Your choice of mind mapping software

Posted by Graham Smith
Oct 19, 2006 at 07:13 AM

Jack

>I do my brainstorming in text mode, using an outlining
>program. However, I do find it useful to then switch the view to a graphical one and
>observe the connections and patterns. I might edit a little in graphical mode and then
>go back to text.

I suspect I am rather similar in this respect, in that I find myself doing a lot of thinking in advance of booting up the computer. If by the time I get to the computer I have a basic set of ideas worked out, then I find an outliner is the tool I want to use, but I still like the visual over view of the mind map.

On the other hand, if my pre-boot up thinking session has failed to give me a basic idea of how to approach what I am writing, then I find a mind map the best brainstorming tool

>So far, I’m aware of only 2 programs that do this
>in a more than rudimentary way - Mind Manager (version 6) and Inspiration. I would
>dearly love to use Inspiration but it is a bit clunky and really designed for another
>market. So I use Mind Manager - a behemoth for sure.

Well, conicidence you will see from my list that I tend to use the same two program. There is a lot to like about Inspiration, and I have the Palm version as well, but as you suggest it has its issues. MindManager is probably the best compromise that I have found so far, but its slow to launch and heavy on resources.

Graham