AppFlow

When it comes to revising for an exam in any subject, planning for a major project or even planning for a super-productive week ahead, I am of the opinion that Mind Maps are the most useful tool.  The have no fixed structure – so can be customised by the individual drawing them to their individual studying/planning style.

In the past I have tried several different mind mapping tools for Mac, the PC and Linux but have always reverted to drawing them on paper.  I found that all of the programs available didn’t really do justice to this technique, or did, but were incredibly difficult to use.

Then I found MindNode and MindNode Pro.

MindNode Pro (and it’s little, free brother simply named ‘MindNode’) are pieces of mind mapping software.  Both allow you to create mind maps.  Nothing special yet.

Starting

This application starts to impress when we take a glance at the interface (or thereby lack of).  The toolbar that on many apps is full of useless buttons that no one ever uses, contains only three buttons.  This refreshingly simple interface allows you to easily concentrate on what you’re supposed to be doing, i.e. getting all of that information onto the page!

Doing the all important adding of information is also easy.  The default start page shows an rectangle containing the words ‘Mind Map’ and an arrow pointing to the side of the rectangle saying “Drag to create a new node”.  Nodes are added by following that nice arrow’s instructions!  The nodes themselves can then be positioned wherever you want them by simply dragging them around.

Formatting

Once you’ve added all of the information you want to remember/plan (or while you add it) you’ll want to format it.

Providing sufficient tools to make a mind map pretty, and still not overwhelming the user with boxes, sliders and buttons is something that may not be as easy as it sounds.  MindNode however, provides you with this inspector window that has all of the options you need under one pane.

By default, MindNode creates each parent node in a different colour.  Personally, I like the colour sceme that they use, but if this isn’t your cup of tea, the colour, along with the thickness, fill and style can be changed.

All of this means that making a beautiful mind map takes half the time.  With simple, yet powerful formatting tools, you can spend more time on the all important revising/planning/sorting that you originally created the mind map for.

.

Other little tricks

There are many other little things that MindNode will do that make mind mapping easier.  For example,  Right click on a node and select ‘Create Connection’ to draw a line connecting any two nodes on the mind map.  You can also collapse all of a node’s child nodes.  This is very useful for focusing on one part of your mind map.  (these features are unique to the pro version)

More video tutorials can be found on the MindNode website. I’d thoroughly recommend having a look as there’s a lot that this application can do!

Does it replace pencil and paper?

It replaced my pencil and paper, for the simple reason that I can create mind maps almost as easily, but now I never loose them!

Having said that, a good friend of mine couldn’t get on with it, and found that her pencil and paper were irreplaceable!  From this I would conclude that it depends on your methods.  Download the free version, or the Pro trial and see if it works for you!

Cost

The free version of MindNode is (as you would guess) Free!

The Pro version with features such as the cross connection, collapsing nodes and hyperlink support is $19.95.

The folks at MindNode have kindly given us one Pro license that will be up for grabs tomorrow (Sunday 31st January 2010).  See you there!