Wikipedia
defines a mind mapas "a picture that represents semantic connections between portions oflearned material." Instead of a linear approach, where you write abunch of stuff in no particular order on a piece of scrap paper, a mindmap organizes ideas from a central theme into a tree-like branchstructure, sort of like a table of contents but much more fluid anddynamic in that the map "folds" and can also be linked in non-linearways. The general premise of mindmapping software is that it will helpyou to organize, link, and integrate thoughts. Mind mapping softwarecan be used for brainstorming and conceptualization, where you‘ve gotideas you need to put down, structure, expand and connect. ‘); dfp_tile++;
FreeMind is a Java application; you need to berunning Java 1.4. It‘s available for Windows, Mac OS X, and *nixplatforms with simple installers (a .exe for Windows, and on *nix,freemind.sh). The core documentation is readable in a mindmap format, so right from the get go you can be exposed to this differentway of looking at ideas. I‘m used to simple README-typedocumentation, so it probably took me longer to scan the FreeMind docs tofigure out what I was supposed to be doing than it should have. The FileMode on FreeMind allows you view any local folder structure asa basic mind map as well (though I‘m not sure why you‘d want to dothat).
One the most daunting things I face everyday is ablank screen that needs to be filled with content. I‘m used to justspewing a jumble of thoughts into a text editor (or the aforementionedscraps of paper that I never can find) and then afterwards starting theprocess of organizing those thoughts and ideas into a structure thatmakes sense for whatever project I‘m working on. With FreeMind, theprocess forces you by the very nature of how the mind map is created toconnect your ideas as part of the process.
FreeMind starts with the same blank screen that a text editorstarts with, so if you haven‘t got anything in your mind it‘s not goingto automagically provide you with inspiration.
Adding content is a simple matter of having a start point (root) and thenadding branches and then nodes. A reasonable array of style and formattingtools is part of FreeMind so your mind map doesn‘t need to look like an orgchart or simple table of contents. These styles range from the simple "fork"(much like a dash) and bubble to a full-blown "cloud" that can engulf thestyle of an entire branch of your map. A map can also include local orexternal links and can import data from other sources (e.g. fromother mind maps or directories on your local hard drive). The mind map also"folds," which is a fancy term for expandable (and contractible)menus, or in this case tree/branch structures.
FreeMind includes an Export to HTML feature, whichessentially turns your mind map into a standardhierarchical text structure. If you want to preserve all the hard workyou‘ve done and show and share the mind map that you‘ve created on the Web,you should use instead theFreeMind-browser applet, a separate download, which allows your maps to be shown in all theirglory. You cannot edit the mind map through the browser applet, however.
FreeMind currently lacks the ability to export a mind map in animage format, and doesn‘t have a direct mechanism to print PDF files either. Perhapsmost seriously though, FreeMind does not have any undo functionality.
>From a practical point of view, FreeMind doesallow you to try out a different way to structure and visualizecontent, which for some may be interesting in and of itself. Byvisualizing your content and its various connections in a fluid way youmay be able to gain a better grasp of it all.
However, it‘s important to note that FreeMind is not a content creator. Itdoes not integrate with any sort of project management or code versioning(CVS) tool. It also currently does not have any sort of permission-based Web-editable map functionality, which makes Web collaboration on aFreeMind map using FreeMind tools impossible.
Though the FreeMind project shows promise, it is definitely lacking ina number of critical areas. There are a few other open source mind mappingapplication out there, but none of them compare favorably to FreeMind. Ifyou‘re willing to open your mind to non-free software, there‘s always thecommercial mainstay Mind Manager, which claimsto integrate well with other office productivity tools and projectmanagement applications.
Of course if you really want to free your mind, you could always seek out a pointy-eared humanoid and suggest a mind meld.
