on HN (edit: dotuml.com), mermaid, nomnoml, an app I found on the Apple Mac store. I even tried just a generic diagramming tool.

So frustrating. Overlapping edges and arrowheads. Couldn't control placement or order. Classes with just names (no fields or methods) still showing those extra lines (vs just a name with a box). Couldn't discern abstract (italics) from concrete (bold) classes.

I gave up.

I was tempted to just hand draw the diagrams. Alas, my lettering is turrible.

I finally went back to wrestling with graphviz's DOT.

It's not great. But at least the edges don't overlap.