Re: Dia: Why is it so hard to do simple things? dia-list Digest, Vol 89, Issue 7

[Tech Support Department <tech frontrowcomputer com>]

@ Andreas Spindler,
Friend, I understand and share in your frustration.  As far as I can understand it, the majority of the 
free and open source software (FOSS) community is just creating software to serve their own needs.  That 
others may use it is besides the point.  Their web site's existence is evidently not a promotion of the 
product for others to use.  That one point can be very tricky and misleading thru-out the web.  Caveat 
emptor. Also, keep in mind that they are doing something in their own way, and they are not necessarily 
wanting to do it as others may desire, since that is not their goal.  I hope that clarifies things some. 
 In most cases, there is no substitute for commercial software or free software that is promoted by the 
programmers toward the public's use.



On 09/08/2011 11:48 AM, dia-list-request gnome org wrote:
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>     1. Dia: Why is it so hard to do simple things? (Andreas Spindler)
>
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> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:49:28 +0200
> From: Andreas Spindler<info visualco de>
> To: dia-list gnome org
> Subject: Dia: Why is it so hard to do simple things?
> Message-ID:<4E68ABC8 5080207 visualco de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed"
>
>
> Hello,
>
> just a quick note. I started to use Dia on Windows. As an exercise I
> tried to create an UML diagram.
> After five minutes I had five boxes of different sizes, different font
> sizes. Nothing can be changed or aligned.
> Dia just does something random. Sorry to say that, but after playing an
> hour with the program I found it only frustrating.
>
> How can I get this diagram to be printed on one page, with equally sized
> boxes and the same font size? This seems
> to be the least thing it should do for all diagram elements. I really
> like the  specific properties dialog boxes for the different UML types,
> where I can edit operations and attributes. But the result is unusable.
> Please see the attached screenshot.
>
> Or, what am I missing?
>
> First I used "T" to create a title. The title is small, no possibility
> to make it bigger.
> I created a class and a box popped on the screen, so huge, I couldn't
> even read it. Then I created another class,
> and two others. All use different fonts. This is one of these programs
> where I ask myself: "Are the
> programmers really use this themselves?"