Free, flexible, easy-to-use concept-mapping software?
January 30, 2015 9:11 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for a concept-mapping tool that offers (1) considerable flexibility in terms of spatial positioning of nodes, nature of links (not just strictly hierarchical trees in a single direction) (2) somewhat customizable colors and fonts (and ideally, shapes as well), and (3) export/save to PDF or JPG capabilities. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find this program.
Other desiderata for this unicorn program:
-- free, ideally web-based
-- easy and intuitive to use
-- box- or shape-style nodes rather than naked text
--some ability to affix labels to connecting lines, as well as to nodes.
--In my perfect universe there'd be some sort of sharing/collaboration capability too, but not if that comes with lots of cumbersome business-y GTD apparatus that'd get in the way of the mapping.
-- similarly, it'd be nice if any other non-mapping functions, like Evernote/linking/adding pictures/whatever were unobtrusive and subordinated to the mapping function.
I'm really not doing anything all that complicated with this-- just diagramming some fairly simple arguments-- but everything free on the Wikipedia page and various Lifehacker lists either looks hideous, seems unduly complicated, or appears to support only strict hierarchies in certain spatial arrangements. MindMup comes closest to what I want, but it won't let you create free-floating nodes and the repositioning of nodes seems buggy. What program am I looking for, Metafilter?
Other desiderata for this unicorn program:
-- free, ideally web-based
-- easy and intuitive to use
-- box- or shape-style nodes rather than naked text
--some ability to affix labels to connecting lines, as well as to nodes.
--In my perfect universe there'd be some sort of sharing/collaboration capability too, but not if that comes with lots of cumbersome business-y GTD apparatus that'd get in the way of the mapping.
-- similarly, it'd be nice if any other non-mapping functions, like Evernote/linking/adding pictures/whatever were unobtrusive and subordinated to the mapping function.
I'm really not doing anything all that complicated with this-- just diagramming some fairly simple arguments-- but everything free on the Wikipedia page and various Lifehacker lists either looks hideous, seems unduly complicated, or appears to support only strict hierarchies in certain spatial arrangements. MindMup comes closest to what I want, but it won't let you create free-floating nodes and the repositioning of nodes seems buggy. What program am I looking for, Metafilter?
I hope I'm wrong, but I went on a long search a few times and didn't find anything with free-floating nodes that wasn't just drawing/flowchart software.
posted by michaelh at 9:24 AM on January 30, 2015
posted by michaelh at 9:24 AM on January 30, 2015
I guess just to clarify, since it is on the Wikipedia list you dismissed, Xmind isn't webbased but has everything else you ask for and it can be shared either through the xmind site or Evernote. It does have a default way of positioning the nodes but you can easily move them around if you wish.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:24 AM on January 30, 2015
posted by Wretch729 at 9:24 AM on January 30, 2015
Even though it's not web-based, I always keep a copy of Freemind on my computer, just because it's free and simple so it's easy to dig into when I get the mindmapping urge. A lot of desktop and web-based MM software I've seen will import Freemind maps.
You might give Mindmeister a try. It's online and collaborative. It's not free for all the cool goodies, but it's cheap, and you can try the free version first to see if you even like it. I pay for it, and while I haven't used it much, I'm sure when I made the decision I was thinking like you.
That's about all I've got. I never have enough time to find the perfect MM software, so I'll probably be as interested as you in the answers to this thread.
posted by KinoAndHermes at 9:51 AM on January 30, 2015
You might give Mindmeister a try. It's online and collaborative. It's not free for all the cool goodies, but it's cheap, and you can try the free version first to see if you even like it. I pay for it, and while I haven't used it much, I'm sure when I made the decision I was thinking like you.
That's about all I've got. I never have enough time to find the perfect MM software, so I'll probably be as interested as you in the answers to this thread.
posted by KinoAndHermes at 9:51 AM on January 30, 2015
CMAPTools was the rage for this in my grad school program a few years ago. It's not too pretty and it's got some " hey look I'm a research project not commercial software" warts but it checks a lot of your other boxes.
posted by Alterscape at 9:53 AM on January 30, 2015
posted by Alterscape at 9:53 AM on January 30, 2015
I was also going to recommend CMAPTools, which I use frequently and quite like. It hits your above-the-fold requirements and most of the others as well, I think.
posted by pemberkins at 9:58 AM on January 30, 2015
posted by pemberkins at 9:58 AM on January 30, 2015
VUE is the most freeform mind mapping software I've found.
- free -- Check
- web-based -- Nope
-- easy and intuitive to use -- Kinda
-- box- or shape-style nodes rather than naked text -- Check
-- some ability to affix labels to connecting lines, as well as to nodes. --Check
-- In my perfect universe there'd be some sort of sharing/collaboration capability too, but not if that comes with lots of cumbersome business-y GTD apparatus that'd get in the way of the mapping. -- I think so
-- similarly, it'd be nice if any other non-mapping functions, like Evernote/linking/adding pictures/whatever were unobtrusive and subordinated to the mapping function. -- I think so
posted by Leontine at 1:22 PM on January 30, 2015
- free -- Check
- web-based -- Nope
-- easy and intuitive to use -- Kinda
-- box- or shape-style nodes rather than naked text -- Check
-- some ability to affix labels to connecting lines, as well as to nodes. --Check
-- In my perfect universe there'd be some sort of sharing/collaboration capability too, but not if that comes with lots of cumbersome business-y GTD apparatus that'd get in the way of the mapping. -- I think so
-- similarly, it'd be nice if any other non-mapping functions, like Evernote/linking/adding pictures/whatever were unobtrusive and subordinated to the mapping function. -- I think so
posted by Leontine at 1:22 PM on January 30, 2015
In my program, where concept mapping was big, we would often begin with yED. It's relatively easy to use, and exports to PDF among other types of files. When I really want to map something out in an aesthetically clean way with a high level of detail, I often end up using the prototype versions of the maps made in yED and reconstructing them in InDesign, where I'm fast and you have much more control. yED makes it easy to get started and link items and even helps with automatic layout in a variety of ways.
posted by pearl228 at 5:28 PM on February 4, 2015
posted by pearl228 at 5:28 PM on February 4, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:16 AM on January 30, 2015