[archagon]

When I have time, I'd like to create a markup language for diagrams that's paired with a GUI app. You'd define your diagram through text (just the structure without any stylistic elements), then use the app to tweak the style for the generated diagram as needed, e.g. change positions, adjust sizes, align elements, etc. The visual portion would be stored in a separate part of the document, possibly as a delta from the default style, and nothing would break if the graph portion was tweaked. Particular emphasis would be placed on editability of the graph contents. (For example, adding new elements or tweaking the text should not break the diagram.) We'd need a comprehensive, higher-level set of visual rules that aren't just "position of box A should be (122,34)". Maybe something like Apple's Autolayout would be a good fit here.

I've generated plenty of diagrams in Graphviz where everything was great except for a poorly-placed node or two, and I think this sort of two-part solution could provide the best of both worlds. (Or, at least, it would be a fun R&D project.)

[vinodkd]

Did you know that Graphviz can also output its own dot format, but that the output contains layout information? That might help you get started with the 2nd part. There's also an extended dot[1] format with more information

1: https://www.graphviz.org/doc/info/output.html#d:xdot