Thank you, thank you, thank you, Joseph Hart!
Could you have a use for a free, incredibly easy to use, web based and therefore potentially collaborative flow chart/concept mapping tool? Who doesn’t have a need for such a thing. I love this tool. Gliffy.com I love you!!
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May 25, 2006 at 12:14 pm
Anonymous
it’s ok as far as basic flowcharts go. Not really a patch on Visio. But then, this one is free during the beta period. BTW – giffy.com is porn. You mean Gliffy.com – the “L” is important.
Seriously tho – if you have Visio then this is just silly. . Aren’t you at a tertiary institution? Any company larger than a SOHO probably has a MS license which would include visio. And if you are a linux user then dia is way beyond this toy.
I’m not terribly impressed with the range of symbols. There’s not a lot you could do with mindmaps, the network symbols are not “standard” (yes I know there’s no real standard but there are standard conventions – which these aren’t) and there aren’t any ERD symbols
I guess it’s ok for a high school but I couldnt’ use it for work or teaching at a University
May 25, 2006 at 12:23 pm
Leigh Blackall
Yes I know, what a shocker leaving out that l. I realised about 5 minutes later and corrected it as best I could. Doh!
As for the sophistication you require… I guess it comes down to how often you use things like this, and what for. Personally I have never needed anything more than this, but have been frustrated trying to use various desktop apps to achieve a simple task. In the past I have use the free and open source concept mapping tool Cmaps, but could never get approval from past IT units to install it so I could get collaborative online mind mapping. On top of that, end users had to install the software to work it.
Gliffy is web based, free, and very easy to use. That’s all I need and I’m pretty sure I could find many creative ways around many of the limitations you suggest.
The Gliffy developers are open to suggestions, so one thing I’m already looking for is a way to load in my own icons.
May 25, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Anonymous
frustrated using visio?
A little technology challenged are we??
MS may have added heaps of shapes onto it but its still as easy to use as it ever was (and origonal poster – they are SHAPES not symbols – yes it’s pedantic but yes it IS an important term. Symbols are shapes denoting a particular meaning – not all shapes are symbols).
But hell – if you can’t use visio you need to do a computer literacy class. A mouse drags a shape, then you draw lines to join things jeese
May 25, 2006 at 8:49 pm
stevenparker
Thanks Leigh for the pointer, I’ll give it a go. I too have been using cmap but have wanted to work collaboratively with developing some collective working concepts. I guess the word comes from giffy: A moment; an instant; as, I will be ready in a jiffy.
Anonymous likes visio for university which is great, I like the look of gliffy as its free and can start collaborating with others right away (I am waiting for CMAP server). If it doesn’t suit me I’ll drop it – move on, no emotional attachment, I’m very fickle. If it gets the job done, great and I don’t have to pay.
May 26, 2006 at 11:40 am
Sean
Hey Leigh, it’s great that you’ve found another free, web-based, collaborative tool that teachers can pick up easily without having to jump through hoops to get access because of obstructionist IT departments and managers.
May 26, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Clint
Hi Leigh,
We’re glad you like Gliffy and thanks for the nice posting. Gliffy doesn’t promise to be a Visio replacement (yet 😉 ), but it’s refreshing to have an interface that allows you to simply draw a diagram and immediately share it with anyone, anywhere, on any Operating system. That being said, Gliffy will only improve with time (we’ve only been developing Gliffy less than a year), but we’ll always try to keep the interface simple. Feel free to email us anytime with feedback and new features you’d like to see… the beauty of online software is, a few weeks later, you might see that new feature (can visio do that?).
Regards,
Clint, Co-founder, Gliffy Inc.