“The aHa!2WayXLS add-in for project planning is an accessible method to export your project and task information from Mindjet®MindManager to Microsoft ®Excel and back(…)”.

“I would suggest you try it out in your business environment. You can download a trial version of this excellent solution here”

Read the full article on the Explorer-consulting blog

The user has limited possibilities in placing topics where he or she wants. The are roughly four positions where topics can be placed (right, bottom, left, top). Strangely enough the topics on top and bottom are displayed rather as an organogram instead of a radial mindmap. Other mindmapping solutions don’t seem to have this (problem). We can conclude mindmaps created in DropMind Web visually don’t look as good as mindmaps created in other applications. Furthermore ‘hardcore’ mindmappers won’t find them that pleasing to look at.

Saving time with smart maps, losing time to scaling

The Microsoft Ribbon interface makes it easy to find your way trough the various functions available, you know it from Word, Excel and other Office applications. Most functions are self explanatory but in case you don’t know what that button will do, there’s an extensive help file available.
To be able to add color to a topic or a branch make sure you have selected that specific topic first.
DropMind has a large library containing icons and images. These images are quite big when you insert them and take a lot of space in your mindmap, the user has to scale them down which unfortunately takes time everytime you have to do it. DropMind Web allows you search external sources such as Flickr or live, unfortunately Google images is not available. You can however upload pictures from your desktop manually.
DropMind Web has the ‘map parts’ functionality which allows you to store (recurring) parts of a mindmap. This is quite convenient and can for instance be used in meetings, a 5W + H template etc.

Usability

Adding  external sources

Topics in the mindmaps can be extended in several ways. The user can add links to websites or upload files from a laptop/computer. Add these attachments to a ‘sources topic’ in your projectmap or the ‘incoming documents topic’ in the online meeting agenda.
It is also possible to add documents to a Google-Docs account linked to DropMind Web. This gives the user the advantage of always having acces to the most recent version of the Google Docs file.
DropMind Web also allows the user to record an audio file and directly add it as an attachment to a branch. Text can be sufficient to explaning something but sometimes a spoken message is better to clarify certain actions or propositions.
Further empahsizing the fact that DropMind Web looks like a desktop product is proven by the fact that it’s able to open multiple files effortlessly.

Working  and visualizing  together

Seavus, the developer of DropMind has added the ability to connect to other tools such as the previously mentioned Google Docs and Google contacts. The integration is well thought trough. Collegues in Google Docs can be added to the DropMind online community saving you time from having to enter name, email adresses etc. manually. Those colleagues can easily be made editors of the same mindmap.
It is furthermore possible to take pictures with the computers webcam and have them immediately added to a topic and there is a good history function. At any given moment the user can switch back to an older version.

Starting (and visualizing) projects together

When using DropMind Web it seems seavus has really developed it as a stand alone tool and not merely as a cloud extension of their desktop product. Besides being a cloudservice itself it also integrates with several other SaaS tools. Besides Google Docs it’s also possible to import from and export to Basecamp. Basecamp is an online project management tool. Users can import projects and to-do lists which will be converted into structured mindmaps. Likewise, mindmaps can also be converted into basecamp projects or tasks.

Mindmapping applications are particularly useful for brainstorming. You can quickly enter ideas, structure thoughts in levels of importance, assign colors/icons and easily share the results. You can use DropMind Web if you want to start a session with your community, members can chat to exchange ideas, vote etc. Add a Skype call to improve your online collaboration session even more.
When you host such an online session prepare it well and also make sure there is a moderator who acts as the leader of the session. Non-verbal communication will most likely not be possible but every participant should be able to fully express his or her opinion. It will be the task of the moderator to make sure the virtual meeting doesn’t end in chaos. Nowadays there are special courses which can learn you how to this. If you want to make the most out of your online collaboration sessions, we recommend taking one.

Importing, exporting and more

Like the majority of all mindmapping applications the user is able to import certain other mindmapping formats. DropMind Web can import formats like MindManager, Freemind, XMind etc. There is no Excel or Word import but i was able to do the latter using the word2map plug-in for Word. Likewise there are also a few exporting abilities. Compared to MindManager, who the developer identifies as their most important competitor, the exportcapabilities are not quite as good. The PowerPoint export for example only exports text as bullit points, each branch will be a new slide. User however shouldn’t really worry about this. The great mindmap you just created will most definitely be a better way to present your information than a regular PowerPoint presentation.
DropMind Web has a lot of exporting options even surpassing some desktop products. You can export your mindmap to DropMind (desktop), Microsoft Word, Mindjet MindManager, XMind, Basecamp, HTML website, XML, Google sites and as an image. The Google sites intregration can be useful to develop and such websites together. The user can easily restructure the information and turn the mindmap into a Google Sites website with a single mouse click. It works but there are perhaps better solutions. There is a Visual web export add-in for MindManager which does this better. DropMind also has the option to make your online mindmap publicly viewable for everybody but unfortunately, they won’t be able to properly view the mindmap as they see an image which is too small to be able to read the text in the branches.

Mindmap everywhere you want

When compared to other online mindmapping tools like MindMeister and Mindjet Catalyst DropMind Web’s functionality is comparable and in some cases even more extensive. More isn’t always better, you should always start ‘with the end in mind’. Think of what you want to achieve first. We found that working together in a mindmap works fine. A nice feature for users who also have the Desktop version is the ability to sync your online and offline mindmaps by means of a ‘synchronized folder’. Every mindmap placed in that folder will be made available in DropMind Web. Edit these while you are away from office for instance and you can continue working on your online edited mindmap later on your desktop.

The available languages to personalize this SaaS solution are English, Spanish, French, German and Japanese. In order to use DropMind Web you’ll need Microsoft Silverlight and either Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or above, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 or above or Safari 3.0 or above. Chrome isn’t officially mentioned in the documention but as expected, it works fine in Google’s popular browser.
If you only happen to have your smartphone and need to view or edit your mindmaps you can do so via mapp.dropmind.com. Supported are the Android browser, Apple mobile Safari and BlackBerry browser 4.6 or above.

Data and Security

All data of DropMind Web is stored at Amazon in the United States of America. Logging in to the service is via secure SSL connection. This can be a drawback for several types of organizations like Government departments or bank for instance. The mindmaps are encoded and can’t be viewed without DropMind. Only the owner and users of the mindmap can view it’s content. Unless the is public ofcourse. To connect to Twitter or Google Docs you’ll need to authorise by simple giving permission.

Cost

User can use DropMind Web for free albeit with certain restrictions. Exporting mindmaps and several integration options are not available.
The Premium version will run 15€ for 3 months and will give buyers 100mb of storage. A semi-annual subscription will cost 25€ and for 39€ the service can be used for a full year. There is an academic version available as well. Even though users get less storage than direct competitor Mindjet Catalyst it is less expensive and even has a few advantages over the latter. A drawback can be the amount of storage space, user like can’t upload all of their mindmaps into DropMind Web and perhaps they don’t need too.

Conclusion

DropMind Web is good alternative for existing solutions like Mindjet Catalyst and MindMeister. People new to (online) mindmapping can use the full service for a relatively low price. The more advanced users will like the amount of functionality and the several ways DropMind Web can integrate with other SaaS services. The strenght of this solution simply is that it offers a lot voor not much money. Mindjet Catalyst is still the leader of the game but DropMind Web is definitely on the rise.

Feel like you want personal advice about online mindmapping? Or would you like to have good templates to work from for DropMind like a personal dashboard or a meeting agenda? Contact Hypershifters, we’d like to help you.

Online mindmapping offers several advantages when sharing knowledge and information. It furthermore saves time and is perfectly applicable when brainstorming, conducting meetings and ‘project start-ups’. It requires a little extra effort from both the leader and the attendees of the meeting. More about that later in this post.
Nowadays several cloud apps are available. Seavus DropMind have had a web version of their desktop version of DropMind from quite some time now. The version we tested is 2.7 web and was made available in June 2011. The integration with Google Apps, the iPad and desktop version of DropMind as well as it’s online collaboration functions make this a SaaS solution. Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

Location-independent working with Dropmind

Seavus DropMind Web which saw it’s first release in 2009 is a mindmapping solution for visual thinking and facilitating online activities. Online mindmapping can help boost the productivity of both internal and external teams significantly. This can result in everybody having a better understanding of the situation and saving large amounts of time. Simultaneously mindmapping online together is used for several applications i.e. developing plans, starting projects, conduction meetings, quicker problem solving and creating team dashboards. It can be applied in two ways. A: you can arrange a fixed time where everybody, perhaps in different offices, works in the mindmap at the same time. This is also called location independent working. In the first case you boost the contact moments between the team members. In case two you also boost the teams general understanding of the situation.

Online mindmapping? Why use it?

Mindmapping is a thinking writing and memory technique that is used to generate, visualize, structure and classify ideas. It can improve your problem solving ability, your creativity and memory. By remembering information as mindmaps both the analytical (left) and hollistic (right) sides of your brain are used. Both are important to get a good overview of a project, strategy and actions. Online mindmapping best helps in the fields of knowledge management, brainstorming, project start ups and meetings. It is an intuitive way of storing knowledge, expanding it, sharing it and making it applicable.

DropMind Web looks very much like it’s desktop counterpart

Is there still a need for a desktop version?

Seavus DropMind is a relatively new mindmapping solution. The developer offers this Software as a Service with a lot of functionality for a moderate price. Compared to the other services available it’s quite inexpensive. Seavus markets DropMind as being identical to Mindjet’s MindManager but 5 times as cheap for personal use and up to 10 times as cheap for professional use. They have quite an aggressive marketing campaign to promote this.
For users who use mindmapping on a professional level in processes as project management, knowledge management, management information MindManager may be better because of the large amount of third party developed add-ins that add added value. Check www.mindmanageraddins.com for instance. Besides DropMind Web there is the previously mentioned desktop version which runs on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux (Ubuntu) as well as an iPad version. DropMind runs on Microsoft Siverlight. The Developers chose Silverlight for it’s ability to display complex graphic intefaces. This results in the webversion looking very much like it’s desktop counterparts. Some organization may not be able to install Silverlight rendering DropMind Web unsuitable.

Overlapping branches

Just like other mindmapping-tools the return button is employed to add branches at the same level and the insert button to add them on a deeper level. When using DropMind Web several things came to our attention. When adding several branches some can accidentally overlap each other creating some sort of a mess. This is quite interrupting when you are trying to structure your thoughts. Luckily there is a ‘balance topics’ function which solves the aforementioned problem and sorts the topics.

“this is by far our largest – and most time-consuming – redesign since our launch in 2007”

And that’s quite noticeable! The online mindmapping solution has several new functions and the existing product has been improved a lot as well. The testers of Hypershifters are happy to see the latter, some developers forget that adding new (great) functions doensn’t really improve a buggy application. MindMeister wasn’t buggy at all but could definitely be tweaked because quick navigating and tweaking big maps could be improved.

Fresh look & feel

When you see MindMeister (6) for the first time, you will immediately notice the user interface got an overhaul. While everything looks and feels new the position of most buttons is similar to ‘the old MindMeister’ that is good thing! Users profit from an updated product without having to worry they will have to spend an hour or two to get reacquainted with MindMeister.

User interface

The two most obvious changes relating to design are the layout of the mindmaps and the redesign of the toolbar on the right side of the screen called ‘properties’. The latter has shrunk, taking up less of the canvas while the functions inside are now easier to select. Users with (smaller) laptops will definitely benefit from this. For those who don’t like to see the propertiestab at all it’s also possible to minimize it.

Automatic layout of a mindmap

Another improvements is the ‘keep aligned’ function accessible trough a button placed in the area where the sharing, themes and export buttons are located. Although this removes the possibility to really place topics wherever you want it is a bit of a must to use. Sometimes topics where all over the canvas when creating (big) mindmaps. ‘Keep aligned’ allows you to concentrate on the information you want to enter in the mindmap without having to worry about the layout. The updated layout will make your mindmaps look a lot better and frankly, more like mindmaps.

Business application

MindMeister will also be more useful in a business setting. Being able to quickly convert a brain dump into a PowerPoint presentation or converting your team’s meeting minutes in a nicely structured Word document for example. The user can select the amount of information, such as hyperlinks which MindMeister should export. These functions will be welcomed by the professional mindmapping user and may make a desktop product obsolete for some.

Extending the use of MindMeister

MindMeister has not changed the different types of formats which can be imported. To avoid having to manually create a mindmap from large Word documents a great way to convert large pieces of text into MindMeister is the relatively new Word2Map add-in for Microsoft Word (Windows). It allows the user to select pieces of the text and assign them as either a main topic or topics on a deeper level as well as adding text as notes to topics. The plug-in generates a FreeMind file which can be quickly imported into MindMeister and saving precious time.

Conclusion

MindMeister has improved the current ‘MindMeister experience’ and paved the way for great features to come. The testers of Hypershifters are very happy with the improved MindMeister because users can benefit from it for free without having to buy an upgrade. There are still some desired functions missing such as: floating topics (for brainstorming), branches going from thick to thinner, an export to a spreadsheet and addingboundaries to topics for example.

Need some help with application of MindMeister in you daily work?

Already working with MindMeister but still feel like you it takes to much time to really create a mindmap in such way as you want? Check the forums. Or if you want to start using MindMeister in business in a more professional way like in projects, meetings or knowledge management sessions? Check out the Mindmeister classroom training of Academy of Minds for the Benelux area or ask them for a tailor made webinar session.

Click on the image below to see an online mindmap (created using a plug-in for MindManager for Windows) that shows the new features in a right-brain friendly way.

Since the website is launched a special offer of aHa!addins is available… The 6 aHa!addins are surely speeding up your work in MindManager combined with Microsoft® Office® Word® and Excel®. For instance  one is able to quickly generate an Gantt chart and tasklist in Excel or one can generate a matrix export.

Please have a look at MMDevX for this interesting offer.

Goalscape is a project Marcus first conceived 1998, when he wanted to deal with the complexities of sailing in a visual way. Since December 2008 he has been driving it forward with a great international team of co-creators based in Kiel (Marcus Baur), London (Richard Parslow), Bratislava (Tomas Lehuta & Franto Kormanak), Mumbai (Dr Malav Shroff) and Sydney (Emmett Lazich); and others; See HERE

Of Goalscape and Goalscape Connect Marcus says “it’s cool to live in times where this sort of collaboration is possible”.

As well as being a fully trained architect, Marcus is an accomplished professional sailor, having competed in the Sydney 2000 Olympics (5th place) and in Athens 2004 (9th place). Along the way he won 3 European Championships with two different crews (credits to Philip and Max) and finished in the top 5 at the World Championships 5 times.

Wallace Tait: Visualmapper
www.visualmapper.org

I find myself spending more times these days creating and putting up more information on the web for both the classes the I teach and the workshops that I facilitate. As a result, I am always looking for tools that will make it easier for me to accomplish these goals. I spend a lot of time using various mind mapping tools to brainstorm and communicate the ideas and information that I will cover in my sessions. I tend to use MindManager 9 now to create a lot of my materials and have been looking for a way to quickly be able to output my maps on the web. Several years ago I had reviewed aHa!Visual Web Export and found it to be an easy to use solution for moving my MindManager maps to the web. Since moving to MindManager 9 , I had a chance to take a look at the aHa!Visual Web Export plug-in which was recently updated to work with the latest version of Mindjet MindManager version 9.

Installing aHa!Visual Web Export was extremely simple process. To export your MindManager 9 mind map to the web you Select from the File Menu Export as Web Pages and then you will see an option to Export using the aHa!Visual Web Export plug in. While there are lots of ways to customize how the map will render on the web page- it is easy enough to select the default options and save your outputted files to a folder on your desktop. Once you save the outputted files you can simply upload them to your server to display them. I found the process very easy to do and within minutes I was able to view my map on the web. All of your notes and web page links are live when they are exported. You can click on this link to view the output from aHa!Visual Web Export. I would highly recommend aHa!Visual Web Export if you are looking for fast way to share your MindManager 9 maps to the web.