Simple Node & Edge Drawing Software.?

General Memory Chat
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Looking for something simple that allows me to wire together a number of nodes and drag the nodes around and reroute the wires w/o using a connection. Not a mind map, a graph. Much like a circuit bd design package?

Anything out there that doesn’t take 4 hours to learn, doesn’t force one to use a Mind Map or some such scheme, doesn’t cost money? The packages I’ve browsed through, by the time I’m done with setup, watching YT vids, figuring out their underlying ideas, … I’d done with a pencil before then. The math packages all seem to work from a table of node descriptions which is not what I need.

Thanks

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If you know some JavaScript, MermaidJS can take you far.

If you don’t, Mermaid Playground’s an online ‘playground’ where you can create diagrams and downloads SVGs.

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I’ll check that out. Thank you.

4

For desktop software, there are Dia and Inkscape.
For an online tool, check out draw.io.

There are a few other ideas over in this thread: Mind map software-generated

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Thanks. I’ll give them a try.

I’m trying to avoid having to invest too much in learning another software package. I have three pounds of gray meat and box of colored pencils that are more than up to the job, but they are a bit lazy.

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Draw.io is probably the simplest point-and-click tool (out of the ones I mentioned). Dia works offline. Inkscape is more complex but can be used for more complex output.

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I would recommend Yed yEd - Graph Editor

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9

Mermaid now works directly in the forum here. The documentation is here: https://mermaid.js.org/

To create a diagram with mermaid, wrap the code in triple backticks, set the language to mermaid, and use 4-space indentation like this:

Mermaid.js diagram code
Mermaid.js diagram code292×294 3.56 KB

which produces this:

graph TD;
    A-->B;
    A-->C;
    B-->D;
    C-->D;

Here are some more examples:

erDiagram
          CUSTOMER }|..|{ DELIVERY-ADDRESS : has
          CUSTOMER ||--o{ ORDER : places
          CUSTOMER ||--o{ INVOICE : "liable for"
          DELIVERY-ADDRESS ||--o{ ORDER : receives
          INVOICE ||--|{ ORDER : covers
          ORDER ||--|{ ORDER-ITEM : includes
          PRODUCT-CATEGORY ||--|{ PRODUCT : contains
          PRODUCT ||--o{ ORDER-ITEM : "ordered in"

    stateDiagram-v2
        State1: The state with a note
        note right of State1
            Important information! You can write
            notes.
        end note
        State1 --> State2
        note left of State2 : This is the note to the left.

Mermaid also supports mindmaps and timelines, but they aren’t working yet. I think I just need to get the version updated.

Update: mind maps work now

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The draw.io program mentioned above by Josh also has a downloadable offline desktop app for Windows/Mac/Linux.

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