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by mintyc 2190 days ago
PlantUML has morphed into a two part tool. Its original purpose was to visualise various forms of UML diagrams.

More recently it has utilised its underlying graphviz to create a more general 'graphviz on steroids' diagramming tool (referred to as the PlantUML standard library).

The original UML diagrams can be styled to look modern, but normally are shown in a default slightly old-fashioned and uninspiring visual style. Such a shame if that's your impression.

As mdaniel posted, just a refresh of the colour scheme can modernise the look of UML diagrams

https://real-world-plantuml.com/umls/4831648155697152

The second part covered by this hitchhikers guide shows a modern take on visualising component relationships.

Both parts allow visualisation as code, but otherwise have different purposes.

I wish we'd see more UML examples in a modern style.

(I'd also recommend MarkDeep for documentation. Includes these + markdown, math, doxygen integration and more)