Comparison between MS Word and MS Visio
I have used both programs for designing my 13 page site maps on I have found out that....
Easier to use:
I am much more familiar with the tools on Word making it easier to find the shapes, the writing and navigating the boxes around the screen, but saying this when I used Visio these functions where also easy to find on the screen because in Visio a design needs to be selected in order to make boxes and draw lines.
Boxes:
In Word there are only 4 designs to make boxes where as in Visio there is many more. In Visio the user can select what type of box they require this way they can select a range of group boxes or just a plain box so this way it’s easier to understand. They where used to separate each of the pages showing the matrix map clearer. I used it just for that to indentify more clearer the pages.
Lines:
Drawing the lines which connect between boxes is critical, they show how the website will navigate not having these lines where necessary it could resolve in the website not functioning as it should be. Having broken links between pages or not being able to go back to the home page. In Word these lines could be draw dead straight with one bend in the middle or free hand by the mouse where as in Visio the option of drawing it free hand is simple not possible. I have used the free hand option in my design in word yet in Visio I had to find another way of doing the same job, pop out messages saying where they should go. When moving the boxes around in word the lines do not go with the them, in Visio they do which makes the whole process of positioning so much easier because later when the design needs improving not everything would need to be moved manually. The arrow at the end of the lines defines the direction of which way the user can and can’t go, in word when right clicking on the line this could be selected pretty easy but very time consuming in Visio it was done through the top menu bar which I found to be quicker and less time efficient.
Colour:
When using both of the programs for the first time I didn’t use any colour any parts of the designs, but on both programs colour can be used for both the lines and the boxes to identify their group or connections between each of them. This makes it much easier for the user to understand what’s going. I used the colours for the lines just so it can make it easier to read and for the boxes so when i draw the bubble it made it easier to understand what's going on.
Background:
Visio allowed the background to be changed from the standard grey to something more interesting, making the sitemap look better in every way. Word does not have this kind of option. I used this fuction to make the design look better.
Speech Bubbles:
Although both programs have this kind of option of making speech bubbles, Visio’s version is better because once is put in place they will stick to the object, so when the object is moved the speech bubble will move with it. I used a speech bubble so I can describe what coloured boxes mean. Using such bubbles made the map look simpler by making some of the line disappear.
Measurements and precision:
In Word when making adjustments of the way things are positioned it its quite hard to get the result looking for so if I was to make the same size box from scratch it will be very hard to get the right size. Where as in Visio there is measuring tool at around the screen so when doing this it’s easier to create. By that moving the boxes around the screen I was able to makes them at the same level this way they look identical and all in all better looking.
To conclude Visio is the better program to draw this kind of maps on but Word is still good as it mostly designed for word processing. I the future I will only use Visio.
