# Introduction

&umbrello; is a &UML; diagram tool that can support you in the software development process. Especially during the analysis and design phases of this process, &umbrello; will help you to get a high quality product. &UML; can also be used to document your software designs to help you and your fellow developers.

Having a good model of your software is the best way to communicate with other developers working on the project and with your customers. A good model is extremely important for medium and big-size projects, but it is also very useful for small ones. Even if you are working on a small one man project you will benefit from a good model because it will give you an overview that will help you code things right the first time.

&UML; is the diagramming language used to describing such models. You can represent your ideas in &UML; using different types of diagrams. &umbrello; 1.2 supports the following types:

- Class Diagram

- Sequence Diagram

- Collaboration Diagram

- Use Case Diagram

- State Diagram

- Activity Diagram

- Component Diagram

- Deployment Diagram

More information about &UML; can be found at the website of OMG, http://www.omg.org who create the &UML; standard.

We hope you enjoy &umbrello; and that it helps you create high quality software. &umbrello; is Free Software and available at no cost, the only thing we ask from you is to report any bugs, problems, or suggestions to the &umbrello; developers at uml-devel@lists.sourceforge.net or http://bugs.kde.org.