[roosterboy]

Y'know, as much as I dig OmniGraffle, I've always found the documentation somewhat lacking. It seems I'm always discovering new things about the app that I never knew existed. And a measly 24 pages of manual for an app of such complex ability strikes me as, well, underweight.

I wonder if there's ever been any interest in a book for OG like O'Reilly's Definitive Guide series? I, for one, would whip out my credit card for such a book so fast the friction would probably set my pants on fire.

[Bill Van Hecke]

Have you looked at the on-screen help? We tried not to let any feature go unmentioned, there.

[Agnostus]

I second the wish for a book or something similar.

I am a casual user of Graffle; I often find myself in a situation where I have to produce a diagram. With my lack of Graffle experience, but long standing Illustrator habits, I find working with Graffle very cumbersome. In these situations I wish that there was some kind of documentation that really shows you the possibilities that Graffle gives you (and I think there are a lot). This is something that doesn't really work with the online doc.

I'll gladly spend time working through a document with well explained examples that shows you what you can do and how to do it. I wouldn't dream of working through the online doc. That's a reference that comes in handy once you've mastered the basics.

Regards,
Martin

[bethkatz17582]

The market is pretty small for a full-fledged book, but would a few tutorials or pointers to how to make some examples help?

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by Agnostus

I'll gladly spend time working through a document with well explained examples that shows you what you can do and how to do it.

Are the OmniGraffle Walkthroughs and Sample OmniGraffle Documents from our Extras page the sort of thing you have in mind? Are you looking for more like this, or for something different? (Or are we not doing a good job of pointing people at what we've already done?)

[bethkatz17582]

The walkthroughs were sort of what I was looking for when I was distracted by something else. They're pretty simple, and I didn't realize that they were available.

The Basic one was a quick intro. In the Tool Walkthrough, I went to Stamp Tool. I can't seem to enable that on my tool palette. Maybe that's a feature of OG Pro. But the Pen Tool walkthrough was pretty helpful.

I had been to the Extras page before because I've downloaded and created my own stencils. But I hadn't seen the walkthroughs or sample documents. I'd probably have links to them from the Help menu or at least have something on the Help menu that brings up a description of what they are and a pointer to them.

Now I want to know how to create something like OmniGravvle. Too many toys, too little time.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by bethkatz17582

But I hadn't seen the walkthroughs or sample documents. I'd probably have links to them from the Help menu or at least have something on the Help menu that brings up a description of what they are and a pointer to them.

I'd actually include them as a part of the download along with the application.

[Agnostus]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

Are the OmniGraffle Walkthroughs and Sample OmniGraffle Documents from our Extras page the sort of thing you have in mind? Are you looking for more like this, or for something different? (Or are we not doing a good job of pointing people at what we've already done?)

Actually, I have tried the Walkthroughs, but I found them to be more appropriate for the "first-contact-with-graphics-app" experience. Something more intermediate is what I need. Some more in-depth coverage of what sets OmniGraffle apart from regular drawing apps in terms of behaviour. E.g. how lines have the tendency to "stick" to each other, and all those automatic placement helps (lines appearing for distance between objects etc), that sometimes come in handy, sometimes get in the way. Something "tutorialoid" that gives some routine with these issues would be great.

[Curlypaws]

There have been a lot of good tips on the mailing list over time - perhaps a "OmniGraffle Tips & Tricks" home in the forums would allow people to more easily see this kind of information.

[JKT]

That was partially what I started the "I never knew you could do that" thread for - as a place for people to add those little extras that you pick up as time goes by. I hope if enough people post to it, that the Omni Gods will make it or other similar style threads a sticky.