Mind Mapping software
Ben (who co-leads AWIA/Port 80 Canberra with me) dropped the phrase on me late last year - “Mind Mapping”.
In the last couple of months I’ve also read about mind mapping in the books Communicating Design - Development Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning (Dan Brown) and Mind Performance Hacks (Ron Hale-Evans) and am quickly becoming a big fan of the concept and process.
Flowchart applications like Smartdraw (which is my main flowcharting program) and Microsoft Visio have mind map templates but really don’t offer the level of intuitiveness and ease of use that is needed for a thought dump process like mind mapping, so I’ve been looking into dedicated software.
Based on the reports and comparisons on the Mind Mapping Software Weblog, I downloaded trials for the following two applications:
After trialling the two by reproducing a mind map I had prepared on paper earlier I came up with the following comparison and evaluation:
iMindMap
- Better visuals - both the interface and the charts it produces.
- Requires manual positioning of branches.
- Doesn’t use boxes (except for Core Idea).
MindApp
- Bit frustrating to use with mouse.
- Really good keyboard control.
- Automatically positions everything - no manual override.
- Item and descendants highlighting.
Both seemed a little sluggish but not to the point of being annoying - just a small lag in some responses and with no “waiting” cursor or feedback.
Both offered a full range of display styling such as colours, fonts, widths etc.
Which is best?
In this case it’s not as simple as which is best - they are both really good applications with differences that would be useful in different situations.
I found MindApp’s automatic positioning and keyboard control really convenient because it meant I could just dump ideas straight to screen with no thought for how it was to be arranged - it just worked it all out for me. However the fact that it visually links ideas off the left or right side of the core idea and divides the screen into two halves (unless you choose to link off just one side) did annoy me a little bit as I know it’s going to force me to either go for a left to right layout or to separate ideas into two main topics.
iMindMap did not have this problem because everything had to be positioned - which gives greater control and allows the map to reflect any perceptions of importance between varying topics (ie more important topics closer to the core). However the fact that you have to position everything does distract from the exercise and once I had 8 topics linking off the core I then had to start focussing on making room for more topics and sub-topics rather than continuing the brainstorm. But the fact it doesn’t use boxes and instead just uses these nice curvy branches with molded text really gives the impression of flow and does help in the continuation of ideas instead of boxes which can tend to “terminate” an idea.
So they both really have different applications. If you’re working alone and are performing the brain dump while doing the chart then I’d recommend MindApp.
However if you already have a good framework in your mind for the map or have someone who can facilitate in the brainstorming session and take care of the layout for you leaving you to just be creative then iMindMap is more for you.
No doubt iMindMap produces a really nice looking map and a map that contains more information, if you take advantage of the positioning control to communicate additional ideas on relative importance and implied relationships. If it were possible to combine MindApp’s automatic positioning with iMindMap’s layouts and Bezier curve branches then you’d have the ultimate mind mapping software.
As for me - I don’t know which one I’m going to end up purchasing. They’re both fairly inexpensive - cheaper than Smartdraw - so I’ll probably end up purchasing both and using whichever is best suited to each situation.
February 11th, 2007 at 2:06 am
You might like to try mindmapping in 3D with Topicscape? It’s strength is organizing files and notes in a 3D landscape.
February 12th, 2007 at 7:13 am
3d mind mapping : http://nelements.org
February 14th, 2007 at 12:52 am
I like using ConceptDraw MINDMAP http://conceptdraw.com/en/products/mindmap/main.php. It is cery colourful, is integrated with iPod and works both on PC and Mac.