Looking for a free alternative to the pricey Visio that lets you create flowcharts that help with schematics and organization? Dia is a desktop solution for layered diagrams, and you can easily export the result to another graphical format.
Slide Diagram Editor 0.97.2
Price
For free
Language
Dutch
OS
Windows, Linux and macOS
Website
www.dia-installer.de 6 Score 60 
- Pros
- Easy in use
- Huge choice of shapes and symbols
- Layer structure
- Negatives
- Outdated interface
Dia has been around for a long time and despite several updates, the program is still a bit of a scare because of the outdated interface. Nevertheless, it has everything on board to draw flowcharts, network diagrams and electrical circuits.
UML diagrams
Originally, Dia is intended to design UML diagrams. The Unified Modeling Language is a standardized system for mapping processes and complex structures. This open source application has a library of over a thousand preformed objects and symbols. And it is even possible to add new shapes using xml files.
The tool can also save and load diagrams in a custom XML format. You then export the result to eps, svg, xfig, wmf or png. And if you want, you can print the design over multiple pages.
Shapes, lines, arrows
At first glance, the user interface seems overwhelming, especially if you’re not familiar with image editing tools. Fortunately, the program has a help menu and a Quickstart that get you up and running quickly.
The program opens with a raster canvas. At the top is the toolbar with several options for viewing and editing the different layers that make up a design. Below that are the tools to add text and shapes. It is also possible to use colors.
Chart Layouts
The program supports more than thirty different diagram formats, such as flowcharts, network structures, database models. So Dia also has a lot of content that you probably don’t need. Some diagramming tools use templates that allow you to create a nearly complete diagram, but they are difficult to customize.
Conclusion
Dia has a wide range of technical objects for those who want to draw IT diagrams, for example, but it is also suitable for non-techies. It doesn’t look flashy at all, but it remains an excellent technical tool.
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