Create Quick (and rather nice) Diagrams and Flow Charts Online with Gliffy.com

Now this is very cool. It’s been around for a little while (saw it on LifeHacker earlier this year), but I only recently got around to actualy using it, and I’m quite impressed. It may be a little hard to tell from the image (click it or here for a better shot), but it’s really quite remarkable for a web app (even in the world of Web 2.0).

Naturally, it’s not going to try to compete with big dogs like Visio on every level, but for a quick, free, easily accessible, and unexpectedly feature rich alternative, you’ll probably find that it is quite handy in a pinch or most other standard diagram-needing situation.

Some features include a nice desktop-style GUI, online collaboration, version tracking (to quickly see and edit previous saves of the same project), publishing to blog or wiki, tools for flowcharts, floorplans, UML diagrams, etc., and basic drawing tools (except freehand). The best part, though, is the little details, like quick color change and color memory, easy sidebar access to most formatting (no need to browse through menus), and a fairly professional look to the end product.

Click the images below to see some impressive examples of what you can do:

Gliffy is ad-supported, but they did this part nicely too since you only have to look at one ad right after logging in (just click past it – no wait), so there’s nothing to bug you while you work. Hopefully, this also means that we grateful users won’t have to worry too much about the day their venture capital runs out.