Tool for black-and-white diagrams? (Nested boxes)

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Bonnie Granat wondered <<One of our several documentation groups is looking
for a tool to use that will allow some kind of differentiation between
nested elements (nested boxes) without using color. The diagrams explain
processes in a Web-based application. Can you recommend one or more tools?>>

Any graphics tool will do what you want; the hard part is to determine a
form of visual coding that works using only black and white (i.e., that
works using patterns or some other hierarchical clue). If the boxes don't
actually have to fit inside one another, a simple indented list within a
larger box might work better than nested boxes, particularly if the nesting
is sufficiently deep that the visual coding for the hierarchy grows
impossibly complex. On the face of it, it sounds like flowcharting software
would work better for describing this kind of process information. If so,
ABC Flowcharter (correct name? anyway, it's the one published by Micrografx)
might be the tool you need; software like Corel could do the job, but you'll
want something that automates the process of maintaining links between
steps, and flowcharting software will work more efficiently for this kind of
task.

--Geoff Hart, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca 
"The paperless office will arrive when the paperless toilet
arrives."--Matthew Stevens