Using Omingraffle for...

[John Lawton]

I have really enjoyed using omnigraffle over the last year or so. It 
reminds me of the early drawing programs that I used to use to add 
figures to my chemistry reports. It was a shame to see those nifty 
little programs fall by the wayside but their successors such as 
Illustrator have had a positive impact on computing as well.

Getting back to omnigraffle, I have used it to create website 
prototypes. I thought I'd share this with you all because it 
illustrates the versatility of this cool piece of software. I do have 
some problems with it. However, regardless of a few limitations, its 
still my favorite tool for quickly creating drawings.

If you'd like to see the graphic, it will be available at

http://criteradesign.com/graffle.html

Here are some of the minor problems that I have encountered when 
creating the image:

+ All objects are anti-aliased. While this creates a warm and soft look 
to the final image, it would be nice to be able to have a little more 
control over what gets anti-aliased. This can create problems when 
converting the image into an HTML page.

+ I'd like to be able to create a line object. (Used as a vertical and 
horizontal separator) Currently I use a rectangle with the minimum 
width, and turn off the line color just leaving the shadow.  I'd prefer 
to be able to select the line type, color and shading.

+ Object opacity: I'd like to be able to adjust the opacity of the 
object, allowing a partially obscured object to show through.

+ Ability to create a page size in pixels. I tried doing this by 
creating a custom template of 9" by 6" in page setup but it didn't 
work. (That part of the UI may need a little work)

thats about it!!

cheers,

-john