I usually use Visio for diagrams like this. It's a very powerful tool, but it's expensive, and really fiddly to use such that everything is aligned and sized the way I want - I invariably spend far too long adjusting size and position.
Something like this could be really useful, and I'm keen to give it a try!
If the founder is here, a question: what formats can you export diagrams in? My biggest fears in using something like this would be lock-in, or it shutting down and losing everything.
It'd be great to hear your thoughts/feedback on the tool. Please feel free to reach out to us.
In terms your comment about lock-in I understand your fear and I think a lot of companies will share this. We currently offer PDF/PNG export however due to the interactive nature of our diagrams we're looking into how we can provide an interactive export. An IcePanel file is also an idea we're looking into. We'd love to work with you if you have any specific ideas in this area.
A native app would also allow you to access different market segments. E.g., I work with a fair amount of DOD-controlled information, and storing it in a cloud is not an option. I'd be all over an app like this that allowed us to use local storage.
Having used Visio and Diagrams.net, Visio really is the least productive one. Constantly fighting with the unpleasantness of applying little tweaks made it my 3rd choice. 1) Diagrams.net 2) PlantUML 3) Visio
I work as an architect for a consulting and off-shoring megacorp. I mainly work for European clients in the oil and gas sector, but recently have worked in finance too. I find Visio (or any visual diagram tool) useful for hacking together a diagram collaboratively.
I also have a side business (me and a co-founder), and I'm planning on making the plunge and going full-time on it in the next few months - there too I've used Visio, because it's what I'm used to, and I get a license with our Microsoft Action Pack subscription. Here though, I'd probably prefer to move to a declarative model, like PlantUML (I only recently found out it works with icon sets, so can do things like nice architecture diagrams too).
I'd love to be able to export to a vector format - something I can load into another diagram tool. Not sure of the Visio format is open and documented, but being able to export to Visio would set my mind completely at ease.
Aside from that, I'd echo what a couple of others here have said about having a desktop app version, which would work with local, rather than cloud storage - I generally prefer to have full control over my data and how it is managed. I personally wouldn't mind an Electron app (presumably a native app is going to be a lot of work).
I was considering Visio until I saw the price, the only alternative I found was MyDraw[1], which looks competent and is much cheaper ($69). I haven't used it yet though. In the past I've relied on Dia[2].
Huh - if you work in this domain - how is Visio very expensive? It's a few hundred dollars for things that save you tens and hundreds of work. It also has an unbelievably rich extensibility model - almost too complex.
The bigger issue is a) it doesn't do many of the things that we as architecture and design work requires - declarative rules (Component A --> connects to --> Component B) - enforce this rule without my having to worry about arrow drawing b) Version management c) Visio's default of a printed page as Canvas is incredibly cumbersome - we want big canvases in which we can zoom in / out liberally for large diagrams (hundreds of components).
It's more a question that it's not really an architecture tool for large systems. It's a general purpose tool that we've attempted to manipulate. So it doesn't work well for in-depth uses.
> if you work in this domain - how is Visio very expensive?
Working for a megacorp doesn't mean they shower their people with money for tooling (or anything beneficial, actually). They are incredibly wasteful in some respects, but very seldom in ways that benefit the people working for them, or the work they do for them. In truth, they are a bunch of c*nts that couldn't care less about their people ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But now I digress, and will get back on topic :P
Also, when I mentioned cost, I meant in general - not just specifically for me in my specific day job. If you're solo-bootstrapping a startup for example, $280-530 might seem relatively expensive for a tool that you will seldom use. Perhaps less of an issue if you're using O365, or the Microsoft Action makes sense for you.
> Visio's default of a printed page as Canvas is incredibly cumbersome - we want big canvases in which we can zoom in / out liberally for large diagrams (hundreds of components).
I don't understand your argument here; the Visio canvas can be whatever size you want - you can even let it auto-expand as needed if you want. I regularly do use it for diagrams of large systems with numerous components, and can zoom in/out just fine.
> It's more a question that it's not really an architecture tool for large systems
I like declarative diagrams very much (versioning is a huge plus too), and have been making much more use of them recently, mainly for UML diagrams. But actually, for large architectural diagrams they can become a sea of text that's difficult to work with. Being able to visualise* things more intuitively can be a bonus.
> It's a general purpose tool
This is one of the things I like about it - I can do architectural diagrams, sequence diagrams (or any kind of UML diagram), process flows, swim lanes, anything really.
Still, it has a gazillion features and capabilities that I'll never use (such as the extensibility you mention), and it can be really fiddly to size and position things just-so. Hence, I think something a little more focussed (like the OP's app, or the likes of draw.io) could be a great alternative.
Something like this could be really useful, and I'm keen to give it a try!
If the founder is here, a question: what formats can you export diagrams in? My biggest fears in using something like this would be lock-in, or it shutting down and losing everything.