Interesting February article on the benefits of mind maps from the founder of Biggerplate:

https://blog.biggerplate.com/note-taking-with-mind-maps-fa4b73da3665

It's generally a good overview but the note examples are all a line or so long, which hazes over an issue I have with mind maps - since I usually enter much longer notes or quotes to my outlines, with them often becoming notes as well as first drafts for writing I do elsewhere, large amounts of text can overwhelm the viewing space of mind mapping apps.

I like iThoughts for this -- both Mac and Windows -- since there is a panel above the map for text associated with a mind map node. The text panel can take up as much of the screen as one wants, and accepts markdown.

The text panel is visible in this image

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5065b792c4aac831ab26e463/t/58bd755cb3db2b0887af8931/1488811376534/?format=1500w

Paul Korm wrote:

I like iThoughts for this -- both Mac and Windows -- since there is a
panel above the map for text associated with a mind map node.

I own iThoughtsX but didn't get the iOS version because I felt that the text handling was subpar for my needs, and I don't really use the app on my Mac either.

With iThoughtsX the only way you know a node has notes associated with it is by scanning for a little-bitty icon by it, so each node itself must functionally be a header, not a note itself. That is, you can't just be writing, create a sub-node idea and continue to write long paragraphs like you can in an outliner - you need to stop to think of a name for the node, then start writing in a file container (being able to use Markdown and add images is admittedly nice) that lives in a constrained horizontal box with limited vertical space that's not too comfortable to write in or see what you're writing (without having to repeatedly resize on screen).

Screenshot: https://cl.ly/220G1m0l273t

I'd like to have my mind map app let me have the option to write in each node as if it were a separate Pages/GoogleDoc/Markdown sheet and when I finish the node shrinks and shows the first line or two of the writing alongside something like a big '...' icon to show (if it's not obvious) that there's more inside the node.

MindNode is a somewhat cleaner option for me, even if it can look ungainly when zoomed out.

( From https://abramkj.com/2015/07/21/mindnode-omnioutliner-quite-a-combo/ )

https://abramkj.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/david-and-bathsheba-mind-map.png

The bare bones outline view in MindNode is somewhat useful.

https://abramkj.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/mind-map-with-outline.png

And the OPML output/input (of both iThoughtsX and MindNode) makes it useful when I need to work in a more powerful outlining environment.

https://abramkj.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/outline-in-omnioutliner.png

yea that's one of the things i've tried to do: take notes with mind map or mapping type of sofware

i haven't found them to be helpful tho would love to see collections of use cases and how they helped the user

The very idea of NODE is what makes mindmapping apps less functional. Thinking about one core idea; I am just stuck there unless I am working on clearly hierarchal stuff (often less often). Relationship between ideas come very latter as I think about it hard.

Scapple is much useful to just run ideas around; never worrying about the topic (node/title).

i havent found anything helpful with scapple

it's jsut mapping in general,

again would like to see posts links on use cases for scapple or any other mapping on how they help

satis wrote:

Interesting February article on the benefits of mind maps from the
founder of Biggerplate:

https://blog.biggerplate.com/note-taking-with-mind-maps-fa4b73da3665

This is not an article this is a marketing ad.
I would really like to see an article about the usefulness of mindmaps.
Unfortunately even when you search for it you see that the web is spammed by SEO
guys with ads making it hard to find anything.

Curio allows notes, possibly even files if I remember correctly, to be attached to mind map nodes.

satis wrote:

Paul Korm wrote:
>I like iThoughts for this -- both Mac and Windows -- since there is a
>panel above the map for text associated with a mind map node.

I own iThoughtsX but didn't get the iOS version because I felt that the
text handling was subpar for my needs, and I don't really use the app on
my Mac either.

With iThoughtsX the only way you know a node has notes associated with
it is by scanning for a little-bitty icon by it, so each node itself
must functionally be a header, not a note itself. That is, you can't
just be writing, create a sub-node idea and continue to write long
paragraphs like you can in an outliner - you need to stop to think of a
name for the node, then start writing in a file container (being able to
use Markdown and add images is admittedly nice) that lives in a
constrained horizontal box with limited vertical space that's not too
comfortable to write in or see what you're writing (without having to
repeatedly resize on screen).

Screenshot: https://cl.ly/220G1m0l273t

I'd like to have my mind map app let me have the option to write in
each node as if it were a separate Pages/GoogleDoc/Markdown sheet and
when I finish the node shrinks and shows the first line or two of the
writing alongside something like a big '...' icon to show (if it's not
obvious) that there's more inside the node.

MindNode is a somewhat cleaner option for me, even if it can look
ungainly when zoomed out.

( From
https://abramkj.com/2015/07/21/mindnode-omnioutliner-quite-a-combo/ )

https://abramkj.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/david-and-bathsheba-mind-map.png

The bare bones outline view in MindNode is somewhat useful.

https://abramkj.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/mind-map-with-outline.png

And the OPML output/input (of both iThoughtsX and MindNode) makes it
useful when I need to work in a more powerful outlining environment.

https://abramkj.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/outline-in-omnioutliner.png

Also worth bearing in mind is the power of iWorks for mindmap-like approaches. Numbers in particular is useful here, because the tabbed worksheets can be used as multiple whiteboards. The recent upgrade means that a wider range of shapes and diagrams are available than before. If I'm doing any kind of conceptual work, Numbers is generally the app I reach for first, because of its enormous flexibility. The only thing it doesn't do is folding.

For me, Mindmaps are the perfect tools for planning and giving talks. I can put on a single page enough content (key words) for a keynote or day long workshop. Unlike a more linear outline, I can move around the landscape of a topic more easily - when someone asks a question, for instance, that is outside the original sequence. I don't always use screens - they break the connection between speaker and audience, I think - but when I do, mindmaps are so much better than PowerPoint at showing the connection between things. That's my use case: a way to cluster text around topics, then elaborate on them as a speaker.

on various linear outlines, say on an outlier you can just add the question into the info/content you've noted down

outlines already flexible (maybe even more than mapping) so this point responds to the example and that particular use case

Sure. I use outlines for almost everything. But I find that mind are more easily grouped by color and more efficient in fitting on a single page (although that's why that multi-column outliner is cool). Sometimes I like to flip between views - and increasingly, mindmaps offer that, too.

jaslar wrote:

Sometimes I like to flip between views - and increasingly,
mindmaps offer that, too.

ZenKit does this well, from what I've seen on video. Unfortunately I'm too busy with work and evaluating other apps to look at it right now.

'more easily grouped by color and more efficient in fitting on a single page'

1. sectioning/grouping by colour can be done on non map software

2. but 'all on one page' is a unique difference, but excel/g-sheets can all do this

but are there any specific examples

of both or either or of these where any kind of mapping would be helpful?