Book Image

The Official Guide to Mermaid.js

By : Knut Sveidqvist, Ashish Jain
Book Image

The Official Guide to Mermaid.js

By: Knut Sveidqvist, Ashish Jain

Overview of this book

Mermaid is a JavaScript-based charting and diagramming tool that lets you represent diagrams using text and code, which simplifies the maintenance of complex diagrams. This is a great option for developers as they’re more familiar with code, rather than using special tools for generating diagrams. Besides, diagrams in code simplify maintenance and ensure that the code is supported by version control systems. In some cases, Mermaid makes refactoring support for name changes possible while also enabling team collaboration for review distribution and updates. Developers working with any system will be able to put their knowledge to work with this practical guide to using Mermaid for documentation. The book is also a great reference for looking up the syntax for specific diagrams when authoring diagrams. You’ll start by learning the importance of accurate and visual documentation. Next, the book introduces Mermaid and establishes how to use it to create effective documentation. By using different tools, editors, or a custom documentation platform, you’ll also understand how to use Mermaid syntax for various diagrams. Later chapters cover advanced configuration settings and theme options to manipulate your diagram as per your needs. By the end of this book, you’ll be well-versed with Mermaid diagrams and how they can be used in your workflows.
Table of Contents (19 chapters)
1
Section 1: Getting Started with Mermaid
7
Section 2: The Most Popular Diagrams
12
Section 3: Powerful Diagrams for the Advanced User

Summary

That was all for this chapter. You have learned how to set up a flowchart so that it renders in the direction you wish, as well as how to add comments to a flowchart or any Mermaid diagram. Furthermore, you learned about the different shapes you can use in a flowchart and the meaning of those shapes. You also know which shapes do not have any standardized meaning but can be used in Mermaid anyway. You then learned how to add edges and the different types that are available. You ventured deeper into this topic and studied how to change the thickness of edges, as well as their length. After that, you looked at subgraphs and learned what they are and how they can be used. Then, you learned how to apply styling to specific nodes or edges in a flowchart. Finally, you learned how to modify a theme so that it only applies to flowcharts by using flowchart-specific theme variables.

We hope all this knowledge about flowcharts has sparked your curiosity about other types of diagrams...