The Omni Group

Yes. Regularly. I create 1 and 2 page instruction sheets and feature info docs for customers.

I make figures for scientific articles with it.

Illustrations, diagrams, annotated pictures and charts, etc…

In a pinch, I once used OmniGraffle to create memorial cards for a friend's funeral, complete with oval shaped image.

I've used OG for various DTP tasks for some time. It does well, especially as a drawing program (moreso with every release), but falls a bit short for page layout. The reason why is simple: Text controls.

OG has two kinds of text: Text in a box, and text in a box. There's limited control over justification, no ruler controls, and nothing like text flow between frames to make complex and/or multi-page layouts easier.

But for one or two pages, it does just fine. I only wish the line tool was willing to be just a line without having to coddle it into doing so. Sometimes I just DON'T want a diagram!

And really, as OG does transition into a robust drawing application as well as a diagramming one, it would be very cool to see some of these issues addressed. While it doesn't have to be InDesign, or even Pages, making it easy to present pretty diagrams in print would be very nice.

It's good to know that i am not alone in my lack-of-sleep-due-to-freaking-out-child. I never realized how therapeutic an OmniGraffle diagram of the situation might be. Thanks!

Omni folks:  thanks for developing such great products!

I used OmniGraffle regularly for page layout when I was teaching undergraduate computer science (one example handout is right here; others are available from my URL).  I had great luck getting things together quickly (and I recommended OmniGraffle to many other grad students and teachers, several of whom have also become enthusiastic users).  So:  yes, OmniGraffle can be very useful for this sort of work.

However, as Nik says, the problems I've had with OmniGraffle for page layout relate to text handling.  It would be nice to flow text between shapes, of course, but I think there is a still more fundamental issue:  I'd like to be able to set text on a baseline grid, like I can in InDesign, and as far as I can tell, this isn't possible in OmniGraffle.  Another minor nit is that many of the Adobe fonts seem to exhibit different baseline-alignment behavior in OmniGraffle and, say, Illustrator—a top-to-bottom centered label set in Myriad, for example, will be too high in OmniGraffle.  I'm not sure what causes this problem, though (it may be a problem with OS X or with the faces).

These are not showstopper limitations for the sort of layout people typically do in OmniGraffle, I suspect, but it would be superb if it were possible to address them in a future release—and so doing might expand the range of “the sort of layout people typically do in OmniGraffle.”

I used OmniGraffle to make quarter-page handbills for my nonprofit organization in 2007 as well as this full-page flyer last year: http://www.flickr.com/photos/forpeace/2297932523/

I use OmniGraffle to make large-format scientific posters. Some of my colleagues use Powerpoint to make their posters, bless their poor, poor hearts. Three thumbs up for OmniGraffle.

I use Omnigraffle to create 60+ page specifications for web sites and web applications. I'd love to see future releases add decent text controls and lists that work, as this would make my life soooo much easier.