I realise the way to change the default units is to create new templates and change the Ruler Units. This seems to make it unusually difficult to switch between Imperial and Metric Units.

In my mind it would be much better to be able to set a global default in the OmniGraffle preferences or even better would be if it was based on the Measurement Units System Default.

[stevecopley]

Agreed. It's really not a very good way to handle this.

Is there really not a simple way to default your units to metric? Most of the world uses metric!

Maybe OmniGroup could supply a set of simple-to-add metric templates to replace the imperial unit ones, so that 1000s of users don't all have to go through the process of converting their own templates.

But, really... this should be a global pref.

Steve C.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by stevecopley

Most of the world uses metric!

Yes, but Apple domestic computer sales outstrip international sales and that suggests the majority of OmniGraffle users might not be in a metric environment... That's not to say that the proposed change wouldn't be a good thing, just that metric users are quite possibly a minority, not a majority as you suggest.

Here's my set of metricized templates. Just unzip the attachment to:
/Users/~/Library/Application Support/OmniGraffle/Templates/

I've converted all inches to cm, all grids to 1cm with 4 subdivisions and the default alignment spacing is 1cm. (I left the inch-based Space Planning templates alone, because there are already metric versions)

[JellyHead]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

Yes, but Apple domestic computer sales outstrip international sales and that suggests the majority of OmniGraffle users might not be in a metric environment... That's not to say that the proposed change wouldn't be a good thing, just that metric users are quite possibly a minority, not a majority as you suggest.

Before you casually write off the world outside of the USA as a minority, please read this article about how international sales have rescued Apple this year and see the first two quarter sales figures that show how domestic sales only outstrip international sales by 4%.

Article:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...ail_slump.html


Sales figures for 2009:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/21results.html
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/04/22results.html

It would seem a foolish business practice to alienate the world outside the USA by not making it easier to allow metric measurements - this is the first piece of computer software I have encountered that makes it so difficult - but presumably Omnigraffle have their reasons. Regardless, unless they change their position, they won't be getting any of my money.

:-(

[SteveinOz]

I too would like to echo the sentiment that I am frankly amazed that there is not a way to globally change the units from inches to metric units. Visio has had this ability for ages.

Thanks to the user that posted metric templates.

I am evaluating Omnigraffle but I was amazed that I could not find a way to change the units in the preferences. I already have negative vibes towards this application without getting too far. One would hope that the user experience improves or I will stay with Visio in a virtual machine.

I found the templates work around thanks to Google.

[whpalmer4]

Isn't this essentially a one-time operation? I know that if I had to choose, I'd rather they didn't implement something that I only had to do once, rather than some other comparably difficult change the absence of which was going to bite me on a ongoing basis.

[maper]

You have "nailed it"!
Th prgrmmrs bhnd mngrffl hv srly lst thr trck nd bng gnrnt f th mst sd systm f msrmnts s nthng bt pthtc…
Snc th rpns, whch frst nvntd nd thrftr bndnd th ld "mprl systm," whch s lft by vrybdy bt th mrcns t s xtr pthtc…
spclly ftr th "Bstn t prty"…
n thr wrds, why r th mrcns s ncrdbly stck n prsrvng smthng thy wntd t lv frm th bgnnng?
s t bcs thy r "stckd" r hv dsr t b smthng thy stll hv nt ccmplshd?
jst wndr, bt mrcns rlly hv t cstmz thmslvs t th rst f th Wstrn wrld!
E.g., see http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system where it is stated that "The United States is the only industrialised country that does not use the metric system as its official system of measurement, although the metric system has been officially sanctioned for use there since 1866."
What about that?!…

[timgebbett]

Dear Lorin,

Thank you very much for the metric templates - a huge help!

Tim