The reason I was having such
fun on Friday was that I was trying to draw a diagram.
Now I know EA is not a diagramming tool - its a modelling tool.
But it is also a knowledge management tool, and I find it particularly convenient to maintain all my resources in EA, eg Diagrams for presentations that perhaps are not strongly related to models (but never the less have all the advantages of the underlying meta data (esp notes) for all elements and connectors, can be slotted into documents etc. So bear with me.
I wanted to produce a continuum diagram.
(another type of diagram I'd find useful is a timeline)So I thought, all I need is a line, and a few note boxes and I'd be away. Right.
The problem with a line is that its actually a connector, so it needs to be connected to two elements. So connect it between two, say, boundaries, make them as small as possible, and white. (FR: why can't we have transparent as a colour option for everything, oh and
opacity too). This doesn't work because a note connector only connects to the centre of the line and cannot be adjusted, so much for a timeline.
I could have used an arrow, but there is no arrow without a head
(FR: arrow without a head, AND arrow with head at each end). This would have worked well, although the thinnest you can make an arrow is a little too fat for my taste.
Then I tried a boundary with a connector to provide the line. As it turns out the cursor keys can make the boundary as thin as you like which is excellent (dragging leaves a gap) so the line was superfluous.
FR: For hand/whiteboard drawings please allow more flexibility and options, as we would have on a whiteboard!
For example Braces would be good, as would hand drawn lines.
Also while I'm into Feature Requests,
FR: how about allowing rotation of arrows and perhaps some other shapes.
I could go on (eg
FR: "callouts" docking or connecting to other elements and being able to drag the pointy bit from other than pointing straight down)
