Tools of the craft: Mind mapping (I)

Using paper and pencil to diagram your mind map is just fine if you don’t mind running out of space in the middle of the process. Online tools provide writers with simple, easy to use, free online tools that help create mind maps in virtually no time. Some of my favorites are listed below.

1.    MindMeister. It’s a powerful, user-friendly tool that includes quite interesting features. It allows you, for example, to export your mind maps as a Microsoft Word outline, as a .pdf document or as an image. It’s also compatible with other mind mapping commercial programs. You can also share your maps with other people, either to work with them in collaborative projects, or to provide mutual feedback on your progress. Maps are automatically saved to MindMeister’s server when you close your workspace.

2.    Mindomo. This tool lets you diagram up to seven maps for free. Its layout is complex, but easy to go about. One of the assets of this resource is that it allows users to upload images, video and text onto the map. It also provides a spell checker that can be very useful. However, one of its major flaws is that it does nor support exports, so the only way to transfer map contents to another file is by copying and pasting them as images.

3.    WiseMapping. Another good free option online. The interface is friendly and somehow tasteful. It has a fewe exporting options (.pdf and image files). You can also save your files to the server. Mac users will be disappointed to know it WiseMapping does not support Safari.