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Comment by vivster7 | Hacker News Reader

Its still very much in development, but we're building https://whiteboard.systems/

Its based on the idea that for most system diagrams, you just need boxes, text and arrows. everything else is superfluous. Its collaborative by default so you can invite someone to join you with the URL. The tools aren't discoverable yet, so to use it:

- option(⌥) + click to create a box

- option(⌥) + drag to create a grouping box

- select a box and option(⌥) + click another to draw an arrow

- select a box and type to edit text

would very much appreciate feedback! (email in profile)

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As you requested feedback, it's dead simple and I like that. Speed and low friction is super useful in a lot of situations.

I have just some "bugs" I guess (Windows Chrome):

- Can only add text to a box immediately after selecting it. Move it first, then cannot add text. Probably should be a blinking insert symbol to indicate when you can edit text or not, as this would at minimum make the state "discoverable". Personally I feel a lot of people will try to double click to edit text.

- Backspace deletes boxes but "delete" does not.

appreciate the feedback.

we fixed a bug so text should always be editable if the box is selected. and the "delete" key should also work now.

agree the blinking cursor is the standard for indicating if something is text editable. Its proven a bit tricky to get right, but hopefully, we'll have it working soon.

There is a bug where the box will be drawn offset a bit to the right and down of my cursor. The interface is mostly good. I wonder how the whiteboards are persisted. Are they autosaved? So they expire? Can they be exported (to some data format, to SVG, to PNG)?

Thanks for the bug report -- it should be fixed now. We were saving a stale state.

The whiteboards are autosaved, so you can return to the URL and see the same board. Planning to add export support soon, but for now, screenshots are the only way to save a copy locally.

Looks like we built a similar tool for the same purpose, designing system diagrams (https://collabuml.com).

Other than that, looks cool.

For anyone wondering how to input that funny symbol which does not exist on the overwhelming majority of keyboards: You have to press Ctrl + Alt at once.

Very minor, but it would be great if it changed "option" to "alt" for users that aren't on macOS. Otherwise, looks cool!

Looks and feels pretty solid. I would recommend changing the document title, as it still reads "React App"

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