Unless you are one of those people who uses flowcharting software on a regular basis, it is hard to justify spending money on Visio, SmartDraw, or CorelDraw.  So I set out to find some free flowcharting software alternatives.

Gliffy

Gliffy is a free web-based diagram editor. It has been referred to as the online visio killer.  Gliffy is a great tool that makes it easy to create, share, and collaborate on a wide range of diagrams.

You will need to register to begin drawing and must have a Flash plug-in installed in your browser.

Project Draw

Project Draw is another free web-based diagram editor.  This applications offers all of the tools to create basic network, flowchart or quick form layout diagrams.

DIA

Dia is a desktop application that can be run on a Windows, Lunix, and Unix operating systems.  In addition to drawing E-R diagrams, UML diagrams, flowcharts, etc., the DIA homepage suggests that it is also possible to add support for new shapes by writing simple XML files.

It can load and save diagrams to a custom XML format (gzipped by default, to save space), can export diagrams to a number of formats, including EPS, SVG, XFIG, WMF and PNG, and can print diagrams (including ones that span multiple pages).

ArgoUML

ArgoUML is an open source UML modeling tool and includes support for all standard UML 1.4 diagrams. It runs on any Java platform and is available in ten languages.

Although these free solutions may not have all of the bells and whistles that the paid software offer, they will suffice the needs of most people.

Everywhere I turn I’m suddenly surrounded by touch screens. Sure, the technology has been around for years, but up until recently I hadn’t seen the public embrace it. It’s time for all of us to stop focusing solely on computers with keyboards and handhelds with keypads and start thinking about how our customers can use touch pads.

Everyone is Upgrading to Tappable Handheld Devices

When I glance around to see what mobile devices people are carrying, I can’t help but think the first iPhone made a relatively small splash in the market compared to the latest model. Last year, just cool designer types had them. Now many of the developers I work with carry them. That’s quite a demographic shift. And it’s not just hip Apple folks. You can’t watch a tv show these days without seeing (or at least fast forwarding your DVR though) commercials for touch screen phones like Sprint’s Instinct or Verizon’s LG Dare. Now people who didn’t want to switch to AT&T with the iPhone can easily swap devices and join the new finger-tapping crowd.

UX Community is Buzzing About Touch

Yesterday I was looking through slide decks from the recent UX (User Experience) Week in San Francsico, and I noticed an interesting trend. Several presentations focused around touch screens:

• Designing Natural Interfaces: Creating Multi-Touch, Multi-User Interactions
• Tap is the New Click

Even My After-Dinner Wine Bar Had Touch!

Last week after seeing The Dark Knight on IMAX, a few friends and I wanted to enjoy the gorgeous city night before heading home, so we wandered into a new wine bar called Clo in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle shopping center. In the center was a long table that was actually a huge touch screen. You virtually thumb through their catalog to pick what you want. The interface allowed you to browse by color, type, taste, etc.

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I recently wrote a post on do it yourself search engine optimization and have received some questions from the readers about the process of picking keyword for your website or blog that you can then use to optimize your web pages.  Picking the right keywords is important  because they will essentially be the traffic drivers to your website or blog.

When determining what your keywords should be, you need to ask yourself “If I were a person looking for my product or service what keywords would I use to search for them?”.

Start with creating a list of keywords that are relevant to your website. Write down every term or phrase that comes to mind.  You can also go to your competitor websites and see what keywords they use.  I also always ask friends and family for terms they would use to search for my products.

The second step is to analyze your keywords to determine “how popular” the are.  I usually use the Google Adwords keywords tool, which allows you to find keywords that other people are searching on and also offer search terms that are related to your keywords (check out Darren Rowse’s blog post on how to use AdWord Keyword Tool).  When you do your keyword analysis really pay attention to the related terms to see if you have picked the best keyword/phrase.  I recommend setting up a spreadsheet to keep track of all of your searches.

Once you’ve completed your keyword list, start using them in your titles, subtitles, and website and blog content.  For more details, see the do it yourself SEO post.

I never really had pet peeves until recently.  Nothing seemed to bug me.  That is, until seeing managers escalate when something was not done after a few emails to a colleague (sans picking up the phone), and then personally blowing up after having an escalation to obtain my time when no one tried to call me first.

So as web, mobile technology, and other devices proliferate our lives with growing communication channels to reach us, and we become more and more remote to get our jobs done in the global economy, how do you manage it all and ensure you listen for and take action on relevant information, both individually and within your team?

1. Set Communication Norms

How do you create new action items and close the loop on open issues?  Set deadlines to review documents?

It’s important to let your team know how best to communicate to dos so that you do not get frustrated when peers or others don’t get you what you need in time.  Leverage Web 2.0 tools like reQall and Remember the Milk to keep yourself on top of requests others make of you.

2. Initially Use Multiple Channels to Reach Who You Need

If you have an urgent need, try to reach someone by email, phone and instant messenger.  Try all channels you know of to reach someone, not just one.  That will also help show the urgency to the request.

3. Use Multiple Communication Channels Before Giving Up

Use a land line phone if necessary.  Do you think someone’s boss wants to receive a call from you because someone didn’t return your message in the last hour?

Remember to try to plan and communicate what you need instead of waiting until the last minute and the person you need is unavailable.

4. Be Adaptable

Even if you may not like it, email and instant messenger are used more and more to communicate critical information and to reach people.  If you are struggling to keep up with the influx of notifications, find ways to filter your information by asking colleagues on what they do to manage the “noise” or by taking a class.

5. Out of Office Notifications

Help colleagues know you are not available by leaving out of office or unavailable messages on your voice mail and email.  Provide someone to contact or how to reach you if the need is urgent and cannot wait until you are available again.

If you can learn to manage all the ways information, action items and issues are communicated your way, you’ll be able to better stay on top of your to do list and push back when needed.

So what are your communication pet peeves?

Webgrrls International often receives tickets to industry events and we one free pass to attend the Interop New York 2008 Conference that we want to offer to our members. The dates for the Conference are September 15th – 19th. The value of the pass is $3,095.

If you are interested in the opportunity to attend the conference, please let us know by clicking on this link and entering your name and membership id. You must be a member to participate…so, if you are not a Webgrrls member or your membership is not current, please Join or Renew your membership now.

We will randomly determine who receives the ticket for the conference at 3:00PM on August 26th. Please note that if you are selected, you will be responsible for your flight and hotel accommodations and other personal expenses.

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