Violet UML Editor excellent for quick diagramming
I was searching for free UML diagraming tools/plugins for Eclipse and I tried out
ArgoUML
http://argouml.tigris.org/
- It’s alright
- Does the job
Eclipse UML2 with no UML2 tools meaning no GUI
http://www.eclipse.org/modeling/mdt/
- Too hardcore for me
- Zero boxes and lines
- Just all tag markup
Papyrus for UML
http://www.papyrusuml.org/
- Very cumbersome to use
- Did not like the # of clicks it took to change multiplicity of an association
Violet UML Editor
http://alexdp.free.fr/violetumleditor/
- Simplistic interface
- Mouse-wheel driven element selection makes for quick drawing
- Can run as a part of eclipse or a stand-alone.
- Can print pretty good (if you stick to the default Blue Vista theme)
Violet UML was a pleasure to use because of how quickly I was able to apply stripped down fundamental UML. If I were to go any more basic, I would be on a whiteboard, markers, and a digital camera.
Two constructive suggestions I would have for the awesome developers who put this together is:
Space Bar Use:
When the space bar is down, the cursor changes into a hand. The user may then click and drag on the diagram which will move the visible area to another part of the diagram. This saves a lot of time by not moving the mouse to the scroll bars on the bottom and the right.
Ctrl + Wheel Up and Down:
When Ctrl key is pressed, if the user scrolls up and down, it will either zoom in or out. Pressing on the wheel button would restore to a view that can view all 100% of the diagram.
Aside from these, Violet UML is a solid UML editor that I highly recommend.
Try it out without having to install it.
http://alexdp.free.fr/violetumleditor/demo/violet.jnlp
