Visio 5.0 drawing software gets better and better with age
Visio 5.0 drawing software gets better and better with age
By Zatni Arbi
JAKARTA (JP): About two weeks ago I received a wedding
invitation from a cousin. He was to have his wedding reception at
the mosque inside the House of Representatives (DPR) complex in
Jakarta. He was considerate enough to enclose a map of the mosque
in the invitation.
Unfortunately, the map contained a few errors that caused some
confusion. Moreover, whoever prepared it had chosen to exclude
important landmarks such as the DPR building itself and the
Manggala Wanabhakti Complex. Not surprisingly, we missed the
entrance to the mosque when we went there.
The map itself, it seemed to me, was created with the help of
a heavy-duty drawing program, most probably AutoCAD. For a
seasoned AutoCAD user, creating a simple directional map such as
this one would not take much time. However, it took months to
really master real world programs like AutoCAD. I remembered a
much more intuitive way of creating diagrams and flowcharts, and
the name Visio came immediately to mind.
Visio was the pioneer of the drag-and-drop business graphics
software. Back in 1992, when the first version came up and the
company name was still Shapeware, Visio was considered the
easiest tool for creating diagrams, and it earned popularity
overnight. A few other companies tried to imitate and share the
success of Visio; here was ABC Flowcharter from Micrografx, and
Corel even came up with Corel Flow. But today, in its fifth
generation, Visio is still considered by critics and editors to
be the best program for flowcharting and diagraming.
I happened to obtain a demo copy of the Visio Standard 5.0
from Singapore, so I thought why not try it out and see how much
time I would need to create a simple directional map that would
lead us to the mosque where my cousin had his wedding reception.
I should admit up-front that I was not totally unfamiliar with
Visio. I had used it in the past, but it has been many years
since then. The intuitive approach of this program has not
changed, though, and I was able to complete the map that you see
in the accompanying picture in seven minutes. It is not a
gorgeous looking map, because Visio is not for artists. Moreover,
the artistic talent is also something that I wish I had. But,
still, I guess the map would guide you to the location easily.
Shapes
Basically, Visio comprises three components: The template, the
shapes and the tools. The template is the page that has grids on
which we create our drawing. The shapes are ready-to-use drawing
objects that we can select, drag and drop into our template. Over
1,300 shapes are available in Visio Standard. They are organized
in pages like a catalog, and these pages are called the stencils.
You will find the stencils on the left side of the screen.
In my project, I chose the stencil for Directional Map. It
contains shapes for railway tracks, clove junctions, roundabouts,
bridges, signs, public houses, buildings, skyscrapers, etc. One
important feature of these shapes is that you can expand it in
one direction without affecting their other properties. In
creating the railway track, for example, I can stretch it without
changing its general look.
To create the map, I simply dragged the shapes that I needed
into the template. These shapes are intelligent objects, so they
automatically snap to the grid as well as to another shape
whenever we place them together. When we move one shape, the
connection will not be broken. It simplifies the job
tremendously.
To represent the Manggala Wanabhakti Complex, I needed two
shapes of the skyscraper. Instead of dragging the same shape
twice, I just selected the shape in the stencil and used the
Stamp tool. With this tool, as you can guess, I can place as many
instances of the same shape on the template as I needed.
Creating text was also very simple. I just dragged the Text
Box shape from the stencil, typed in the text and adjusted the
width of the box. I could change the font, change the color of
the text, decorate the box with a color and texture fill and add
some spice. I did not do it because the map would have had to be
photocopied in black and white anyway.
In case the drawing gets bigger than the size of the paper
that your printer can print on, Visio also allows you to divide
it into two or four or more pages. This is called tiling.
Special purposes
Do not let yourself be fooled by the ease of use of this
program that I have just described. Visio can do more than just
create instant diagrams. It can be connected to external
database, automate charts for project management, and even be
integrated with SAP's R/3 so that you have a better view of its
implementation throughout your enterprise.
In fact, Visio comes in different editions. In addition to the
US$150 Visio Standard, you can choose Visio Professional 5.0
(US$350), Visio Technical 5.0 (US$350), and the soon to be
released Visio Enterprise 5.0. With 1,000 network and telecom
shapes, Visio Professional has more complete shapes for those
working in the information system and software development areas.
Visio Technical is more suitable for people who work with
schematic diagrams. The Visio Enterprise is packed with 14,000
exact replica of network equipment shapes and it will enable you
to manage your enterprise resources better. Visio's Web site
(www.visio.com) provides guidelines that you can use to decide
which one you should have.
If you cannot find the tools that you need, you can access
Visio Solution Library on their Web site and get specialized
tools for your rather unique tasks. Visio is also well integrated
with Office 97, and it is also Web-ready. You can even create
links to sites on the Internet in your diagrams.
After six years and five generations, Visio is still a great
diagraming and flowcharting software program. Creating simple
diagrams, maps and many other types of business drawings is easy.
However, with a lot of efforts, you can do a lot of things with
any one of the four editions. The more complex your task, the
more time and effort you have to invest, though.
About the only complaint that many people -- including a
software reviewer in PC World -- have is that Visio diagrams look
dull. They do have a boring look. You don't have snazzy
properties such as gradient fills, watermark, etc. in Visio.
Other programs, such as Corel Flow, would allow you to place
bitmap images on the drawing. But, then again, the main objective
is to communicate your idea as clearly as possible, right? If
that is the case, the less dressy the diagram is, the easier it
is to comprehend.