design/software-architecture/context + building-block-view: General suggestions for PlantUML figure layout

[signekb]

Throughout the pages System contexts and scope and Building Block View there are several figures made with PlantUML. I have some suggestions for making the layout of these a bit clearer. However, I'm not sure whether all of them are possible to implement. For the ones you agree on, I can spend some time trying to figure out if they are possible.

Boxes:

• Could the container and component boxes in the same "rows" have the same heights? If the boxes on the same rows had the same height (and maybe length as well?), I believe it could make the figures cleaner.
• Maybe ensure that the order of the boxes follow the order that they are presented in the text? And that the same words are used in the boxes as in text?
  • E.g., "C4 Context diagram showing users and external systems" where user 1 in the text is placed as the third box from left and is called "Data input" in the figure and "User inputting text" in the text below. An alignment across figure and text could be something like: "User 1: Data input".
• Maybe add explicit descriptions of what is meant by e.g., "container" and "component", as well as different colouring/shapes, in a legend?
  • E.g., Figure "C4 Container diagram showing the major internal parts of Seedcase.": What's the meaning behind the back end environment containers having different shapes from the remaining containers?

Arrows and arrow text:

• Is is possible to ensure that the arrows don't cross text?
• Sometimes, it's not entirely clear which texts belong with which arrows from their placement. Is it possible to place the texts "over" the arrows, with a white background, perhaps?

Colour scheme:

• Maybe the figures could fit with the colour scheme/palette of the rest of the website?
• It seems to be colourblind-friendly (checked with https://davidmathlogic.com/colorblind), but the two blues and two greys are quite close to each other. Maybe make the difference in hue, tint, or tone a bit larger?

Text/font:

• Is it possible to use the same font as the rest of the website?
• Ensure that we use the same "casing" in all figures. Maybe "title case", i.e., capitalising all the first letters (except articles, conjunctions, prepositions, etc.)
  • E.g., Figure "C4 Context diagram showing users and external systems": "Data discover and request", "Seedcase instance for Data Resource"
  • E.g., Figure "C4 Container diagram showing the major internal parts of Seedcase.": "Back end environment" and External secure server"