I blogged a few years about about the ERD tool I use for designing databases, DeZign. At the time it was at v3 and I didn't upgrade, but I finally upgraded to DeZign v5 standard.
What I really like about DeZign is that it just makes the design so much easier. I've used some other tools, but the logic behind DeZign is just solid and easy to use. Even beginners can use DeZign because it's just got a very nice and simple approach that isn't complicated and is completely intuitive. A few more advanced features certainly won't be for beginners, but that's just a matter of learning some data modelling techniques then hitting the ground running with DeZign.
There are a ton of improvements and new things in DeZign v5. Tables can have color schemes, transparency, relationships are easier to create and clearer now, you can search and replace data types (I found this after manually doing it...), versioning management, better help file, and the list goes on. One notable new feature is having more than 1 diagram per *.dez file.
The search and replace is very nice to use, and saves time as well. The ability to replace types though really takes it up a notch. A preview for the replacements would be nice, especially with checkboxes to let you deselect some. Still, it's a huge improvement from v2.5 that I was using before.
"Export as Image" and Print have been added to the toolbar as well, which is nice as I like to print things out and then walk around while I go over the design and think about it. A small thing to be sure, but a nice touch.
Another nice thing is being able to import other DeZign projects into your current one. Very handy for breaking things down into smaller chunks.
Creating many-to-many relationships is much easier now as well. Simply click the many-to-many relationship button, then drag from a table to another table and all the work is done for you. Years ago I had to figure all that stuff out for myself. DeZign makes it simple beyond belief!
Some of the sample projects you'll see have different ways of expressing PK, FK, and PF in tables. While some have just those (text), some have icons to indicate things. Those can be changed in the File > Display options. Again, a small thing but a nice touch. Above, the screenshot has the v2 icons.
While there are still quite a few things in there that I'm not using at the moment, there are also a couple things that aren't in there that I'd like to see.
The Professional version has reverse engineering in it, but I don't really need that a lot. It's certainly a nice feature to have though. You can even compare and update an existing database right from inside DeZign.
While I'm not using the color features at the moment, I think I will. You can individually color tables down to the column level. Very handy for easily identifying things visually at a quick glance. Taking that a step further, having automatic color sets would be nice. i.e. Every INTEGER column is automatically light grey, every VARCHAR column is light blue, etc. I suppose that's just me though. (GDT has a similar feature for color sets that you can choose on the fly.)
In addition to simply generating SELECT, INSERT, and UPDATE SQL, what I'd really love to see is automatic stored procedure generation and especially for JOINs on 2 or more tables. Or some kind of tool to help with creating stored procedures. Right now it's all manual, which is, well, more work. :)
It looks like you're no longer able to change from one database to another, or at least I couldn't find it. So that's something to keep in mind when creating your initial project.
As I do a lot in audio, I'm kind of used to doing some things in certain ways. Being used to Photoshop as well has conditioned me to expect certian behaviours in authoring tools. DeZign doesn't have some of those shortcuts that I'm used to, like CTRL + drag to move the image (or diagram for DeZign). I'd like to see some more shortcuts like that in future versions though. They would make the workflow a bit smoother and let you focus more on the design of your database.
I kind of went on a lot about cosmetic things. But really, everything you need is pretty much in there. From there on in, it's all gravy. There's nothing really to complain about.
All in all, I'm quite happy with the new DeZign. Like all software, there is room for improvement in DeZign, but it's certainly a pleasure to use and well worth buying if you do data modeling. It will certainly make you much more productive, and make your life a lot easier.
As a special note, I should say that dealing with the guys at Datanamic is a sheer pleasure. They understand that customer support is important and I've found them to be both responsive and very nice to deal with. I can't say that for a lot of the software authors that I buy from, but these guys have it together. (If you're going to give your money to someone, might as well give it to someone that you like!) Just another reason why I'd recommend DeZign to anyone in the market for a great ERD data modeling tool.
Cheers,
Ryan