FreeMind Review
Freemind is a popular open source mind mapping application, developed by
enthusiasts and given away at no cost (like
xmind). Written in Java it can run on a wide
variety of platforms and the version tested was 0.8.5.
Download and Installation
Being written in Java and open source the code is available to anyone to use on any platform that can run Java. The owners of the project realize that most people won't want to compile and build source code though, so installers are provided for Windows, Mac and Linux. There are two versions of the Windows download, a full version and a smaller one for quick downloads and installation. The smaller version is largely the same as its big brother but doesn't have the ability to export mind maps in PDF or SVG formats. Even through you may not think you'll need these it's worth downloading the larger version unless you have a very slow internet connection.
There are two Linux packages, one in RPM format and another in the Debian format used by a number of other Linux flavors including Ubuntu. There is even a version for eComStation, an operating system that we had never heard of but which is a commercially sold OS for PCs, derived from IBM's OS/2. For other operating systems and possibly some variants of Linux it will be necessary to compile the source code and build an image, but if you fall into this category you will be used that.
First Impressions
Freemind installs and starts up quickly, giving the impression of a small and neat application. The look and feel will be immediately recognizable to anyone who used Windows software before Microsoft changed to their ribbon style interface. There is a row of drop down menus at the top, a second row of icons for the most commonly used functions and drop down boxes for text formatting. The specialist functions are all activated by a row of icons down the left-hand side of the screen, a menu under an icon at the top of the screen or from a comprehensive right-click context menu.
click for large image
Freemind calls the individual items of a mind map 'nodes' and they can be
children, siblings or parents of other nodes. Most of specialist function icons
running down the left-hand side of the screen add what Freemind call icons to a
mind map node. So, for example, you can assign a priority icon to a task node or
a 'to be discussed' icon to an issue node. There is only one sort of node so the
only differences between them are the differences you ascribe to them by name,
color or icons.
Help in Mind Map Format
The application puts its money where its mouth is so the Help file is in
mind map format.
This makes all the information about the package easy to find but also
highlights a limitation, although it's one of mind maps themselves, not Freemind.
As a quick reference to the commands it works very well but there is little
information that puts the commands into context. Of course, as with many other
mind map packages, a node can be a link to external information. In the case of
Freemind this can be a hyperlink to a web document, a link to a folder on a
local computer or a network, or an executable.
Freemind also has 'long' nodes which are capable of containing blocks of text.
The blocks can be formatted using Freemind options or HTML. If some of these had
been added to hold context information the Help could have been much more
helpful. The other disadvantage, in this case a factor of Freemind being an open
source project, is that the Help file is two versions behind the software. It
wasn't clear if there was a significant amount of missing or erroneous
information.
Creating a Mind Map in Freemind
Each new map starts with a central node to which you can add whatever you need.
Many people find it easier to start a mind map on a whiteboard or flip-chart
before committing it to software because they find when they drill down into a
subject that it is more complex in certain areas and the map has to be
re-organized. With
Freemind this isn't necessarily the case as elements can be moved around
easily. There are many keyboard shortcuts which speed up map construction once
you have got used to them.
When a node is in context the Insert key will cause a child node to be created,
or a right-click with the mouse will open a context menu from which you can
create a child node, sibling, sibling of the previous upstream node or a long
node. There are keyboard shortcuts for all of these too, it’s just a case of
learning them. The Help has a long node which lists of all of them.
Putting in Textual Information
Information can be typed into the nodes, in either short or long format. For
information that already exists Freemind has good interpretation of many textual
data formats so they can be copied and pasted into a map. The paste function
interprets the data and splits it into nodes, using carriage returns to denote a
new node and tabbed indentations to go down another branch level. This means
that you can construct data in, say Word, to take advantage of the better text
manipulation facilities, then paste it into a mind map.
You can even drag text across from another application and drop it into a mind
map. It is slightly disturbing that the text in the other application is
deleted, not what had been expected, but at least it was noticed it and could be
retrieved with an Undo in that application.
Assigning Attributes to Mind Map Nodes
Once nodes have been created you can tailor them to your needs. There are three
main groups of attributes you can add, graphical attributes, grouping and icons.
One of the best things is that they can all be accessed from a comprehensive
context menu available when right-clicking on a node. They all have their own
icons and menus too, for those who prefer those methods. The choice of graphical
elements is very wide; as well as different fonts, point sizes and colors for
the text of a node, the background color can be changed as can the borders and
the lines joining nodes together.
Grouping options include graphical links (arrows) to show a relationship between
nodes that are unrelated by the core links of the mind map. You can also select
(by dragging the mouse or using CTRL-click to select nodes from different areas
of the map) nodes and put them in clouds to suggest a stronger relationship that
the arrow. The clouds can be colored and shaded as much as any other element of
a Freemind map.
Iconic Assignment
The third element of attribution is the icons on the toolbar that runs down the
left hand side of the screen. These include priority assignments, checking tasks
as completed or in progress and highlighting issues and actions. Informational
attributes such as email addresses, phone number and addresses can also be
added. One slightly frustrating restriction is that you can only delete the last
icon added to a node added or all of them. What's really needed is the ability
to remove individual icons because the only way to remove an icon, unless it was
the last added, is to delete all of them then add them all back in apart from
the one you don't want.
Some of the icons are a little misleading as they don't follow convention. The
'to be discussed' icon, for example, is a magnifying glass, more usually used
these days to denote a search, sometimes a zoom facility. The 'Look Here' icon
is a paperclip, which leads you to expect an attachment on a node. The 'Undo'
icon on the second row is upside down compared to a Microsoft application and
causes a moment's confusion so it's perhaps best to stick to CTRL-Z.
Working with Scale
As the map grows in size you discover that you can zoom in and out, move the map
by dragging it around with the mouse and scrolling up and down with the mouse
wheel. This all helps the novice user to realize that you do not necessarily
have to care if your mind map ends up being visually balanced. As long as you
can move the map around and get to the salient points using folding and
unfolding (see below) then how the map looks is irrelevant. The appearance can
be worried about later if a map ever has to be presented to an audience.
Hierarchical Limitations
Once you get to grips with making and modifying mind maps with Freemind one of
the core limitations of the package rears its head and that is the forcing of
the mind map into a hierarchical structure. To be honest there are not that many
mind mapping packages that don't operate this way, as it's time-consuming and
tricky to create reliable software that will handle this complexity. The few
packages that can do this are all commercial too.
It is possible to drag and drop nodes around the map and thus change their level
in the hierarchical structure, something that, to be honest, was expected to
fail. This makes the hierarchical restriction easier to work around and, as it's
sometimes hard to remember, this is free software, so it's all the more
impressive for that.
Folding Branches
There is much else to recommend Freemind too. Once you have started to create
mind maps of a significant size you will appreciate what Freemind call
'folding'. This is the ability to hide or reveal a branch and all its sub-nodes
just by clicking on it. This is great when browsing and reading mind maps but a
little confusing when modifying them, as you tend to single-click on a selected
node so that you can edit it, as with most other programs.
Instead it's right-click to reveal a context menu then select Edit Node
although, even more confusingly, if a node has no children, the de facto
standard of a single click works. It might be better to get into the habit of
using F2 instead, a reasonable enough choice as it conforms with the 'edit
element' function for Windows Explorer and Excel if not many more applications.
Freemind Modes
Freemind starts by default in
MindMap mode where
you create and modify maps. For browsing maps already created (for example the
Help file) the program automatically switches to Browse mode. Maps can be folded
and unfolded just as if the map is opened in MindMap mode but not edited. There
is a third mode, File mode, which allows you to browse a file system as a mind
map. Even the Help file admits that this is of little use it but exists to
demonstrate the ability to feed data into the mind map tree from other sources
There seem to be some glitches when switching between modes. Without much
clicking about a dozen maps were opened, most of them duplicates of the Help
file. Trying to close these seemed to put the program into a strange state where
the menu wasn't active, meaning you couldn’t move on. It was eventually
discovered that selecting a different zoom factor from the browse mode's drop
down menu gave control back. Other than that the program was responsive and
trouble free even on a PC (running XP) that's at least five years old.
Distributing Maps
The output of your creative sessions with Freemind can be exported to a variety
of different formats so that they can be distributed for other people to view
and print even if they don't have a copy of Freemind on their computer. PDF is
possibly the best for widespread read-only distribution or there are different
graphics formats which might be better suited when putting maps on websites. RTF
format allows importing into office productivity products and clickable XHTML
exports allow a large mind map to be expanded and explored in a similar way to
folding and unfolding.
For those who are sharing mind maps with other Freemind users the current version has an experimental version of file locking to avoid accidents when two or more people are editing the same file. With Freemind available at no charge, distributing it across an organization is possible at no immediate cost although IT professionals will be mindful of the support and training costs.
Ads / Reviews:
FreeMind Review
|
FreeMind Download |
FreeMind OpenSource MindMapping Review |
FreeMind 0.8.1 for the Mac
Conclusions
Freemind is a more than competent mind mapping application and is obviously
written by people who really understand mind maps and how they are used. There
are some gremlins but the comprehensive feature set more than compensates for
that. One of the risks with open source applications is that they become
moribund but the product's home site, an easy to navigate wiki, shows that there
is a core team actively working on the product, fixing bugs and moving the
application forward. The support forums on SourceForge.net also show up-to-date
interest in noting and solving bugs and users helping other users.
The features missing from Freemind are generally those that are only present in
high end commercial competitors, for example dynamic linking to external data
sources or n-dimensional mind maps. These are not really disadvantages as the
software is free and it's not unreasonable to expect that the feature set will
not match up to an expensive commercial product.
People considering getting into mind maps could do nothing better than download
Freemind and get cracking. The fact that Freemind is free means that there's
nothing to lose by taking it on an extended test drive and then buying a
commercial product once they are sure they will stick with mind maps and need
the extra features. With the exception of the inability to delete individual
icons it's unlikely that many users will feel that need.