First Look: MindManager 7, mind mapping app

Images are typically easier to remember than words because people think in pictures. When organizing thoughts, some use a traditional outlining method to arrange concepts using words. Mind mapping is a more efficient way to categorize the thought process, allowing the user to design a physical layout of their ideas with colors, locations, and pictures, in addition to words. You can create a mind map using colored pencils and paper, or you could use a mind-mapping program like MindManager 7 Mac.

Mind maps created by MindManager initially consist of a main topic, displayed in a colored box in the middle of the page. All related ideas (called "subtopics") appear in different colored boxes, which are connected to the main topic with a line. Within each subtopic you can format text, change colors, add pictures, and arrange subtopics around the main topic. Depending on your preference, important topics might appear in brighter colors, bigger text, and closer to the main topic box while less important ones sit farther away from the main topic, with contrasting attributes.



Since some people may be reluctant to abandon the traditional outline structure, MindManager can toggle between displaying your thoughts as an outline or as a mind map. This gives you the versatility of organizing your ideas in either manner, and makes it easier for those that use the outline method to grasp the concept of a mind map.

In addition to representing subtopics as text, MindManager also lets you create hypertext links to other files, email addresses, or web site URLs. These links give you the freedom to expand an idea beyond a simple phrase. For example, creating a subtopic with too much text can make your mind map harder to read. Trimming the subtopic text to a descriptive phrase allows you to store the rest of it in a word processor document that pops up when you click its hypertext link.

A mind map is meant as a memory tool. Since you may not always be around your computer, MindManager can save your mind maps as an outline in plain or rich text, or as a web page. If you want to maintain your mind map as a graphic image, MindManager can save your mind map as a JPEG graphic image or a PDF file.

MindManager is a versatile thought organization program, allowing users many different ways to arrange and view the overall diagram of an idea or problem. If you understand the benefits of mind mapping, the $129 price point may be of interest for a tool that makes creating and rearranging ideas easy, simple, and enjoyable.

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Other story tags: First Look, mapping