Dia is an excellent and powerful diagram creation tool that allows users to easily create flowcharts, circuit diagrams and network representations.
Dia is a free( open source) application for creating technical diagrams. Its interface and features are loosely patterned after the Windows program Visio.
Features of Dia include multiple-page printing, export to many formats (EPS, SVG, CGM and PNG), and the ability to use custom shapes created by the user as simple XML descriptions. The software useful for drawing UML diagrams, network maps, and flowcharts.
It can load and save diagrams to a custom XML format (gzipped by default, to save space), can export diagrams to several formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG, and can print diagrams (including ones that span multiple pages).
This powerful drawing tool is easy to learn and flexible enough to allow power users to create highly customized diagrams. Below is a simple example of diagrams that can quickly be created using Dia.
When you start it for the first time, you will see that the user interface resembles with Visio a lot. All diagrams are drawn in their own canvas. When you first start Dia, a blank canvas is created automatically. At any time, you can create a new canvas by selecting File->New Diagram.
The canvas may be customized in various ways, such as changing the background color or grid lines.A diagram is made up of objects. Objects are shapes or lines that can be different colors and sizes. Objects can be simple line drawings, text, or full-color pictures. Some objects allow text to be entered inside the shape.
Using Dia to create a diagram is easy. The Toolbox has a palette of predefined objects, including simple shapes, lines, and specialized objects. To add an object to the canvas, simply click on the desired object’s icon on the Toolbox and then click on the desired point on the canvas. The object will appear on the canvas where you clicked
The default file format for any file created with Dia is .dia but ,a lot of file formats that you can export your diagram including Microsoft Visio vdx format.
Download : Dia 0.97.2 [ windows/Mac/Linux]