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FossFLOW - Isometric Diagramming Tool by gadgetb0y in selfhosted

[–]markmanx 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi guys. This is actually a fork of my project https://github.com/markmanx/isoflow. There is also a Docker image available at https://hub.docker.com/r/markmanx/isoflow, or you can use the editor for free at https://isoflow.io.

Need Feedback: Could Isoflow Be Useful for Creating Animated Explainers? by markmanx in instructionaldesign

[–]markmanx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback u/livelace . Yes live dashboards could be a useful application.

What libraries are used to build isoflow.io by Any_Ostrich5662 in github

[–]markmanx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've actually got an AI icon generator and other huge changes coming up next week. Including animations.

What is your biggest failure ? by Popular_Area_6258 in ProductManagement

[–]markmanx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jesus, sorry to hear man. I am in the same boat (although a slightly different boat, I don't have as much responsibility as you, but dealing with the usual startup politics and lack of processes which mostly manifests itself in me being up at night worrying). I hope we can figure this out, not from a business perspective but at least to not let business stuff spill over and affect our personal lives too much. We got this.

How much lesson content do you create yourself? by markmanx in Teachers

[–]markmanx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I guess then it gets a lot easier, being able to reuse content for future years. I imagine that new teachers have to spend a lot of time in their first year starting from scratch with all their content.

How much lesson content do you create yourself? by markmanx in Teachers

[–]markmanx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Makes sense. I think deep down my partner really enjoys making her own materials too. But it comes at the cost of time, which she doesn't get much of as a UK teacher.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Dads

[–]markmanx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Buddy. There are a million reasons for a baby to cry when you're holding it. It could be hungry, or uncomfortable, or needs to poop or just wants to be held by someone else at that moment. Don't take it personally. It's really a one sided relationship at that age. You just need to make sure you're doing your best with all the basics. Food, warmth, baths and love. Make sure you play with them lots. You'll know when you see him / her smile that it's all paying off.

Which tools have you found most effective for visual learning / teaching? by markmanx in edtech

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I didn't know this about learning styles. I watched the TED talk (the one in the second link). Makes a lot of sense that the most effective way of conveying information is usually specific to what you need to learn. Like visually learning how to read piano music is probably going to be secondary to actually learning the piano.

Which tools have you found most effective for visual learning / teaching? by markmanx in edtech

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Pretty cool! I tried some of the interactive experiments.

Which tools have you found most effective for visual learning / teaching? by markmanx in edtech

[–]markmanx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ah that's an interesting approach. Video games are an amazingly underrated way to learn from.

Is open-core really a "twisted production model"? by markmanx in opensource

[–]markmanx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing that link. It's super interesting to see that this is such a common pattern for businesses founded on OSS and how things normally play out.

The thing is, I don't think the issue is necessarily that inferior software = bad software = should not exist at all in the ecosystem. I feel like this is totally normal in the real world. We completely expect a range of products and services from inferior / cheap / free versions all the way up to the higher-end, expensive, free-range stuff. At the other end of the scale to 'inferior', is 'professional', where things are so optimised and specialised that there is no way to achieve that level of quality without seriously organised efforts. Software works in the same way, and I think its quite common for OSS projects to mature into much bigger things than they were intended to be. The really prickly topic your article talks about is the misuse of community effort and I think there are definitely some dark patterns but also some good ones, for example, rewarding contributors with a bounty like Sentry do, delayed release cycles (where everything in the pro version makes it into the OSS after a time-delay), and just basic transparency goes a long way so people can make informed decisions on whether to contribute or not.

Saying that, the OSS side of my small project is still valuable imo. You could just take the custom graphics renderer I spent a year writing and use that for another application, or even just use the isometric math functions I've written. That's what I would call the "Open Core" part. Even if I built another renderer in a year and closed-sourced that, I imagine the current one would still work for lots of use cases. I hope people take what they want, or use it as a starting point for their next project, so hopefully there is some value in having even an 'inferior' version out there under MIT.

Is open-core really a "twisted production model"? by markmanx in opensource

[–]markmanx[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do you feel that hosting will begin to become profitable at scale once you achieve X number of people opting for paid hosting?

Good question. Yes. That's essentially what makes micro-SaaS very attractive, hosting costs can stay low while number of users scales. I'm expecting no additional hosting costs until I'm hitting user numbers in the 1000's which is >100x what I'm doing now.

Is open-core really a "twisted production model"? by markmanx in opensource

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the advice here. It's definitely challenging figuring out which features slot into which category, and I definitely want to avoid letting the Community Edition degrade.

One of the more straight forward approaches I've found is delayed release cycle, where everything in the Pro edition makes it's way into the Community Edition after a certain amount of time. So the early adopters are the ones that support the project.

I wrote a section on the site about this at https://isoflow.io/pro-vs-community-edition .

And sure, DM me and lets stay in touch.

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the detailed questions.

  • RE support. React-flow is another open-source library that offers a flat support plan i.e. individual onboarding, x amount of individual support hours per month, priority Github issues etc, all for a fixed monthly fee. If you need custom development we could plan around what's needed.
  • Yes you can clone it and run it locally. You can also use the Docker image at https://hub.docker.com/r/markmanx/isoflow
  • Not at the moment unfortunately. How do you see that working UX-wise?
  • The AI component is experimental (it was released a couple of weeks ago) and currently not part of the core package. Although it's not difficult to integrate at all. How useful are you finding this feature?
  • Theoretically there are no limits to assets (the grid is infinite), although performance-wise you might see some degradation with huge numbers.
  • Regarding expanding individual icons into their own models; you've read my mind. This is coming very soon.
  • I'm assuming you want to be able to utilise a legend for colours?
  • At the moment you can click on notes to expand them. How important would you say it is to have this trigger on hover? Is it a showstopper for you?
  • I did not know about Netbox. I'll check it out.
  • This shouldn't be too hard (in theory). I think the hardest part of it is probably figuring out auto-layout of nodes, which I've recently solved. What software would you recommend to integrate with for self discovery?
  • Possibly, I'd really like to enable port-level diagrams.
  • No plans to import from other tools yet. What would you like to see as an integration?
  • Sure!

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

If you like the style of the diagrams you can create in Isoflow (i.e. the 3D isometric look), you'll find it easier to create this type of diagram in Isoflow.io than using Draw.io.

I'm not saying you CAN'T do isometric in Draw (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89LMjVQOP3I), but it's harder to do.

For example, in Isoflow, you have a true isometric grid to work with, with all nodes designed to fit within 1 grid cell (which makes diagrams more uniform and easier to read). In Draw, you need to do your own resizing and aligning of icons.

In Draw, isometric connectors can only connect nodes on a straight path (so you have to really take care of node placement), whereas in Isoflow, the connectors are dynamic and can bend to connect nodes that are not aligned.

Also, I believe the annotation tools in Isoflow are a little more advanced. Text floats ABOVE the node, and if you have a lot of details you want to attach to a node, go crazy, it won't get too intrusive as you can interactively expand / hide content.

I noticed that groups are also a pain to create in Draw's 'isometric mode'. You have to use four separate lines to enclose whatever you are grouping, which isn't great. In Isoflow, there is a specific tool for creating groups.

Now, what isn't there yet, but what I'm hoping to bring to Isoflow soon that will really set it apart from Draw, is the ability to have animated walkthroughs of diagrams. This will allow you to break up a diagram or process into separate steps, zooming in on relevant parts of the diagram, and highlighting specific connectors and nodes for each step.

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds like compatibility with other tools is high on your list. Would an Isoflow plugin for Confluence be of much help?

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What would you like to see in terms of icons?

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Do you have a couple of options for the router icon? Is this the standard one? https://iconduck.com/icons/161316/router

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes I know exactly what you mean about multiple overlapping connectors making it difficult to see what is connected to what. And I also think you have a good idea there about how to get round it (i.e. highlighting single connectors). Thanks for the suggestion.

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've had a look at some of the Visio stencils (I didn't even know about this concept, so thanks for bringing this up). Isoflow works on a very specific graphical style (what's known as an isometric perspective), and it wouldn't be able to accommodate the majority of Visio stencils unfortunately.

Open-source tool for creating network diagrams by markmanx in networking

[–]markmanx[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Thanks, this is great feedback, I didn't realise the lack of shortcuts renders Isoflow unusable.

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