mindmap softwares

Mindmap is the major way I think, but is not the major representation I use for my node. I use org-mode for long-term store and workflow/GTD management. So I use a limited core set of functionalities of mindmap, mainly:

• creating branches
• navigate between nodes
• edit node content
• group boundary

I started with some pirated xmind and mindmanager, as they are the big names. But they overall feels heavy, loads slow, with bunch of functionalities that I don’t need but keeps get in my way, so I move on to MindNode, which is simpler. After some time I guess I got bored of it and the macOS classic UI, so I went for SimpleMind, which have a even simpler interface. I sticked with SimpleMind for quite some time. Never get used to the keybindings though.

After a while I begin to value openness and FOSS movement, and SimpleMind don’t have both, so I stopped liking it, and after some time when I discovered Freeplane which is better in user experience, I switched to Freeplane.

Goodies about freeplane:

looks nice

there’s a bunch of built-in styles, and you can make your templates

template

the template is not limited to visual style, but branches also

lots of shortcut

there’s lots of shortcut, and you can define your own

user script and node filter

you can write them

move nodes around

you can drag and rearrange them around

notes on node

sometimes you want to write a lot in a node, F3 on it can edit a note that does not mess with your outline.

representation in xml

so it’s relatively convenient if you want to write scripts converting it to other format (like org-mode)