MageiaCauldron: Context of replacing Visio by Inkscape

CompileInkscape > Replacing Visio by Inkscape

Context of replacing Visio by Inkscape

I'm an IT architect and have long used Visio for schemas of technical architecture for applications.
What I need most is :

good looking shapes (that may come from http://openclipart.org)

collection of available shapes to order them according to tags, by similarity/coherency
rework shapes to reduce their size

connectors
small size for resulting graphics (conversion to PNG is possible)

reuse existing shapes to avoid duplication (and identify wherever a shape is used: for example, to replace it with a better one)

"calques" : front to back and back to front, see http://linuxfr.org/news/piwik-10-inkscape-048-et-rabbitmq-20#comment-1158081 for more details
text added to a shape, with multiple lines, below, above, on the right or left, free

BAudToDo: better list requirements

Existing documentation about Visio vs Inkscape

I've already tried to replace Visio by Inkscape, in 2008 at least, but I think I was not yet ready, though Inkscape could have worked correctly for me (or dia).

some other open-source alternatives exist: http://alternativeto.net/software/microsoft-visio/?license=opensource
http://wiki.eagle-usb.org/wakka.php?wiki=HowToDia
http://cookerspot.tuxfamily.org/wikka.php?wakka=CompileInkscape
http://www.ioncannon.net/utilities/123/10-tips-for-creating-good-looking-diagrams-using-inkscape/
http://pencil.evolus.vn/Features.html ah, can import objects from openclipart.org that could do it as a quick-and-dirty drawing tool (which is often suficient for a first draft)

Some results

BAudToDo: add some graphics showing final result achieved

What changes when using Inkscape

In this section, I'll try to address the changes I had to do to adapt to Inkscape, instead of just trying to do like I did with Visio. Tools are different, approaches are different, so achieving the same result can require to do it differently.

These tips and tricks in the wiki may help

objects do not have text automatically attached to them

for example : to include text in a rectangle (let's say a "box")

draw a rectangle, add a text somewhere, center it
shift-left-click on text and rectangle then Menu / Text / Flow into Frame (the text will be centered in the rectangle horizontally but not vertically)
to center vertically : either move the text with the mouse or use the tool align/distributed after selecting both text and rectangle then center vertically (take care : the position of the text will be kept when moving the rectangle only and only if you do not select the text with the rectangle, in which case the text will be put at the top of the rectangle)
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=999 resize frame for word-wrapping without resizing text
http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4084 center vertically
BAudToDo: find a way to keep the text centered vertically and horizontally (this last one is ok). Perhaps simply group text and rectangle? (seems to work and text remains at the same place)