[instaviz-users] instaviz-users Digest, Vol 7, Issue 13

Mon Mar 23 12:22:09 CDT 2009

Thanks for the help everyone - the suggestion for using Vue (Visual
Understanding Environment - http://vue.tufts.edu/download/index.cfm) was
great - it was just what I was looking for.

On Mon, Mar 23, 2009 at 12:00 PM, <instaviz-users-request at pixelglow.com>wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Re: May I suggest a new gesture? (Glen Low)
>   2. Re: Graphing Software for "Dummies" (Ryan Schmidt)
>   3. Re: Instaviz, but on computers (Andy Dent)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:00:43 +0900
> From: Glen Low <glen.low at pixelglow.com>
> Subject: Re: [instaviz-users] May I suggest a new gesture?
> To: Instaviz Users <instaviz-users at pixelglow.com>
> Message-ID: <ECF4FBBA-4800-4415-A074-B90A283529F2 at pixelglow.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
> Petri
>
> On 14/03/2009, at 3:58 AM, Petri Sirkkala wrote:
>
> > Hi Glen,
> > Do you think it could be possible to add another gesture to the
> > Instaviz UI?
> > While drawing an edge, if the stroke ends up over the canvas (not over
> > any node), duplicate the starting node and add an edge between the
> > start node and the duplicate.
>
> That's an interesting idea. I like the fact that it would make drawing
> much faster.
>
> My only worry is how would users cancel an inadvertent stroke? We
> occasionally get these with pinch and zoom gestures, or if the user
> can't quite connect the edge to the node he wants. Of course there's
> the shake-to-delete available but I'm wondering whether these
> inadvertent strokes would be common enough to make "create a duplicate
> node" irritating.
>
>
>
>
> Cheers, Glen Low
>
>
> ---
> pixelglow software | simply brilliant stuff
> www.pixelglow.com
> aim: pixglen
> twitter: pixelglow
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:13:41 -0500
> From: Ryan Schmidt <instaviz-2009a at ryandesign.com>
> Subject: Re: [instaviz-users] Graphing Software for "Dummies"
> To: Instaviz Users <instaviz-users at pixelglow.com>
> Message-ID: <B2DE51B4-57B5-4E79-87D4-145F6A4C20C3 at ryandesign.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> On Mar 22, 2009, at 19:40, Roger Taylor wrote:
>
> > Having to rely on syntax for graphical design is not very efficient,
> > especially for quickly adjusting layouts. I guess after enough time
> > one can
> > become proficient at this approach, but it's like going back to
> > using DOS.
>
> Graphviz is an automated layout tool. It creates diagrams
> automatically from text file graph descriptions. That's its purpose.
> This is very useful for automatically generating graphs of all sorts
> of things, from network topologies to software dependencies to the
> questions and answers needed to complete your breakfast order at
> Denny's.
>
> The point is Graphviz serves a different purpose from graphical graph
> design tools like Visio. If you want to use a mouse to position nodes
> on the screen and draw edges between them and be in control of all
> aspects of the graph, use something like Visio. If you want automatic
> graph layout based on some input data without having to futz with the
> mouse or define things that can be automatically determined, use
> something like Graphviz.
>
>
> >> I blogged about this, whilst writing this response, so you can see an
> >> example picture and DOT at
> >> http://aussiedesignedsoftware.com/blog/?p=72
> >
> > That's very nice, but how do I change the shape of the ovals
>
> The shapes Graphviz offers for nodes are shown here:
>
> http://graphviz.org/doc/info/shapes.html
>
> To make a node whose shape is a circle instead of the default oval:
>
> digraph {
>        a [shape=circle]
> }
>
>
> > and move one of
> > them over a 'smidge'?
>
> Well, you don't. As an automated layout tool, Graphviz automatically
> determines a layout for you based on the description of the node
> relationships you write in the text file. There are several layout
> engines to choose from (dot, neato, circo, twopi, fdp) but you don't
> manually adjust the positions of nodes and edges.
>
> Well, apparently you can, using the pos attribute, sometimes? I
> haven't had success with this myself.
>
> http://graphviz.org/doc/info/attrs.html#d:pos
>
>
> > I'd like to be able to sit a classroom of 5th graders down and
> > quickly have
> > them make concept maps of an ecosystem (and comparable things).
>
>
> > Thanks, but this is what I hoped to be able to find:
> > http://www.inspiration.com/Inspiration
>
>
> >> Since this is for schools, you could make it part of your lesson to
> >> [teach students how] to write the graph description files Graphviz
> >> needs. [snip]
> >
> > For older kids this would be possible, but these are elementary school
> > children.
>
> If Inspiration is what you want, then you should probably purchase
> that. Perhaps they have some volume pricing or discount they can
> offer you.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 10:34:56 +0900
> From: Andy Dent <dent at oofile.com.au>
> Subject: Re: [instaviz-users] Instaviz, but on computers
> To: Instaviz Users <instaviz-users at pixelglow.com>
> Message-ID: <A1754FF4-7BD9-45C7-8442-2D7179F130EB at oofile.com.au>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
>
>
> On 23/03/2009, at 4:50 AM, Roger Taylor wrote:
> >
> > I do educational research in poor K-12 schools, and they don't have
> > the funds to buy the dozens of copies of "Inspiration" - which is
> > the only comparable cross-platform software on the market.
> I didn't read this line and think about it. Others did and recommended
> various drawing tools. Here are some not mentioned so far.
>
> If you're looking for simple mind-mapping software, FreeMind is a
> basic one with minimal layout.
> http://freemind.sourceforge.net/
>
> For richer concept maps, I recommend Vue
> http://vue.tufts.edu/
>
> A good vector drawing app with the ability to use SVG is Inkscape
> http://www.inkscape.org/
>
> You can output SVG directly from GraphViz or use an external converter
> http://code.google.com/p/dot2svg/
>
> > Here's my dream software: A cross-platform open-source program that
> > uses the .dot language, but is easy enough for normal users.
>
> I responded to this previously.
>
> Hope this was more helpful
>
> Andy Dent
> Freelance Designer-Developer - C++,  C#, Objective-C, Python, REALbasic
>
>
>
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> End of instaviz-users Digest, Vol 7, Issue 13
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