Visio or alternative

i am new to databases and have a old book that lists visio to visually layout tables. Seems this is old. Is this the way to go or is there something newer or better ?

I have used Visio in the past, but there are lots of different programs that will do.

All you need is something that allows you to write the text for each table, put a box around it, and draw lines to the others.

The program I have used most often is Excel, but you could use Word, a paint program, or something else entirely.

As long as it is something that you are comfortable with (and anyone you are working with has access to it too) it will be fine.

I have been using this:
http://www.yworks.com/en/index.html