Software for Mindmapping etc

[JeffK]

I wonder if any forum members have any preference for Mindmapping or similar software.  I have bought the program Inspiration but would like something which is closer to the mindmapping paradigm.  It seems to me the bang per buck in the established packages such as Mindmanager, Mind Genius, Mindmapper, ConceptDraw etc is pretty low and they seem to be getting more expensive all the time. 

I just spent the best part of a day at work trying to create a new way of looking at budgeting at work to help the number nuts understand the engineering.  I had to use Visio for the idea generation and mapping process so that the outpout could be shared with others.  Yuk.  I could have done the same thing with Excel in less than two hours.

Regards,

Jeff

[zridling]

Hey, I love Visio man!  The biggest problem I have with mind mapping apps is that they're needlessly complex and too focused on formatting options over layout ease. I looked at both MindGenius and MindJet, but both seem the wrong approach — I want to get my ideas down quickly rather than focus on which button to push. I feel for you.

[mouser]

this isnt a mind map tool, but
Pacestar makes some diagramming tools, which are very simple compared to Visio.
I'm a long long time user of their EdgeDiagrammer tool.

compared to visio this tool is much much simpler, but its very fast and easy to use and just fun to use.

for sketching out ideas i just love edge diagrammer (http://www.pacestar.com/edge/eddesc.htm).

[zridling]

Jeff, have you checked out FreeMind? It's in its early development but is darn simple to use.

[dnm]

I use MindManger X5 Pro and find it very intuitive and powerful. It took me a little bit to remember the keystrokes for adding a new child element, etc. but once I did, it flowed real well for me. I also made a couple of basic map templates that I use for certain kinds of projects, which saved me from doing the same basic initial map setup over and over again. I highly recommend it.

[mouser]

vrgirl was telling me how much she loves inspiration
(http://www.inspiration.com/home.cfm)

[sword]

A couple of these look interesting.

Overview of Windows Graphical Brainstorming Tools:
http://www.john.redm...m/brainstorming.html

I also think “FreeMind” looks good and it seems to have been recently upgraded. One guy says it is stable, simple and elegant.
http://freemind.sour.../index.php/Main_Page

Cheers, Robert

[elpresi]

Another free concept/mind map software would be CMap:
Download here:
http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/
The developer´s own conceptmap:
http://cmap.ihmc.us/
CMap allows you to upload and share your maps on the internet.

 

[kartal]

http://vue.uit.tufts.edu/index.cfm  there is also Vue. Very nice software, I think this one is between mind mapping and concept mapping

[Ron C. de Weijze]

My software of choice (and development) is PMM Personal Memory Manager:

Personal Memory Manager© recollects all constructive mind power you need for self improvement. Use and reuse all that you ever sensed and knew while learning. Synthesize and reproduce all at the right place & time. Be perfectly prepared for crucial exam's and meetings.

http://www.pmm.nl

[kartal]

I think Freemind is a rock solid application. I have been using it for 5 years. It is an amazingly simple but powerful software. I have used it for note taking, project management,
bookmarking, task management, resource collection etc.

A couple of these look interesting.

Overview of Windows Graphical Brainstorming Tools:
http://www.john.redm...m/brainstorming.html

I also think “FreeMind” looks good and it seems to have been recently upgraded. One guy says it is stable, simple and elegant.
http://freemind.sour.../index.php/Main_Page

Cheers, Robert

-sword (October 16, 2005, 06:18 PM)

[kartal]

Ron I have just tried your software yesterday. I think that it is very promising, it has graphing capabilities which is great for note taking app. However my only disappointment(expectation) was lack of file drag and drop to node tree.  Also any text that is draggable throughout  the operation system should be used to create notes when it is dragged to PMM. For example if I drag some text from firefox to node(notes) tree, PMM should be able to create a note automatically and probably use first couple of the text as the name or it could offer it as a name.

Anyways keep up the great work I will try it little more.

My software of choice (and development) is PMM Personal Memory Manager:

Personal Memory Manager© recollects all constructive mind power you need for self improvement. Use and reuse all that you ever sensed and knew while learning. Synthesize and reproduce all at the right place & time. Be perfectly prepared for crucial exam's and meetings.

http://www.pmm.nl

-Ron C. de Weijze (May 18, 2008, 05:37 PM)

[Ron C. de Weijze]

Thanks for the feedback Kartal! I will move the feature requests higher up in the list.

[kartal]

Great to hear that. Btw while I have you here, you may need to think about importing features. I(or someone else) might like to try your software with their existing data. I have a lot of text files(luckily) but it seems like there is no way to bring them to your app.

[Ron C. de Weijze]

Kartal, it shouldn't be too hard to import your text, for PMM does not use a 'real' database, only 7 ASCII files, that you can easily format by hand, spreadsheet or (other) database. You only need two special characters, þ and ÿ, to separate columns and mark end-of-line. PMM comes with an example set of files that you can open in any tiny editor to see the exact formats. See http://www.pmm.nl/ht...l/exportaproject.htm for the types of files. When the files have the right format, PMM will simply open or 'import' them. Only the one for the links between notes is tricky so just leave that empty. PMM ìs for creating those relations anyway. If you are serious about this testing, I am willing to give you a student version license. Then we need to correspond about how it is going.

[kartal]

Well I have over 600 text files. I doubt I can manually add certain characters to certain lines.

I will check out those files you have mentioned to figure it out. I am serious about testing it because I like relational graphing feature that I have wanted to have for sometime for my notes.

[melitabel]

I have used Personal Brain for some time.  It is very different from most "mind mapping" software - one of the very few that has the feature I couldn't live without: it supports multiple parents and peer relationships, so that it creates a web of information.  You also don't see down one branch; you see the parts of the web that you specify.  Learn about it www.thebrain.com.  They have user forums as well as a Friday teleweb introductory seminar.  There are several YouTube demo clips also.  Topicscape is another that allows these relationships, but I don't know if you can create the same network views, and I can't get into their pyramid and cone visuals.