Creately.com is a web-based diagram and design application. Users can create flowcharts, network diagrams, organizational charts, sitemaps and other types of diagrams using a large library of objects and templates. The application is entirely browser-based, and is designed so that more than one person can collaborate on a document. The application includes a large library of basic objects, and the user can upload their own objects easily. There is a basic set of drawing tools, including line, text, fill, style (rectangles, ellipses, etc.), copy, cut, paste, undo and redo. Documents of most any size can be created, and there are convenient scroll bars and a zoom function for controlling the view of the document in the browser window. The application has a Share button, which allows users to share the document via email or Twitter, or to invite others via email to collaborate on the document. There is also an export button, which allows the user to export the documents to an image file, as a PDF file, as an email or as an XML data file. The application also contains a comment button, which allows the user to attach comments to the document, which are visible to all users collaborating on the document. The application features a Help button as well, which brings up a very complete help file about using Creately. Australia-based Creately.com was launched in November 2008 by Cinergy Pty Ltd. The company has its main offices in Victoria, Australia, with employees based all over the world. Competition to Creately.com comes from desktop applications such as Microsoft Visio and Smartdraw, and from web-based applications such as Gliffy.com. Microsoft Visio and Smartdraw do not have the ease of collaboration offered by Creately.com. Gliffy.com is very similar to Creately.com, and has collaboration tools built-in to the application as well. Gliffy.com uses a simple per user pricing model, and costs more overall than Creately.com. The Creately.com site has a very clean and uncluttered look and feel. The site is quite responsive, but users will notice a little lag time when the application is updating changes made to a document. The application is somewhat intuitive, with a rather busy user interface. There is a learning curve involved with using the application. The application performed well with no glitches during testing. There is no advertising displayed on the Creately.com site. Registration to the Creately.com site is free and is required to use the application. The registration process asks for first and last name, email address and password. Validation of the email address is required. A basic (free) membership to Creately.com is limited to 3 collaborators, 1 team project and 3MB of storage. In addition, all documents created with the application have a Creately.com watermark on them. There are 2 premium membership plans available to Creately.com – Plus and Pro. The Plus membership allows for 5 collaborators, 24 hour priority support, 1 team project and 1GB of storage. The Pro plan allows for unlimited collaborators, team projects and storage. Pricing is $4.95 per month for the Plus plan and $9.95 per month for the Pro plan. The site accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express as payment for premium memberships. The Creately.com site is recommended to anyone who has a need for diagram and design software, particularly if they wish to collaborate with others on documents. The application is fairly easy to use and quite capable for producing flowcharts, network diagrams, organizational charts, sitemaps and other types of visual documents.

• Web-based diagram and design software
• Similar to Microsoft Visio or Smartdraw
• Built-in tools for easy sharing of documents and collaboration
• Diagrams can be exported as image files, PDF files, email files or XML data files
• Free membership limited to 3 collaborators, document is watermarked
• 2 paid plans available – pricing is very reasonable when compared to competition

http://creately.com/