Even Beginners Can Use New Graphics Software

Computer programs for creating graphics can be frustrating.

Programs powerful enough to produce many different drawings or illustrations can be difficult to use unless you have strong drafting or artistic skills. Easier programs, designed to help amateurs create professional-quality results, typically are dedicated to special purposes such as presentation graphics or landscape designs. You could spend a lot of money--and fill up lots of hard-disk space--buying different graphics programs to meet several specialized needs.

Visio, from Shapeware Corp. of Seattle (800) 446-3335, is a new graphics program for IBM and compatible computers that takes a different approach. Visio is a general-purpose program that makes it easy to create a wide variety of sophisticated graphics.

The $299 program can be used to produce many graphics applications used in business: organizational charts, Gantt charts for tracking projects, parts diagrams, product illustrations, scale drawings of office furniture layouts, maps and more.

Designed for Windows, Visio includes a selection of “stencil” sheets with a variety of “master shapes.” Using a mouse, you pick the shape you want and drag a copy of it onto an adjacent work sheet on the screen.

Unlike typical “clip art” drawings, which allow little or no manipulation, the Visio master shapes offer great flexibility. They can be made larger or smaller, rotated, flipped over, colored and given different line widths. Some shapes, such as rectangles, can also be squeezed and stretched; but others, such as square shapes, can’t change proportions.

That may seem like an obvious distinction, but it helps explain why Visio is so powerful and easy to use. Each master shape has a set of properties that define it. The properties for the square shape specify that it will always be square.

Another powerful feature is called “glue,” which allows one shape to be attached to another. The two will remain linked even if they are moved or resized.

A simple example of how shape properties and glue can be powerfully combined is the creation of an organization chart. You can move organization boxes around on the spreadsheet and the lines that connect them will follow. What’s more, the connecting lines will automatically bend at right angles whenever necessary to maintain the link.

Entering text into a Visio graphic is easy: You simply move the cursor to the spot where you want to type and begin. If you type a label along a connecting line, it will remain along the line even if you move the line.

With some kinds of diagrams and drawings, you will want lines that run at angles or arc around curves. Lines with those properties are provided and type entered on them automatically follows the angle or arc.

Visio graphics can be moved into most Windows programs, to illustrate a report prepared in a word-processing program, for instance. And graphics from other Windows programs can be moved into Visio to be enhanced with its drawing tools.

New stencils of master shapes, complete with properties, can be created and added to Visio. This is a task for expert users, and some skill at graphic design would certainly help.

Using Visio, a company could distribute its own custom-created stencils of products or logos or other company graphics to all of its computer users so that they could be freely employed in reports and presentations while ensuring that corporate graphics standards are met.