Excalidraw looks like a nice alternative to draw.io – it has fewer features but is faster and easier to use for quick diagrams.
Excalidraw is:
open source
runs as a PWA (without a server)
stores files locally
appears to be an infinite canvas
nice library and extensive 3rd party contributed libraries
has a paid plus version with more features (collaboration, server features, etc)
So while Excalidraw appears to be good for quick sketches, it appears less useful for creating presentations, as I’ve done before with Draw.io. However, maybe you could create a presentation as an infinite canvas and just drag the canvas around during your presentation.
Below is an example of several diagrams I redrew from the TMPDIR handbook:
While other tools like Draw.io are still useful at times, most of my sketching today is done in Excalidraw. I have taken to storing most of my sketches in a single file (monorepo?) and scroll to the edge of the infinite canvas to add a new drawing. I can quickly find stuff by zooming out and panning the canvas – much quicker than opening different files or scrolling through pages. Reusing pieces from one sketch in a new sketch is easy. Someday, I may try to organize things a bit.
