<chapter label="2" id="quickstart-chapter">
  <title>Quickstart</title>
  <para>
    The Dia Quickstart is designed to help you get started creating diagrams 
    with Dia without having to read a manual.
  </para>
  <sect1 id="what-can-you-do">
    <title>What Can You Do?</title>
    <para>
      <application>Dia</application> is a diagramming application that can be used
      to make a large variety of diagrams.  <application>Dia</application> is easy 
      to learn and flexible enough to allow power users to create highly customized
      diagrams.  Below are two simple examples of diagrams that can
      quickly be created using <application>Dia</application>.
      <figure>
        <title>Sample Network Diagram</title>
        <screenshot>
          <screeninfo>This is a diagram of a home network produced in under
            5 minutes using <application>Dia</application>.
          </screeninfo>
          <graphic format="PNG" fileref="graphics/home_network" srccredit="Kevin Breit" />
        </screenshot>
      </figure>
    </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="starting-dia">  <title>Starting Dia</title>
    <para>
      You can start Dia by going into the Applications section on the Main Menu
      and clicking on the Dia icon.  Or, you can type <command>dia</command> in
      a console window or xterm.
    </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="creating-canvas">
    <title>Creating a Canvas</title>
    <para>
      All diagrams are drawn in their own <emphasis>canvas</emphasis>.  When you
      first start Dia, a blank canvas is created automatically. At any time, you
      can create a new canvas by selecting 
      <menuchoice>
        <guimenu>File</guimenu>
        <guimenuitem>New Diagram</guimenuitem>
      </menuchoice>
      The canvas may be customized in various ways, such as changing the background
      color or grid lines. See <link linkend="canvas-chapter"> The Canvas </link>
      for more information on customizing the canvas.
    </para>
    <figure>
      <title>Dia Startup</title>
      <screenshot>
        <screeninfo>Dia Startup
        </screeninfo>
        <graphic format="PNG" fileref="graphics/dia-startup" srccredit="Mark Dexter" />
      </screenshot>
      <blockquote>
        <simpara>Dia startup showing blank canvas above and Toolbox to right.</simpara>
      </blockquote>
    </figure>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="making-diagram">
    <title>Making a Diagram</title>
    <para>
      A diagram is made up of objects.  Objects are shapes or lines that can be 
      different colors and sizes.  Objects can be simple line
      drawings, text, or full-color pictures. Some objects allow text to be entered 
      inside the shape. 
    </para>
    <para>
      Using Dia to create a diagram is easy. The Toolbox contains a palette of 
      predefined objects, including simple shapes, lines, and specialized objects. 
      To add an object to the canvas, simply click on the desired object's icon on 
      the Toolbox and then click on the desired point on the canvas. The object 
      will appear on the canvas where you clicked. See <link linkend="adding-objects"> 
        Adding Objects </link> for more information.
    </para>
    <para>
      An object can be 
      moved by clicking on the object and dragging the mouse. The object can be
      resized by clicking and dragging one of the object's green or red "handles".
      See <link linkend="moving-objects"> Moving Objects </link> and 
      <link linkend="resizing-objects"> Resizing Objects </link>
      for more information on
      moving and resizing objects.
    </para>
    <para>                                                                     
      Objects can be connected using lines. Just drag each end of a line
      to any connection point (small blue "x") on an object. Once objects are
      connected, they can be moved and the line stretches to keep them connected. 
      See <link linkend="connecting-objects">
        Connecting Objects With Lines</link> for more information on how to connect objects.  
    </para>
    <para>                                                                  
      In the Toolbox, you can double-click on any object's icon to view and edit the
      object's default properties.  This allows you to customize various default
      properties of each object. For objects that include text, you can customize the
      text alignment and font properties. For standard shapes, you can customize the 
      transparency, the corner shape, and the aspect ratio. See 
      <link linkend="default-properties">Sources of Default Properties
      </link> for more information about changing default properties. 
    </para>
    <para>
      Dia includes a set of standard shape and line objects. See 
      <link linkend="objects-chapter"> Objects
      </link> for more information on working with the standard objects.
      Dia includes a large number of predefined objects for various uses. These include
      flowcharts, UML diagrams, network diagrams, and many others. See 
      <link linkend="special-object-categories"> Special Object Categories 
      </link> for more information on the various objects available.
    </para>
    <para>
      Many common tasks in Dia require selecting one or more objects. Dia includes 
      a number of ways to select objects quickly. See 
      <link linkend="selecting-chapter"> Selecting Objects 
      </link> for more information.
    </para>
    <para>
      Dia can be customized in a number of ways. See <link linkend="usage-customization"> 
        Customization </link> for more information on customization.
    </para>
    <para>
      Layers create multiple-images so they are one image.
      By doing this, a user can edit one layer without worrying about affecting
      any of the other layers. See <link linkend="layers-chapter"> Managing Layers
      </link> for more information on working with layers.
    </para>
    <para>
      Dia is designed to make adding new user-defined shapes very easy. 
      See <link linkend="custom-shapes-chapter"> Custom Shape Module
      </link> for more information on creating your own custom shapes.
    </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="save-print-diagram">
    <title>Saving and Printing Your Diagram</title>
    <para>
      Dia provides the normal save and print options, located on the File menu. 
      Selecting the 
      <menuchoice>
        <guimenu>
          File
        </guimenu>
        <guimenuitem>
          Page Setup
        </guimenuitem></menuchoice>
      allows you to set the paper size, orientation, and print margins. This 
      also allows you to choose whether to print the diagram to scale (entered
      in percent) or to fit the diagram to a specific size (in centimeters).
    </para>
    <para>
      Dia supports exporting to numerous formats for excellent web publishing.
      Some of them include:
      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <simpara>
            Computer Graphics Metafile (.cgm)
          </simpara>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <simpara>
            Encapsulated Postscript (.eps)
          </simpara>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <simpara>
            Native Dia Format (.dia)
          </simpara>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <simpara>
            Portable Network Graphics (.png)
          </simpara>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <simpara>
            Scalable Vector Graphics  (.svg)
          </simpara>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </para>
    <para>
      See <link linkend="loadsave-chapter"> Loading and Saving Diagrams 
      </link> for more information.
    </para>
    <note>
      <para>
        On some Windows systems, Dia diagrams do not print correctly. This problem
        can be worked around by exporting the diagram -- for example to Portable 
        Networks Graphics (.png) format -- and then printing the exported .png file.
      </para>
    </note>

  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="quickstart-commandline">                                                     
    <title>Running Dia From the Command Line</title>
    <para>
      Dia can be run from the command line. This allows certain Dia capabilities
      to be used in batch script files. See <link linkend="commandline"> 
        Dia Command Line </link> for more information on creating your own custom shapes.
    </para>
  </sect1>
  <sect1 id="who-appeal-too">                                                     
    <title>Who Does Dia Appeal To?</title>
    <para>
      Dia can be used by many people in a variety of industries.
      <itemizedlist>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            A systems engineer can create <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SADT">SADT</ulink> 
            diagrams for system analysis and design.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            A requirements engineer can compose e.g. <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAOS_(software_development)">RE-KAOS</ulink>,
            RE-Jackson or RE-I* diagrams.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            A software developer can create <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Modeling_Language">UML</ulink> 
            diagrams of various types and extend them with the flexibility of a general purpose diagram tool.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            A database designer can represent data relations with 
            <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entity-relationship_model">ER diagrams</ulink>.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            A control engineer may draw <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_theory">Cybernetics</ulink> diagrams.
          </para>
        </listitem>

        <listitem>
          <para>
            A computer programmer can create a flow chart to show the execution path
            of a program.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            A network administrator can create a diagram to model the company's
            company network.
          </para>
        </listitem>                                                             
        <listitem>
          <para>
            An electrical engineer may use <application>Dia</application> to
            create a diagram to show how a circuit works.
          </para>
        </listitem>
        <listitem>
          <para>
            An mechanical engineer may design some Hydraulic or Pneumatic diagrams.
          </para>
        </listitem>
      </itemizedlist>
    </para>
  </sect1>
</chapter>                                              
