RE: better flowchart tool than Visio?

["Combs, Richard" <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>]

Dan Goldstein wrote:
 
> I've found Visio 2003 very easy to use - an exception to the usual
> Microslop product. But YMMV.
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Robert Lauriston
> Sent: Friday, August 24, 2012 4:19 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Re: better flowchart tool than Visio?
> 
> With VIsio, I typically spend 80% of my time fighting the application
> to
> get things to look right. Flowbreeze pretty much just works the way I
> would expect.

I agree, and 2007 too (I've got 2010 now but haven't had much chance to play with it). But then I started working with Visio before it was acquired by MS, and I recall struggling with various things over the years. I think if you find yourself fighting the application, it's usually because you're trying to do something in a "non-Visio way" that's really very easy to do in the "Visio way." Or you're fighting some of the intelligence built a Visio object(s) that you wouldn't have to fight if you knew where to change the behavior. 

Visio is an amazingly powerful program, and I think it's much more user-friendly than most such powerful programs (*cough*Photoshop). But there's definitely some learning required, and if you don't need the power, I don't doubt that something simpler can be bent to your will more quickly. 

OTOH, Visio skills are a valuable asset. 

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
------







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