I personally like Microsoft Visio, and I also use it for my database schemas in addition to flowcharts and sitemaps. For wireframes, I have always preferred receiving these from a presentation software like PowerPoint or Keynote. Of course, comps (compositions) are the best from Photoshop.
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Personally, I would argue that it's not necessarily the case that this requires multiple tools. Omnigraffle, software for Mac OS X by the Omni Group, does an excellent job at all 3 of those tasks. I like it because it's (a) quite flexible, (b) smart about connecting objects, (c) makes beautiful diagrams, and (d) is simpler than Illustrator, allowing you to focus on the content without getting too caught up in graphical details.
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On Mac, 1) OmniGraffle 2) OmniGraffle 3) OmniGraffle. The Pro version has a lot of nice extras.

I would say if you do a lot of any of those, it may be worth your time to move to a Mac if you're not already on one.
Source(s):
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/OmniGraffle/

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Agreed. Microsoft Visio is a pretty straight forward, easy to use program. Also it's nice to be able and download templates as well actual pictures of the specific model Server, workstation, switch, etc. to import into Visio.
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I prefer the stickies+whiteboard combination and i am not even joking. They come in multiple colors, already in squares, easy to move around, easy to show interaction.

M!
Source(s):
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/paperprototyping

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Microsoft Visio is good but it's not if you need one RIGHT NOW because you have to go get a license. It's a professional program and the learning curve isn't steep at all.


A free alternative is DIA http://dia-installer.de/index_en.html
(the installer is the first link to the exe file in the downloads section)
It can handle a wide spectrum of charts. I use it to make functional charts for my own personal projects.

You could use any graphics program but that's the same as using a piece of paper.
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Hello,
Having much experience in this area, I am comfortable suggesting these items:

1. Sitemaps
If the intention is to let the customer create their a sitemap for you to integrate, they need to use their own tools. That means pen and paper most likely. If you are creating the sitemap based on sparse data you collected during requirements gathering, I suggest a simple collaborative document - Google word doc.

2. Wireframes
Assuming you are creating the wireframes, and they are collaborating on them with you, Google presenter is the top choice. Another professional option, which looks promising, but slightly bulky, is balsamiq.com . It's interesting enough for me to try an another project

3. Flow charts
Interaction design
Still my favorite way to collaborate on interaction design is mind-map (http://comapping.com/)
Software flow charts
If we are talking about software development charts (state diagram, use case, object and class diagrams and the like) Violet Uml is a neat tool. If you need more robust tools you should stick with Dia or Visio.

Good luck,
Adam Temple, Bixly.com
Source(s):
http://comapping.com/
http://bixly.com
http://docs.google.com
http://balsamiq.com

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I like to keep things simple and use an Outliner like Omni Outliner to block out how things are going to work, I can also add notes and webclips to flesh things out.
Source(s):
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/

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As a free lance designer for nearly 10 years i still often use just notepad and Flash Professional (any edition) to make it pretty. I've also found a software dev. suite called ZendStudio-very nice piece, validates code, offers default variables and objects too.

For the 'non-coder', Microsoft offers a newer option called Web Expressions or there's always the old standby, Adobe Dreamweaver: nice too as it displays your HTML code as you go for detailed editing.

Google 'CSS web templates', 'flash templates', 'DHTML tutorials' and you'll be amazed at the wealth of information and pre-designed layouts you can use. They're like pre-built containers you just fill with your own custom content.

Good luck and Cheers!
BB
Cylink Studios
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1. flowcharts and sitemaps- Microsoft Visio
2. wireframes -PowerPoint / Keynote. / Photoshop
3. Flow -charts- mind-map (http://comapping.com/)
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This software rocks for UI Design. It's called "Balsamiq Mockups". Check out the video they've produced on creating an itunes interface.
Source(s):
http://www.balsamiq.com/

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Use Dreamweaver from Adobe ... it work great for me.
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What is your platform? If you are going into Graphic Design, I suggest a MAC.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 contains most of the programs you want and work on Windows and Mac. It sounds like you need Fireworks or and or Dreamweaver.

There are some free things out there, but probably not worthwhile.
Source(s):
Personal experience

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After nearly 20 years in the GUI design business, there are several approaches to this answer. We have abandoned the PC for designing and use Macs in our studio. We design for the PC and have PC QA machines, but our team is not fond of the platform or the software as a design tool.

1) Sitemaps and Flowcharts: OmniGraffle - it's easy to use and very flexible and reasonably priced.

2) Wireframes: This is totally based on the UI designers preference. The two tools that are most popular with our team are Fireworks and Keynote. Fireworks makes very attractive wireframes. The use of frames and layers allows for building an entire app in one file. Templates are easily created too, which can be used to start new projects. Also, by creating the UI wireframes in Fireworks, the visual design team can easily begin their designs using the already defined screen structures and naming conventions. This saves time and helps with consistency. Keynote is used also used by some of our UI designers. It makes for very nice presentations of the UI wireframe designs to the client. It takes more time for the visual designers to translate the UI into their structure, but it is very fast and flexible.

Hope this was helpful!
Source(s):
Source was many, many, years of experience.

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Microsoft Visio 2007. I use it all the time at work to make flow charts. It allows you to choose different industries and provides custom icons for your industry. It's a great tool
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1 - Dreamweaver
2 - XML sitemaps (dot) org
3 - Dreamweaver
4 - Dreamweaver
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If you are going for quick and easy, Microsoft Visio is okay. If you want to design a great site that is not only functional, easy to navigate, and good looking then you need a new Macbook with IWeb.
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If it is just a static web design, then you can start out with sitemap - how many pages the site will have, and how they will be structured. After which you can draw up wireframes - defining different elements for each page.

If it's a dynamic website that has database connectivity, then flowcharts are good for defining process flow (e.g member logs in -> goes directly inbox etc).

Check out this tool http://www.balsamiq.com
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Personally, I use Adobe Illustrator for all of the above because it allows me a lot of flexibility and customization. Then I page them together with Acrobat. However, I'd imagine a similar ability with better pagination options with Adobe InDesign.

I've noticed that some people also tend toward Microsoft tools like Visio, but coming from a graphic design background Visio is not my preference.
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