思维导图工具

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思维导图工具

我们人类的大脑充斥这各种思想。除非我们组织它们，否者我们很难关注重要的事情。组织和收集才智是一项富有挑战性的工作，因此头脑风暴法自然而然的被归纳出来。

试想当前的办公程序例如 word和 ppt，它们只提供了一种展示我们已经推理出思想（例如：有价值的想法），

并没有提供一种方法来有效的收集想法。一种新的快速增长的一类叫做思维导图工具正式为了解决这个问题。

正如名字所表达的，这些工具被特别的设计，目的是为了快速以图和层次链接的方式记下我们的思想，

并为闪现在我们脑中的看此无结构的灵感和想法规序。

对于linux下思维导图工具，下面介绍了FreeMind和XMind.

Free Mind

让我们探索一个这样的工具 FreeMind。这个工程以及迁移到 sourceForge，一个提供开源项目托管的大型网站。这个工具第一眼看上去可能有点吓人，因为左侧那个有一列图标的长长的工具条，其实它们仅仅是信息标示，而不是功能。

点新建按钮或者选择菜单 File>new开始。一个椭圆出现在屏幕中央。名字为 New Mindmap。点击它把状态转换为可编辑的文本域。这是根节点，思想的中心点。例如，编辑为 2008年，并且假设我们将要在着一年试用一个叫做 ubuntu操作系统。

请插入或者右键选择新建字节点。把这个字节点命名为 ubuntu。再次插入一个子节点写上标题“ Search the internet for installation guide.”在其他操作成型前保存 map。可以使用图标修饰原始的 map节点，右键 ubuntu节点选择 icon>linux.同样地，可以用旗帜修饰它的字节点用来突出显示。

除了 icons外，还其他的视觉辅助可以 map看起来更有意思的是物理样式。选中最后一个节点，按 enter添加一个兄弟节点，命名为“ ask a friend for Live CD” 并且右键选择它的物理格式为 Needs Action。注意现在这个节点是红色标志显示了它的不同。

Mind mapping并不是一次性的行为。它可以被用作跟踪一个进程的基本工具。

例如，这一周末，你找时间在你从互联网下载了一些 ubuntu安装教程，这些教程你要在接下来的一周参考。简单地，找到 map的相关节点，右键选择 Insert > Hyperlink.快捷键出现在标题的旁边，可以方便访问。选择一个文件和注解这个节点将显示一个红色的箭头。移动鼠标到这个节点，将会在状态栏显示文件名称和位置。因为这是一个超链接，因此它提供一个方便访问组织好思想的方法。

XMind

XMind是一款同样开源且跨平台的思维导图软件， XMind 在功能上一点也不逊色于 FreeMind ，某些方面， XMind 甚至更加具有优势。 XMind 支持中文简繁体。

XMind 的特点是具有多种结构样式，不只 Map 一种，还包括 Org、 Tree、 Logic Chart、 Fishbone 等等。同时，在 XMind 中，除了可以灵活的定制节点外观、插入图标外，还有多种样式和主题可以选择。

优点：开源、跨平台、支持 Eclipse，包括了一个大家共享导向图的平台。

一个示例图，感謝作者。

Mind Mapping Tools

By hassam

Our minds are full of thoughts. And unless we organise them, it is difficult to focus on important matters. This also becomes a challenge when collective intelligence has to be gathered or exercises, such as when brainstorming sessions are to be conducted.

Though the current office applications like Word processors and presentation tools provide a way to demonstrate already processed ideas (that is, meaningful thoughts), they do not provide ways to effectively gather ideas. This is where a new and rapidly growing genre of software called Mind Mapping tools enters.

As the name suggests, these tools are specifically designed for the purpose of jotting down thoughts in form of a map with hierarchical links to create order out of apparently unstructured thoughts and ideas hovering in our minds.

Free Mind

FreeMind is a premier free mind-mapping(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map ) software written in Java. The recent development has hopefully turned it into high productivity tool. We are proud that the operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster than that of MindManager because of one-click "fold / unfold" and "follow link" operations.

So you want to write a completely new metaphysics ? Why don't you use FreeMind? You have a tool at hand that remarkably resembles the tray slips of Robert Pirsig, described in his sequel to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance called Lila. Do you want to refactor your essays in a similar way you would refactor software? Or do you want to keep personal knowledge base , which is easy to manage? Why don't you try FreeMind? Do you want to prioritize , know where you are, where you've been and where you are heading , as Stephen Covey would advise you? Have you tried FreeMind to keep track of all the things that are needed for that?

Let us explore one such tool called Free Mind for Windows. A one-time Project of the Month over Source Forge, this is a site offering a huge collection of open-source software. This tool can look a little intimidating at first as it presents a left side bar with a list of icons - which are just for info marking, not for functionality.

Start with pressing the New button on toolbar or File > New. An oval shape appears in the middle of the screen with a caption New Mindmap. Click it to covert the shape to editable text field. This is the root node, that is, the focal thought point. Call it Year 2008 for example, and assume we want to try a new operating system Ubuntu this year.

Press Insert or use r-click to select New Child Node. Name this child node as Ubuntu. Press Insert again to add a note with caption "Search the internet for installation guide." Save the map before other operations could be formed. Making use of icons to visually guide this very primitive map, r-click the Ubuntu node and select Icon > Linux. Similarly, place the icon of Flag on its sub-node to show an outstanding item.

For further emphasis, node appearance can be modified to one's wishes with the options of colours, background and edges. Continue to transfer all the outstanding tasks from your mind onto the visual map this way, making use of indicative icons for quick reference. If at any time you feel overwhelmed by the size of the structure, use the plus and minus buttons at the top to fold or unfold levels, so that focus can be retained at higher levels or at minute details as and when required.

At times, there could be some relationship among the nodes other than parent-child or sibling. For example, searching for an online reference resource and asking your colleague for a report on the same subject can be two distinct sibling nodes under Project Report node. However, assume that you have to verify the contents of colleague's report from your own internet reference material. Such links can be captured by selecting both the nodes and selecting Insert > Graphical Link which draws an arrow from first to the second selected node.

When the mind map expands and requires scrolling, graphical links can be very useful. There is also an option to create hyperlinks between the nodes themselves using the Insert menu. This comes in handy to jump instantly from one node to another when two nodes share some common information under different parent nodes.

Obviously, this map mechanism is of little use if all we could capture in our nodes is its name and links. Thankfully, there is an option of notes. Select a node, go to menu Insert and select Note. From now on, selecting this particular node will result in notes area at the bottom of the screen. Make sure to move your mouse to this area without hovering over any other node otherwise notes area will disappear.

Now we discuss a mind mapping tool for Ubuntu, called View Your Mind. It also starts with a root node in the middle. Adding an icon is fairly easy as all it takes is a click at the toolbar at the top, and multiple icons can be added as well. Addition of notes is simple using View > Show Notes Editor that opens a separate window and adds a clickable icon inside the node. The export option is something to be noted here as it allows XML as well as TXT or image.

A question may arise here though: how is mind mapping different from note taking which has grown in popularity as a new kind of software. The foremost difference is orientation. Notes do not display a cohesive picture with graphical layout. Furthermore, in mind mapping, different maps can be created for different projects or assignments.

Tools such as mind mappers are only as good as the users use and implement them.