PlantUML vs Mermaid? | TheaterFire

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I'm trying plantUML but not enough control over how it renders so will likely revert back to Sparx EA and publishing diagrams into the source code project. Emacs will render the PNGs just fine. If I find, when coding, that my design is lacking or incorrect then I always go and change the design in EA before changing the code anyway so it's no big deal to republish the diagram.

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ninseicowboy@reddit

I know this isn’t answering your question. But I just love excalidraw

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ben_bliksem@reddit

Import mermaid into Excalidraw!

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kobbled@reddit

big fan of plantuml, very easy to work with locally.

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bonniewhytho@reddit

PlantUML because I need orthogonal lines.

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kobbled@reddit

this is such a big sticking point for me. i haaaate those non-orthogonal lines

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most_crispy_owl@reddit

I like how mermaid diagrams are rendered on GitHub.com, always add them to my README.md files.

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mulokisch@reddit

I thought, plantuml is doing the same. Atleast on gitlab both works

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Goatfryed@reddit

only for gitlab. GitHub needs additional tooling last time I checked

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Cyclic404@reddit

lame, I've gotten so used to just adding a section in my docs of plantuml. Forgot GH doesn't just support this as GitLab does.

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mulokisch@reddit

Oh ok

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most_crispy_owl@reddit

I could be out of date, I've been using mermaid since it was first supported

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GumboSamson@reddit

Visio.

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MysticClimber1496@reddit

The more you whiteboard program the more the plan will get thrown out the window

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Saraphite@reddit

Maybe if you design your systems like an absolute donkey.

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SketchySeaBeast@reddit

While true, I find it invaluable for documenting business processes.

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MysticClimber1496@reddit

I agree, I think most didn’t take my original comment with a grain of salt but that’s ok, there is a balance for sure, business sequence diagrams are great, but UML typically refers to planning out class responsibilities thoughout the program, often becoming a headache to maintain and arguably adding value

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ArchitectAces@reddit

It is not like we made a choice and now the users connect to the DB service, which sends traffic to the web service. some stuff is worth making a picture of.

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SketchySeaBeast@reddit

Yeah. Higher level architecture stuff too, even just for creating an initial mental model.

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bilbo_was_right@reddit

There are other reasons to make diagrams than to plan lmao

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DragoBleaPiece_123@reddit

Both are good, but i would prefer mermaid for its visual

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Awric@reddit

D2 is pretty sweet

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AManHere@reddit

Text in a Google Doc 😄

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poralexc@reddit

I use PlantUML in markdown for most everything--it's extremely flexible with lots of different kinds of diagrams.

Though it's a bit more limited, Mermaid is more user-friendly, and more likely to be implemented as a plugin in whichever editor you're using.

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Goatfryed@reddit

PlantUML is better for the simple reason that you can render as ASCII art and nothing beats that.

Jokes aside, from a point of writing both work fine. PlantUML is more feature rich and more complex.

Mermaid is simpler. So it's also supported in more default setups like GitHub or Obsidian.

We use PlantUML and enjoy it.

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General_Explorer3676@reddit

Mermaid because of the GH integration and draw.io for anything in depth

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monsoon-man@reddit

Kroki with https://niolesk.top -- self hosted on a small VM.

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adamcharming@reddit

Mermaid. It’s well documented and easy to pick up, and can be easily thrown into docs, and supported in GitHub as a code snippet type.

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Bangoga@reddit

Drawio

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Aggressive_Ad_5454@reddit

I like plantuml for sequence diagrams. Because I learned it first and because it works on my WP blog. https://wordpress.org/plugins/plantuml-renderer/

It does require an external server, though.

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Wyglif@reddit

I run it local via the jar.

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ArchitectAces@reddit

plantuml needs cpu, where mermaid uses their cpu via api

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dvogel@reddit

They are both great and annoying all at the same time. I use both but I probably reach for PlantUML 75% of the time. Raw graphviz is also quite useful!

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pancomputationalist@reddit

Obsidian is now free to use commercially, including the Excalidraw plugin (my preference) and the JSONCanvas feature, both of which are great for making diagrams.

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govi20@reddit

Never used mermaid, mostly used PlantUML and draw.io

I use PlantUML+CoPilot to draw UML diagrams. For system diagrams I usually use on draw.io

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Sodrohu@reddit

Mermaid, because I tried PlantUML and it felt clunky.

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Merry-Lane@reddit

Mermaid, but I should give PlantUML more of a try.

I think mermaid works really well for explaining/documenting outside the codebase, but I think PlantUML can do as well, and is better when integrated within a codebase.

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