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Review
Installation & Documentation
Ease of use
Value for money
Price approx.	US$119.90 Professional version
Operating System	Mac OS X 10.2+ (OmniGraffle 2.2 for Mac OS X 10.1.x)
Available from	Omni Grou

NZ Macguide Issue 9

Paul Johnston of Renaissance had demonstrated OmniGraffle in the 2002 Apple Roadshow - it shipped with many G3 and G4 Macs - so I gave it a whirl and realised it was good, but I'd need a full license to move more than 20 objects. This was almost instantly achievable over the parent web site in Seattle, and cost NZ$109 in late March 2003 ($59US).

OmniGraffle is gorgeous in OS X (there are versions for earlier Mac systems) - you get the OS X Aqua benefits of glowing and transparency. It's quick to get to grips with and has a handy range of shapes organised on palettes - and you can get extra ones through the OmniGraffle site, like excellent map icons, Macs and furniture, plus there's a lot more OmniGraffle can do, as you quickly find out by checking the links Omni supplies. For example, there are more symbol sets plus you can learn how to use AppleScript to turn OmniGraffle into a news reader, to map the traffic between pages on web sites, to allow voice control and a whole lot more.

You can connect symbols with 'magnetic' lines (or ethernet cable symbols, or whatever) and when you move the object, it stays connected - great for your kids' team formations and a lot more to boot (ha ha). Symbols are editable - behind the simple interface there's a wealth of options on palettes.

It's so graphic and easy to use (the full manual is on the site as a downloadable 1.4MB pdf) I'll let the images do the talking for you. Finished layouts can be exported full in JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, EPS, pdf and html formats at the resolution you require.

Pros

Cons

Draw an office network diagram with pen and paper, two minutes. In OmniGraffle with no experience or training, ten minutes - but it's editable, emailable and if it ends up as a scrawled on and screwed up piece of paper, it can be printed out again. (Items throb purple when they can be magnetically connected)

© Parkside Media 2003
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