Stuff

From FreeMind
Jump to navigationJump to search
 

What follows are not fully consolidated posts, written mostly by FreeMind users.

PDA

Up to 18. 2. 2004 nobody in the forum seems to have FreeMind running on a PDA. It should be possible because there are Java-VMs for the Palm and Pocket PC platform (e. g. SuperWaba) and there is JRE for Linux-based PDAs. If you succeed, please write about it here.

I created XSLT files to translate to/from ShadowPlan Desktop XML format. You can get them from the ShadowPlan Yahoo! Group. Jules ( http://www.knightnet.org.uk )

FreeMind combined with wiki

Disclaimer: What follows are suggestions of FreeMind users, not of the FreeMind development team. There is no combination of FreeMind and wiki under development, nor do we endorse the idea in any way. --Danielpolansky 13:15, 26 Sep 2004 (PDT)

Does that mean that you are against the idea of a freemind-wiki hybrid or just that you personally aren't interested in working towards that goal? --anonymous
Frankly, I do not think that a hybrid between FreeMind and wiki is a good idea. But I may be in error. Anyway, as FreeMind is free software, anyone can develop whatever hybrid he considers worth it. --Danielpolansky 11:10, 28 Jan 2005 (PST)

Creating a mixture of Freemind and a Wiki would be very interesting. It would be shown on the web and editable by everybody, like a Wiki, but it would not be ugly text-only but a beautiful mindmap instead!

Maybe a fusion of of mind maps and wikis reform the whole wiki-szene and eventually the internet. Rendering Wikis with Freemind would make them so much more attractive to users. --Helge

Agreed.

Moving through XML data, finding and modifying links will enable the link between wikis, search engines and mind mapping

Existing Applications Similar to the Idea of FreeMind Wiki

In general: Combination of wikis and mind maps

Now I found the place where a combination of wikis and mind maps should be and is being discussed. In "the mother of all wikis":

  • Here is an explanation: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiMindMap
  • Here you will find an example of a visual map of a wiki which is generated by a script. Please copy the link into your browser and take the space out by hand. We do not want to real link in here because then too many bots would visit it and that would be too much traffic for the script which generates the maps. Copy this to your browser and take the "WRONG" out: "http:WRONG//c2.com/cgi/tour?FrontPage"
  • Here you will find even more ways to visualize wikis: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?VisualizeTheWiki
          [Couldn't get these to load - Mar '05 - dilgreen]

The issue here would seem to be the structure of the linkages. Mind maps are hierarchical - "Tree structures" - Wikis are fundamentally different in structure, allowing all sorts of linkages - "sem-lattice structures" - as used by Christoper Alexander as the underpinning of 'A Pattern Language": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_language. The non-hierarchical aspect of the data structure he insists is necessary to usefully map real systems seems not to get enough attention - I guess because in the software world, hierarchical structures are useful in forcing structure onto free-roaming thoughts, and because data processing IS fundamentally a hierarchical process. The wonderful thing about the WWW and more specifically, Wikis, is that they not only allow hon hierarchical data stuctures, but also keep them manageable, by tracing linkages.

However, in an application which truly supports 'mind mapping', an open data structure is absolutely necessary - read Chris. Alexander's short article 'A City is not a Tree' : http://www.rudi.net/bookshelf/classics/city/alexander/alexander1.shtml, for a useful discussion of this in realtion to cities. The mind is infinitely more flexible and various than a city - that is the source of its power. A mind map which only supports hierarchical relationships is more of a mind-trap! - dilgreen

Wikiing with FreeMind

  • The first step could be to add a save format to Freemind which is Wiki-style, in any case more human readable than the current XML-format. Then you could edit Wiki-pages in this format in Freemind. This should be quite easy.
  • Maybe something can be programmed along the lines of the TWikiDrawPlugin --Helge

We need a version of Freemind which can show the changes between two Freemind files in nice way.

Japanese FreeMindWiki

Hi, My friend Akiyah have developed MindMapBBS, aim to create web-based MindMapping without rich UI browser. He is planning connecting with wiki from MindMapBBS. MindMapBBS is Zope Product(DTML Based), can be used as inlined object in DTML Document/Method. He called Small Product. --Takeshi
Small Product (Now, supported japanese only).
Thanks for that hint! Nearly nothing on the page yet, but sounds very interesting. We should keep checking that site for updates. --anonymous

Implementation of FreeMind in a Wiki Engine

Good News! The WikkaWiki software allows to include FreeMind maps. Here's an inline example. And it seems like you can integrate the wikka into blogging software...

FreeMind combined with Blogging

Blogger

I made a template to use FreeMind with Blogger. I haven't exactly used it yet, but I'm pretty sure it should work. The blog needs to be published as a ".mm" file, and the index file needs to be html containing FreeMind's applet. -- Phil

Misc

Icons

An icon to associate with Freemind documents (.mm) is available for download below. It supports 256 as well as true color regimes.

freemind-icon.png http://menyhart.net/blog/files/freemind.ico

Mind Trail / Web ?

Today a friend of mine showed me the website [1] and I was reminded of this project, which I have used before in organizing my writing. Could FreeMind be expanded to include another mode where people could browse through different topics like a web, instead of in a heirarchial order like a tree? Maybe something to consider for version 2.0?

Tips and Tricks

1.

When I made a bulleted list, it appeared nicely in freemind, but no bullets were visible in tthe exported HTML-file. To solve this, I use the <li> tag as follows:

<li style="list-style-type:disc;">

Instead of disc, you can use square or circle as well.

2. As default, at least on windows, node selection method is set to direct. This can cause problems whan you want to use the toolbar as when you pass over a different node this becomes selected. You can work around this by selecting the node then holing the ctrl key while you move to the toolbar. Alternatively you can change the selection method in tools -> preferences -> behaviour, then set selection method to 'by click'