Some tips about omnigraffle 5.4 and our toc script

In 2010 we published a script to add a Table of Contents to Omnigraffle documents. Today, many designers around the world use this script. What happens is that tools get out of date. Now Omnigraffle version 5.4 was released last month and the script did not work anymore. We have received emails, tweets and comments of people asking us to fix the script. We can’t because it is a bug in Omnigraffle. But we can help you out although we do not use the script anymore ourselves. Read third tip to understand why.

The tips:

Wait for Omnigraffle 5.4.1  (or download now)

The script works fine in Omnigraffle 5.4.1 release candidate. Download here. Use the slightly updated script from this page.

Use Omnigraffle 5.4, select and apply font

The problem with the script is that the font type is not passed through. The full ToC is on the page, you just can’t see it. Select the whole ToC which is visible by the separator lines. Now simply open the Text inspector and apply your font, size and style. Your table will appear.

Switch to InDesign for documentation

Omnigraffle was never made for documentation. It is an awesome diagramming tool. It is not great for design (wireframes) or design documentation. There is not even a Table of Contents function! The UNITiD team switched to InDesign early 2011. InDesign is perfect for documentation. We design the UI in Fireworks. From InDesign we link to our exported png’s from Fireworks. From Fireworks we can also easily create prototypes, visual design and assets for development. The fastest, most efficient and most flexible method we found over the years.