[uf-new] OpenShapes - a tentative proposal for a Microformat for diagrams

[Jeff McNeill]

Aloha Alan,

Have you taken a look at GraphViz and its toolset? That and SVG seem
the best fit for this sort of thing, with dot syntax being much more
human-readable, and therefore perhaps viable as a basis for extension
into xhtml markup.

http://www.graphviz.org/

Cheers,
Jeff McNeill
http://jeffmcneill.com/


On 11/5/07, Alan Slater <alan at high-beyond.com> wrote:
>
> According to the Wikipedia definition:
>
>  "A diagram is a simplified and structured visual representation of concepts, ideas, constructions, relations, statistical data, anatomy
>  etc used in all aspects of human activities to visualize and clarify the topic."
>
> Some examples of the kinds of domains that we might wish to produce diagrams for are:
>
>  * Organization charts
>  * Flowcharts
>  * Network diagrams
>  * UML Component models
>  * UML Deployment models
>  * Office seating layouts
>  * Website navigation maps
>  * High level architectural diagrams
>  * Mind-maps
>
> Of course, if you think that this sounds a bit like the domain of Microsoft Visio or perhaps even specialized UML modeling tools then you would not be completely wide of the mark!
>
> An example of a diagram in a potential XHTML-based microformat could look like:
>
> <div class="os-diagram">
>  <div id="shape-0" class="shape rectangle">
>     <span class="label">XSL-FO File</span>
>  </div>
>  <div id="shape-1" class="shape circle">
>     <span class="label">Processor</span>
>  </div>
>  <div id="shape-2" class="shape rectangle">
>     <span class="label">PostScript File</span>
>  </div>
>  <div id="connector-1" class="connector single-arrow">
>     <a href="#shape-0" rel="from"/>
>     <a href="#shape-1" rel="to"/>
>  </div>
>  <div id="connector-2" class="connector single-arrow">
>     <a href="#shape-1" rel="from"/>
>     <a href="#shape-2" rel="to"/>
>  </div>
> </div>
>
> Note that this microformat can only partially define the appearance of diagrams - additional presentational information has to be provided seperately in definitions that describe how each shape is to be drawn.
>
> A more detailed outline of this proposal can be found at:
>
> http://www.high-beyond.com/downloads/OpenShapesProposal.pdf  <http://www.high-beyond.com/downloads/OpenShapesProposal.pdf>
>
> This document actually has some diagrams in it as well as discussing small points like potential implementation strategies and integration with other systems such as wikis.
>
> All comments appreciated!
>
> Cheers
>
> Alan Slater
> alan at high-beyond.com
>
>
>
>
>
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>


-- 
Sincerely,
Jeff McNeill
http://jeffmcneill.com/