On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 6:09 PM, Terry Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I used FreeMind before I started using leo, and I really don't think > the 'mindmap' is significantly different to leo's tree with clones. > Neither one is a truly cyclic graph of the kind you need for > generalized networks and RDF type applications. Have a look at > http://cmap.ihmc.us/conceptmap.html which is a free Concept Map tool. > I think that mindmaps are a sort of informal light weight version of > Concept Maps, which are a more formal / full system of knowledge > mapping. And they involved cyclic graphs. I'm not interested in mindmapping for the purpose of full knowledge mapping, I want it for an interface that's radial and allows grouping. What I want is an interface with a central concept node, that distributes branches radially around the center, then lets me drag those nodes around to hook them onto other nodes as children. Plus clones. The radial arrangement represents a lack of linear ordering assumptions a la brainstorming. There's a good explanation of mindmapping in the introductory paragraph at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map For me, other functions follow on from the interface as such -- and there are many functions that would make the mindmapping interface more useful, to the extent of working as a central metaphor/interface of an operating system. I think an existing mindmapping application that adds clones would move quickly in that direction. Radial is the word. -- not stacked nodes on either side of a central node, bowtie-style, as in Freemind -- though Freemind is what I use right now. I used to use Mind Manager, but that's proprietary and I can't share mindmaps and encourage their use as freely with that. I might try and make a graph style editor for nodes in leo-qt. I glued > a tk-graph editor on to leo-tk, but it wasn't very pretty (the > graphed.py plugin). I made a simple graph editor on a GTK canvas and > it really wasn't hard, so I don't suppose it will be hard in qt either. > > Having said all that, you say "...key to moving towards > something more like an operating system", and not knowing what you mean > by that, it may be you have some other aspect of mindmaps in mind. To > me leo seems much closer to being an "operating system" than FreeMind > didn, but (a) I don't like Java, and (b) I haven't looked at freemind > for a few years, so that may be why. Yes, Leo is indeed closer to an operating system. I think mindmapping would move towards that, and Leo would gain greater adoption, if a good mindmapping interface were provided for the Leo data structure. For one thing, that would instantly become a dominant competitor for FreeMind, which is much loved. I would predict accolades from all the programmers in the free software community and a lot of buzz for both areas -- Leo style editing and mindmapping. Seth > Cheers -Terry > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "leo-editor" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/leo-editor?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
