Visual Mind Mapping Computer Software Web Tips Guide
Visual Mind Mapping With Strong Colors And Wavy Branches
By Dirk C Wallace
Every mind mapping application is supposedly one that uses a
visual technique to connect ideas. So it may sound odd to distinguish
"visual mind mapping" programs from others, as though
there is some type of program that wouldn’t have that visual element
as its most vital feature.
Indeed, the whole point of creating mind maps is to shake the
user out of a left-brain, straight-line way of thinking about
things and engage the right brain instead, with its more pictorial,
intuitive approach to information gathering. So the idea of the
"visual" is already part of the definition.
Cartoon Like Colours And Wavy Branches
This is basically true. Yet some mindmap software does seem more
"visual" than others, and some groups still prefer something
that reflects a more linear style, even in a mind map.
For example, when Tony Buzan and Chris Griffiths produced their
"iMindMap" software in 2006, many business people criticized
it for looking too "cartoon-like" with its colors and
wavy branches connecting the concepts.
A Business Mode
This type of visual mind mapping, in their opinion, had gone
too far down the "organic" road to be usable in a business
meeting. As a result, "iMindMap" now has one mode that
business people can switch into without the colors, something
that more closely reflects the "flowchart" style so
beloved by conservative businesses over the years.
Every mind mapping program seems to stand at some point on a
spectrum running from a quite linear flowchart style at one end
to a lushly colored pictorial style at the other.
Reduced Color Scheme Vs Jewel Colored Branches
The program called Gliffy (www.gliffy.com)
would be placed more toward the "flowchart" end, with
its organized, straight, parallel lines and reduced color scheme.
But the software called NovaMind (www.novamind.com)
stands proudly at the opposite end of that spectrum, as a distinctly
visual mind mapping kind of program, with jewel-colored branches
gleaming against a black background.
There seems to be an ongoing tension between the two; the more
visual mind mapping style and one that is tugged back toward the
more linear, flow chart style of long tradition.
A Better Way Of Dealing With Knowledge
This tension may reflect the actual difficulty that was addressed
by the development of these mind tools in the first place; the
need to break out of the standard linear, sequential mode and
allow a more visual mode to expand people’s ways of dealing
with knowledge, allowing you to review your options.
Still, even using a flowchart mode, the ideas are being presented
in a pictorial style, and may still allow some new relationships
of ideas to be discovered. This, according to mind mapping enthusiasts,
is at least a step in the right direction.
About the Author:
Dirk C Wallace has written a number of articles on Business Software, Computers and Internet Security including
Mind Mapping Software,
How To Mind Map,
Customer Relationship Management CRM,
Customer Support,
CRM Software,
Business Tax Software,
Adware Spyware Removal Program
Computer Security Handbook,
Computer Instruction.
Keep a lookout for more of his articles on this website.
Did You Know This About Mind Mapping?
Just about everyone on the planet has faced a problem at some
time in their lives that they could not see or find the solution.
It could be the student presented with a task to write a paper
on a topic but he or she cannot get the creative juices going.
It may be the business professional that has been assigned a
task or a goal and he or she just does not see how it is going
to come to fruition. It can be incredibly frustrating. But there
is a solution that could work for you or anyone. Mind mapping
can help you solve any problem you may have in your life.
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