Best Flowchart Software

Nowadays we have dozens of different on-line and downloadable tools for building attractive flowcharts. I will review the 3 best ones.

Origramy Flash Graph Component (http://origramy.com) – flash-based component designed for building, editing and displaying various graphs and diagrams. It is platform independent and doesn't need installation. What is really great about this tool is that is interactive when every flowchart block can be assigned a separate URL. Dynamic data update is useful for easy content editing without changing the layout. Besides the component supports several languages, can be seen in any browser, reduces load on the server and works with any scripting language. Has SWF and SVG XML export formats.

EDraw (http://www.edrawsoft.com) - application that helps the user to create a number of flowcharts, block diagrams and data flow diagrams. EDraw Flowchart Software has abundant flowchart templates, symbols and samples for quickly creating new flow diagrams. The package has a set of tools that make drawing of flowcharts very simple. The tool has wide range of export file formats. The disadvantages are that it works only with Windows.

Gliffy (http://www.gliffy.com) – is a Flash-based diagramming and flowcharting tool for your web browser. It is often compared to online MS Visio. It has sharing and collaboration features, revision control and the ability to export to SVG or JPEG.

Why Do Webmasters Need Flowcharting?

A picture is worth a thousand words. Do you believe it? What do you understand being told such a definition: "a massive, luminous ball of plasma that is held together by its own gravity"? And when you see an image of a star? Which is better to understand what is being talking about? The meaning of both definitions is equal but the way it is communicated is completely different.
We better perceive images than mere text and figures. Well done data visualization allows clear understanding, better visibility and an possibility to feel hidden connections in complex data sets.
One of the best ways to visualize data is flowcharting. It transfers words into image without losing the words' sense. Flowcharts help understand complex concepts and find efficient solutions. In describing the tangled relationships with a variety of alternatives and results, they are excellent to keep the main points even in different languages. Also flowcharts deliver you the essence of the flow process at one glance.

There are different reasons for flowcharts usage.

Training Materials
Flowcharts are necessary when you need to display the total range of processes needed to fulfill the task. Text documentation is usually difficult for understanding as bare text fails to give the complete idea. Dealing with newbies and trainees flowcharts are more effective. The reason is that they are easy to understand and visually stimulating.

Workflow Management and Improvement
To ensure the compliance with customers’ needs, you must get control over your business processes and activities. The first step of workflow management is to identify the actual position of your processes by making initial flowchart . That enables you to detect your processes for the loss and inefficiency. After implementation of sectors' analysis for the process improvement, you can build new flowcharts to confirm the coming changes.

Troubleshooting Guides
Most of us have met a troubleshooting flowchart at least once a life. Such kind of flowcharts are often made in the form of Decision Trees which progressively narrow the scope of suitable solutions based on a range of criteria. The more successfully you are able to adjust to the existing set of problems and their solutions into a plain "Yes/No" model the more efficiently flowchart helps in solving the difficulties.

The best software for creating flowcharts on the websites will be reviewed in my next post.