{"id":599,"date":"2007-01-26T13:21:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-26T19:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.redmonk.com\/cote\/2007\/01\/26\/mindmapping-with-bubblus\/"},"modified":"2007-01-26T13:21:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-26T19:21:00","slug":"mindmapping-with-bubblus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/2007\/01\/26\/mindmapping-with-bubblus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mindmapping with bubbl.us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Bubbl.Us-1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Both Craig<\/a> and Dan<\/a> were kind enough to send me links to bubbl.us<\/a> a Flash-based mindmapping tool online. It’s pretty! Unfortunately, like most web apps, it doesn’t quite move as quickly as a desktop app. Maybe it’s my old laptop (last of the G4’s!), but the movement through the app impedes me using it. Now, I’m used to MindJet’s MindManager<\/a>, so maybe I’m spoiled.<\/p>\n

Also, with mind mapping tools, I’ve found that there’s a steep key learning curve between each app. Keyboard lock-in! For example, in bubbl.us hitting Enter creates a child, while in MindManager it creates a sibling. I forget what FreeMind<\/a> does.<\/p>\n

So, naturally, it takes some getting used to when you switch mind mapping tools. Mind mapping software usability, as the preceding implies, rests largely on how well the key-boarding works: which keys you choose for what (create a child, create a sibling, create a parent, edit the text, etc.) and how fast those keys respond.<\/p>\n

The other thing missing from bubbl.us is an export. The only way I could find to export my map was to print and then use OS X’s native print to PDF. As a side-note, I can’t tell how many times that pattern is a crutch for “exporting” content.<\/p>\n

Now, that’s all overly harsh. In my mind, what I’m seeing is a great start at becoming a platform for bubbl.us. For example, when I heard about it, the first thing I was hoping for was the ability to import MindManager maps and share them on the web. Now, that’d be fantastic! I’m always angling for platforms for this reason: I’ve got all the data, I just need platforms on the public web to link and expose and allow others to view and link to it. Of course, collaborating around it, as Dan<\/a> pointed out in the case of mind maps, would be super-duper.<\/p>\n

Realtime, multi-user mind maps. Now that’d be awesome.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags: mindmaps<\/a>, mindmanager<\/a>, bubbl.us<\/a>, mindjet<\/a>, freemind<\/a>, reviews<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brief look at bubbl.us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-analyst-life"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redmonk.com\/cote\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}