[juliax]

I'm new to OmniGraffle. Love it so far, except I can't figure out how to draw branching lines in website maps.

I.e. a long line comes out of one 'A-level' object, and from that long line several branches link to other 'B-level' objects.

All I seem to be able to do is make a set of separate lines link in a fan shape from the one 'A-level' object to the 'B-level' objects. Which gets crowded when you're dealing with many objects, and wastes real estate. Makes sitemaps for large websites with multiple levels impossible.

I have searched "branching lines" here and on the web, can't find anything. Perhaps I am using the wrong terminology in my searches?

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

You can create an intermediary node, and use the Geometry inspector to reduce its size to the point of invisibility.

[juliax]

Ingenious. This works, thanks! I appreciate the quick reply.

[PRV]

Or you can make orthogonal lines. Each connector is a separate line in the following example but they snap together and move as a unit if you move the parent object. I use these for my site maps.

[juliax]

Even better! Thanks so much. I did not realize I could just draw a line by itself, then connect it up with others. It seems so simple now, but I was hung up on drawing lines *between* objects.

Orthogonal lines are a good solution. One or two bugs in the way that auto-layout handles them in OG5 can lead to some ambiguous overlapping or quirky asymmetries.

[PRV]

Originally Posted by juliax

Even better! Thanks so much. I did not realize I could just draw a line by itself, then connect it up with others. It seems so simple now, but I was hung up on drawing lines *between* objects.

Just to be clear - the lines in the example are not connected to other lines. Each connector is a separate orthogonal line between parent and child object. They just neatly snap together. You *can* connect lines to other lines but it's cleaner to connect objects - that way when you move an object the connector goes with it.

[juliax]

Thanks, RobTrew and PRV. I think it will be a matter of trying out the different solutions and getting a feel for which will work most efficiently for my needs. Thanks for the heads-up about bugginess.