Visio® 2007 Bible

Chapter 1. Getting Started with Visio

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Discovering features new to Visio 2007

• Learning the basic concepts behind Visio's power

• Exploring the Visio interface

Humans are visual creatures, so it isn't surprising that we want to visualize our ideas, designs, and final products and communicate them graphically. In the past, high-quality presentations were the work of professional graphic artists and illustrators, but with Visio 2007, anyone can produce informative and attractive diagrams, drawings, and models. Visio is so straightforward that you can use it to capture the fast-paced output of brainstorming sessions or the frequent changes made to initial designs. At the same time, Visio is powerful enough to develop sophisticated models, and precise enough to document the details of existing systems.

Visio 2007 jumpstarts your efforts with solutions designed specifically to produce different types of diagrams. Visio templates set up your work environment with menus of specialized tools, sets of predefined shapes, and drawing settings such as page size and orientation typical for the type of drawing you want to create. Visio stencils categorize thousands of predefined symbols by industry, drawing type, and application. These Visio SmartShapes have built-in behaviors and properties to help you quickly assemble drawings and collect information.

Simplicity and convenience are key to the power of Visio. To construct a drawing, you drag and drop predrawn shapes from stencils onto ...