That looks like it's using Dot notation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOT_%28graph_description_langu...

I like to use http://www.graphviz.org/ to convert from DOT to PNG.

Uhm, if the only thing you base that assumption on is the use of -> to mark a line with an arrowhead ... sure. But it's pretty far from dot, actually.

They are similar in that they are both languges that can be used to specify diagrams.

dot describes graphs. Sequence diagrams aren't really graphs in my book.

You can use the &s param (or the dropdown..) to change the style of the image created by websequencediagrams.

&s=napkin for yourself.

&s=omegapple for management.

From a quick look at the code for Shaky, getting "cleaner" drawings would only require replacing 2 functions (shakyLine and bulb). In "bulb" it'd just require removing one line and changing one. In shakyLine you'd need to strip out most of it and replace it with a 1-2 line version.

http://yuml.me can do simple diagrams too

PlantUML does the same thing also.

Yeah, PlantUML is really an awesome tool. Also has an online editor: http://www.planttext.com/planttext

Not the greatest samples on there though - better resources on http://plantuml.com/.