NovaMind News

Another significant step towards the release of NovaMind 5 was achieved yesterday with the release of the first version of the technology preview for Mac. Here are some screen shots of some of the significant features:

We invented the concept of the Rainbow Coloring so that you could automatically have colorful Mind Maps. This is still a strong point to this day, with many people saying that they love not having to think about the colors, and yet automatically getting interesting, colorful Mind Maps. So we decided to improve on the concept in several important ways. Firstly, we added the ability to alter the brightness of the colors to give you finer control, and secondly, we added the ability to have alternating colors, so every second topic has its color taken from the opposite side of the colorwheel. This avoids a problem with the rainbow coloring where the adjacent topics are almost identical in color. This allows you to do things like this:

But this left an issue we were keen to address, and that is that some people only want some colors on their topics, so we invented another new way of coloring the subtopics automatically, and that is called Interpolated coloring. You have a color ring which you can drop colors on. You can have as many colors as you like, and it will interpolate between the colors like this:

But often you just want a set of specific colors, so we invented yet another coloring mechanism, which is called the Color Set. You can add as many colors as you like to the set, and NovaMind will cycle through the colors and apply them to the children. For instance, if you wanted alternating colors to make it easy to follow the subtopics, you could have just two colors in your colorset. Here’s an example with 3 colors:

Together, these options give you massive amounts of control over the automatic coloring, but there was one more limitation, and that is that in earlier versions of NovaMind, you could only set the coloring on the Mind Map title, so we changed that so you can now you can have automatic children coloring set on any topic.

So let’s talk a bit about topics.

We have introduced a number of new topic shapes as you can see here:

The last four topics are of particular interest, seeing as they are what we call Custom Topic Shapes. When you select that option, you can select each of the for quadrants individually and set it to be angled left or right, chamfered, square, or rounded. This gives you a massive amount of flexibility to make your Mind Maps say what you want them to say.

We are also showing some new topic coloring options, like this gradient fill:

And if you want something that gives you even more control and flexibility, you can create a detailed gradient like the one shown here.

I guess that is a bit of an extreme example, but it gives you and idea of the power of the fill options.

We also have the layout options like what we have in the Windows Technology Preview – this image shows you what they look like in the Mac version.

So that’s just a few of the things that are new in the NovaMind 5 Technology Preview for Mac. This release marks a very significant step in the development process. The progress has been really good over the last few weeks, and we are expecting to make good progress from here on in as we attend to bugs and implementing the rest of the functionality to get it ready for release.

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The NovaMind Windows development team have been very busy getting the next stages of the development complete and rolled out to the technology preview. In the last few weeks, the following things have been added to the technology preview of NovaMind 5 for Windows.

You can now attach as many hyperlinks as you like to topics, and can also attach files as embedded files.

You can attach as many files as you like to each topic, and they are embedded so that when you send a NovaMind file to someone else, the embedded files go with it automatically, and then can be extracted by the other person. Although most Mind Mapping software allows you to add hyperlinks to topics, and some allow file attachments, NovaMind is unique in allowing you multiple of them on a siingle topic.

There is also a new ‘Automatic’ text color which will pick the most appropriate text color based on the text background (this is now the default). Of course if you select the color specifically, it will honor your color. This is one less thing you need to think about when you are creating and editing your Mind Maps.

We also have single click editing and “select and type” editing of topics. This is also there in the Mac version.

Plugin support has just got way better with the introduction of the ability for a plugin to insert custom ribbon tabs, buttons and menu items.

Importers have been added for the following file formats:

- New: Basic NovaMind 3/4 import.
- New: MindManager 7/8 import.
- New: XMind import.
- New: FreeMind import.
- New: OPML import.

Late last year, Chuck Frey of Innovation tools did a survey of the most improved Mind Mapping software, and NovaMind came second in the survey. This is an impressive result, considering that NovaMind 5, which is set to revolutionize the Mind Mapping software market, has not yet been released on either Windows or Mac, and not even fully previewed on Mac yet.

Even without the release of NovaMind 5, NovaMind was only 6% behind the winner, which makes NovaMind almost certain to be the most improved Mind Mapping software for 2010.

Another very interesting thing is that NovaMind is now the second most recognized Mind Mapping software available, putting it in an excellent position for moving swiftly into first place, both in brand recognition and feature set.

These results are even more significant because NovaMind did not even mention the survey in any of their newsletters, or do much more than post a simple blog post a few days before the close of the survey.

Chuck Frey says:

Gideon King and his development team at NovaMind have been relentless in pushing the envelope in terms of what’s possible with mind mapping software. It’s really cool to see that you, the readers of this blog, recognize their efforts, by [voting] NovaMind the second most improved mind mapping program in 2009 – and, significantly, only 6% behind MindManager!

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind says:

This recognition of NovaMind as one of the two top Mind Mapping programs is very rewarding, especially as we are still putting the finishing touches to NovaMind 5, and only a few people have seen it so far. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program on Mac for the last 7 years, but much of the recent interest in NovaMind has stemmed from the technical preview of NovaMind 5 on Windows, showing that we are right on track in both the Windows and Mac markets.

Rewriting NovaMind from the ground up based on user feedback from the last 7 years has been a huge task, but this survey really shows that going right back to basics, and building the Mind Mapping solution that everyone wants, was the right decision to make. This is just a small taste of things to come, once NovaMind 5 is released.

We would like to thank all those who supported NovaMind by voting for NovaMind in the survey.

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way people think — they organize the information in the same way our brains organize information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses.

NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use.

NovaMind 5 is set to take Mind Mapping beyond where any Mind Mapping software has been before, making Mind Mapping even more powerful, intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at Gideon/at/novamind.com.

NovaMind had a strong presence at the BETT show in London, with a huge amount of interest being shown by many school districts, schools, and individual teachers in the capabilities in NovaMind.

There was particular interest in the new layout engine in NovaMind 5, with the unique ability to lay out the topics at any angle, and to keep the Mind Maps compact at all times, while allowing the user to place topics wherever they want. Also the coloring systems to make the Mind Maps look interesting and yet keep them consistent and looking good were very popular. Most of the demonstrations were done on the Windows version of NovaMind which has been in Technical Preview stage since October, and is therefore already pretty well tested and running smoothly.

A number of current users of the Mac version of NovaMind came by to have a look at what is coming in NovaMind 5, and were impressed with the new inspector system and ease of access to the advanced features of NovaMind 5 while keeping the program easy to use. The technical preview for Mac is expected to be released by the end of January, giving our Mac users the opportunity to try out the new features of NovaMind 5, while we continue to put the finishing touches to it ready for release.

Here’s a picture of Gideon King, founder of NovaMind at the NovaMind stand before the show began:

There are only a few days left to vote for the most improved Mind Mapping software for 2009.

We’d love your support by you voting for NovaMind.

Just click on this link http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CKBMN76 to vote.

I know this is a bit of a tricky one since we have not actually released NovaMind 5 yet, but you can see the thought that has gone into the design from the videos and the technology preview, so it would be great if you could lend your support by voting for NovaMind.

Thanks – much appreciated.

NovaMind will have a stand at the BETT show in London. Amongst the team manning the stand will be both NovaMind’s founder Gideon King and Cathy Schneider, NovaMind Marketing Manager for Europe, and we’d love the opportunity to talk with you, so if you are in the area of the Olympia stadium between the 13th and 16th of January, please do pop in and say hello.

We will be demonstrating NovaMind 5 technical preview for both Windows and Mac at the show, and we would be happy to be able to show you what’s coming. You can visit us at stand SW107.

Learn more about the BETT Show and register online for FREE

Transcription

Bonjour, je suis Cathy Schneider, Marketing Manager Europe chez NovaMind. Aujourd’hui, je souhaiterais vous présenter quelques nouvelles fonctionnalités de mise en page que vous pourrez retrouver très prochainement dans NovaMind 5

Un des problèmes majeurs avec les cartes heuristiques, ou autrement appelés Mind Maps, est quelles deviennent immenses très rapidement, et tous les logiciels existants ne règlent en rien ce problème.

Nous avons testé l’ensemble des logiciels de Mind Mapping présents sur le marché et vérifié si l’un d’eux offrait une bonne mise en page et évitait ce problème de perte de place. Devinez ce que nous avons découvert ? Oui, c’est exact, AUCUN d’entre-eux n’offrent une mise en page digne de ce nom. Je suis persuadée que si vous utilisez déjà un des ces logiciels vous êtes pénalisés par ce problème.

Alors qu’il devrait en fait s’agir d’un élément fondamental d’une application de Mind Mapping, n’est ce pas ?

Voici à quoi cela ressemble avec les autres logiciel de Mind Mapping (ici, il s’agit d’un produit concurrent, et si vous l’avez déjà utilisé, ou bien même un autre, vous avez expérimenté ce problème) – vous ajoutez des sujets, des sous-sujets et cela déplace considérablement les autres sujets, laissant de large espace inutilisé, comme ici…

Et cela s’accentue dès lors que vous avez plusieurs sujets et sous sujets qui se développent sur plusieurs niveaux, cela pousse l’ensemble et ressemble à ca.

Vous ajoutez un nouveau sujet, qui ne pourra en aucun être positionné prés d’un autre avec tout un ensemble de sous sujet qui ne pourront de toute façon pas s’entre mêler mais qui vous font gaspiller un espace considérable sur votre Mind Map

Chez NovaMind, nous nous sommes dit que nous ne pouvions laisser cette imperfection et nous avons décidé de vous proposer quelque chose de bien mieux que ca

Voici quelques unes des nouvelles fonctions de mise en page disponibles dans NovaMind 5

Cette vidéo est réalisé en utilisant une version Alpha de NovaMind 5, il se peut donc que ce vous voyez aujourd’hui diffère quelque peut avec la version qui sera commercialisée. Mais en regardant cette vidéo aujourd’hui, découvrez l’innovation et prenez connaissance des avantages de la toute nouvelle mise en page de NovaMind 5.

Il y a 4 types principaux d’objets dans vos Mind Maps :

• les sujets
• les bulles d’annotations
• les sujets flottants
• et les formes

Aujourd’hui, nous allons nous intéresser uniquement aux sujets. Pour NovaMind 5, nous avons travaillé sur l’un des principes majeurs, à savoir, garder l’ensemble de vos mind maps le plus compact possible et éviter une perte d’espace totalement inutilisable.

Vous pouvez noter, qu’avec NovaMind 5 si vous ajoutez des sous-sujets ici, les sujets eux-mêmes se positionnent de façon à ce que les lignes de connections s’effleurent sans jamais se toucher, seul l’espace nécessaire à séparer visuellement les sujets entre eux est utiliser.

Mais que se passe-t-il lorsque l’on écrit dans le sujet du dessous ?

Comme vous pouvez le voir, lorsque l’on modifie le sujet, l’écart se referme et lorsque l’on écrit, le sujet est déplacé de façon à utiliser le minimum d’espace nécessaire.

Cela est encore plus évident lorsque vous utilisez un sujet de forme ovale.

Si vous réduisez le sujet, les autres s’adaptent ensemble de façon à rester les plus compacts possibles.

Maintenant, si vous redimensionnez votre sujet, l’ensemble s’écarte automatiquement. Les autres logiciels de Mind Mapping ne vous permettent même pas de redimensionner vos sujets comme vous le souhaitez. NovaMind 5 le peut et vous donne la possibilité de les redimensionner élégamment.

Désormais, vos Mind Maps gardent automatiquement la dimension minimum et la plus compact possible sans que vous n’ayez à vous en préoccuper.

Maintenant, intéressons nous à un autre de vos besoins précédemment plébiscité ; avoir la possibilité de disposer vos sujets de haut en bas dans une arborescence. Voici comment nous y avons répondu…

Avant cela, je me permets de vous rappeler que nous utilisons une version Alpha pour cette vidéo et que l’aspect actuel sera certainement modifié avant la commercialisation, mais cela vous permet d’avoir un 1er aperçu sur cette fonctionnalité.

Vous pouvez désormais aller de la droite vers la gauche comme ceci…

Vers le haut…

Mais nous voulions faire plus que cela et vous donner encore plus de flexibilité dans la mise en page, nous avons donc ajouté la possibilité de choisir également l’angle d’inclinaison que vous souhaitez. Regardons cela dans une autre Mind Map…

Bien sur, cela rend la mise en page de NovaMind 5 bien supérieur à n’importe quel autre logiciel de mind mapping actuellement disponible.

Nous avons souhaité allez encore plus loin, et ne pas avoir cette flexibilité de mise en page disponible uniquement depuis le sujet central de la Mind Map, mais également possible à partir de chacun des sujets, vous pouvez désormais faire ceci…

Dorénavant, vous avez une flexibilité encore inégalée par aucun autre programme de mind mapping, cela vous permet toutes les mises en page de mind maps, exactement comme vous les souhaitez.

Pour les deux mises en page les plus traditionnelles, à savoir horizontales et verticales, NovaMind 5 vous offre la mise en page la plus compact du marché. Nous vous offrons également la flexibilité de modifier vos sujets et sous sujets automatiquement sous l’angle voulu et de garder ainsi vos mind maps les plus compactes possible même inclinées.

…mais nous ne nous arrêtons pas la.

Nous vous proposons la fonction ultime. Il est absolument remarquable d’avoir cette flexibilité de mise en page, mais nous souhaitons souvent déplacer un sujet et le positionner a un endroit bien précis. Et que se passe-t-il ? Les différents sujets se chevauchent, et nous devons déplacer tous les autres sujets un a un.

Maintenant, vous pouvez positionner vos sujets ou bon vous semble, le logiciel garde le contrôle et adieu les chevauchements intempestifs.

Si maintenant je bouge mon sujet ici, les autres sujets quant à eux restent ou nous le souhaitions.

Si vous mettez un sujet au dessus d’un autre, il sera automatique déplacé.

Si vous ajoutez un sujet qui en pousse d’autres, ils seront automatiquement déplacés mais garderons leur liens avec les sujets-parents. Vous n’avez plus à vous soucier des chevauchements inopportuns.

Voici une des raisons pour laquelle nous sommes vraiment impatients de vous proposer NovaMind 5!

 

 NovaMind 5 topic layout (French): Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Brisbane, Australia. 9th December 2009:

With the significant amount of interest that has been generated by NovaMind 5, it became necessary to expand the NovaMind sales and marketing teams worldwide. As part of that expansion, NovaMind are pleased to announce that we now have a full time European presence with the hiring of Cathy Schneider, as the NovaMind Marketing Manager for Europe. She will be working with the rest of the sales and marketing team to address the needs of our European customers.

Cathy brings a wealth of experience, having worked as a marketing manager for Mindjet, selling MindManager in Europe, and therefore is thoroughly familiar with Mind Mapping. She also brings experience as a business manager, sales manager and after sales manager, and is fluent in French, German and English.

Cathy says “I’m very excited to be joining NovaMind at such a fundamental time where I can leverage the full spectrum of my experience. I see tremendous continued opportunity for NovaMind and look forward to helping the company expand its product line, increase its brand awareness and reach new customers.”

One of the first things Cathy did upon joining the team was to translate one of the videos about NovaMind 5 into French, and the resulting video is available at this URL: http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php#topiclayout

NovaMind founder, Gideon King said “NovaMind 5 is a complete redesign of our Mind Mapping software from the ground up, and it is great to see the huge level of interest out there. It has become obvious that nobody else in the market is addressing the fundamental needs of Mind Mappers. This has generated a lot of interest in NovaMind 5, and the need to grow our sales and marketing team significantly.

We are delighted to be able to welcome Cathy to the team to firmly establish our presence in Europe. She brings with her the experience of working with MindManager for several years, and is therefore able to both be up to speed on Mind Mapping principles and uses, as well as seeing the unique advantages of NovaMind.”

Cathy is available to take enquiries from companies and individuals from the UK and Europe, and can be reached at cathy@novamind.com . She will also be at the NovaMind stand at the BETT show at the Olympia stadium in London, 13th to 16th January 2010 – stand SW107.

It was recently announced that there would be integration between NovaMind and iThoughts, giving you the capability to exchange files between these two top of the range Mind Mapping applications.

This video shows you how easy it is to transfer MindMaps back and forth between NovaMind and iThoughts. The demonstration is done using NovaMind for Mac, but works equally well with NovaMind for Windows.

For further information about iThoughts, and to get your copy of NovaMind or iThoughs, please visit http://www.novamind.com/ithoughts

 

 Podcast Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bruce Eisner of the Mindware blog joins the likes of Chuck Frey and many others in his praise for the upcoming NovaMind 5. He says

I believe that NovaMind in its new Version 5 is will now be ranked in the top tier of software programs in the mind mapping genre .. and it may be heading for the Number 1 position.

The MindWare blog is a highly respected source, and has been blogging about software for Self-Improvement, Personal Development and Success since 2004.

Bruce is mentions in particluar, the layout engine: “NovaMind’s map layout engine has been completely rewritten in version 5 to maintain a compact map layout. [The program is] … quite efficient, maintaining a clean map layout while preventing topic overlaps and eliminating much wasted space. If one topic threatens to intrude on another, the first topic moves out of the way just enough to accommodate it…Most mind mapping programs limit where you can place topics. Some enable you to drag and drop them within certain prescribed limits, while others are more rigid and don’t enable you to move topics around the workspace at all. In contrast, you can move topics wherever you want in NovaMind 5, and the program will honor where you place them.”

To ready the entire article and other posts, head on over to the Mindware blog

Integrating Mind Mapping Techniques with Microsoft Project and Microsoft Project Server, Creating Powerful New Project Management Tool

Bonn, Brisbane, Phoenix – September 16, 2009 – A powerful new combination of project planning software packages, enabling business managers to develop comprehensive project plans in even faster and more effective ways, was announced today by Wodey Informationssysteme and NovaMind Software. ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5, developed by Wodey Informationssysteme, Bonn, Germany, and NovaMind Software, Australia, elegantly couples the latest business mapping software, “NovaMind 5”, with the latest “Microsoft Office Project”, letting enterprise teams plan, map, track and clearly understand their activities as never before.

For more information and screenshots of the new plugin in action, please visit http://www.novamind.com/projectlinker

Through ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5, project plans and data are bi-directionally synchronized between NovaMind and Microsoft Office Project as well as Microsoft Project Server. This allows organizations to gain unprecedented visibility into their resources, as all projects, complex and small, can be tracked in Microsoft Office Project Server. The solution now makes it faster and easier to report project status in a visual intuitive format to executives and client stakeholders. Without further training, business managers will have access to resource availability during the initial planning phases resulting better business decisions, more accurate plans and more realistic expectations.

ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5 offers business leaders clarity and transparency in their project portfolios. Additionally, teams can record project history, status, and multi-project overviews – all with graphical indicators to enhance visual reporting. The use of ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5 for project planning can accelerate the deployment of Microsoft Project Server 2007. Due to its powerful, yet easy planning capabilities, even the smallest projects can be planned and tracked in Microsoft Office Project Server.

ProjectLINKER for NovaMind 5 will be presented for the first time in the Microsoft Office Project Conference, September 14 – 17 2009 in Phoenix, AZ. Wodey Informationssysteme will demonstrate the tool during the conference and will have a booth in the exhibition hall as well. Also, both companies, Wodey Informationssysteme and NovaMind will announce their partnership on the Project Conference. In Germany, the product will be presented on the Microsoft exhibition stand on the “discuss & discover” – platform from October 20 – 22, 2009 in Munich, as Wodey Informationssysteme is going to be one of the 20 Microsoft partners in Germany.

The German and English product versions of ProjectLINKER for NovaMind will be available soon. Please keep yourself updated through http://www.novamind.com/projectlinker

About Wodey Informationssysteme

Wodey Informationssysteme is being valued as a leading specialist in the field of enterprise-wide implementation of visual and holistic project management programmes. The service portfolio ranges from a first analysis, over the to-be-concept and a pilot model to the realisation of the project. After the implementation process customer-specific requests will be fulfilled and all parties involved will be trained according to their different roles and responsibilities. Wodey Informationssysteme offers training and coaching programmes as well as support for professional project management.

The company is a Microsoft Premier Project Partner, and has a lot of experience with Mind Mapping, having previously developed a version of ProjectLinker for Mind Manager, but have now stopped developing for Mind Manager, in favor of working with NovaMind. Reiner Wodey, Managing Director, holds a membership at the Microsoft Partner Advisory Council in Redmond, USA. Wodey Informationssysteme is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and is being represented in 13 additional countries. For more information, visit www.wodey.de

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind 5 is set to take Mind Mapping beyond where any Mind Mapping software has been before, making Mind Mapping even more powerful, intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at Gideon/at/novamind.com.

NovaMind are pleased to announce that we are working with the developers of iThoughts Mind Mapping software for iPhone and iPod Touch to bring two way exchange of files from both NovaMind for Windows and NovaMind for Mac. The integration is currently undergoing internal testing right now, and already supports the exchange of Mind Maps including:

• Text
• Notes
• Hyperlinks
• Topic position
• Color
• Shape
• Percentage complete
• Priority
• Collapsed status

This integration further extends the reach of NovaMind, meaning that we have integration between NovaMind and both the top Mind Mapping applications on the iPhone: iBlueSky and iThoughts.

We have heard from our customers that many of them have one or both of these applications, and find them very useful for Mind Mapping on the go. NovaMind’s founder, Gideon King said “we believe this shows the power of partnerships, where we are now able to bring our customers easy access to the two best Mind Mapping applications on iPhone and iPod Touch, allowing people the choice of software to use on their iPhone, secure in the knowledge that it will work with NovaMind.”

The first public release of the new version of iThoughts including NovaMind support is expected in a few weeks, and will be available as a free update for existing iThoughts customers. It will work with the current version of NovaMind.

Chuck Frey, author of the Mind Mapping Software Blog just posted his exclusive preview of NovaMind 5, entitled “Exclusive preview of NovaMind 5: New version offers a wealth of innovative new features”.

In his article, Chuck says that NovaMind “have always been innovators in this software genre, but they’ve outdone themselves this time, incorporating many new features and enhancements that are like nothing you’ve ever seen in mind mapping software before”.

When commenting about the new mind map layout engine in NovaMind 5, he said that it was efficient, maintaining a clean map layout while preventing topic overlaps and eliminating much wasted space. He also contrasted the freedom you have to place topics where you want them, with the rigidity of other Mind Mapping applications which have little or no control over topic placement.

He mentions some of the many new features in NovaMind 5 like multiple topic images on a single topic, and the more powerful shapes, which “enable you to add some unique visual enhancements to your maps”.

He talks about the new powerful plugin architecture of NovaMind 5, and the comments from developers working with the plugins, about how easy it is to interface with NovaMind.

To close the article, he comments “I appreciate the innovation and passion that Gideon and his team have poured into NovaMind during the last few years. The results are quite impressive, and continue to push the envelope as far as what’s possible with mind mapping software!”

To read the full article, please go to http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/exclusive-preview-of-novamind-5.

To find out more about the features of NovaMind 5, and watch videos about the new version, please visit http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php

NovaMind Software has just released a new video at http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php highlighting the problems with Mind Map layout present in all other Mind Mapping software currently available on the market, and the solution NovaMind has developed for the “space explosion” problem. One of the major problems with Mind Maps is that they get huge, pretty quickly. And all the software that’s out there at the moment makes it worse.

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind, says “I have tested just about every piece of Mind Mapping software out there to see if anyone had a good layout system to avoid the space explosion problem…NONE of them have a decent layout system. I’m sure that if you’ve used any of the Mind Mapping software currently out there, you have suffered from this [space explosion] problem.”

He goes on to suggest that the layout of the Mind Map should really be the fundamental building block of any Mind Mapping application.

In the video, he demonstrates the magnitude of the issues in other Mind Mapping applications, and then shows how NovaMind 5 has been designed to keep the Mind Maps compact at all times. This is true even when editing topics in such a way as they bump into other topics. The other topics are only moved by the minimum amount required to ensure that the topics don’t collide.

He then goes on to demonstrate several other features of NovaMind 5 that are not available in any other Mind Mapping application, like the ability to alter the angle at which the topics are stacked, both for the Mind Map title, and at any level of the Mind Map, and the ability to move topics to wherever the user desires. This is coupled with a system that honors the position that other topics are in, except where they overlap, and even then, only moves them by the minimum amount necessary to avoid collision, and honors as far as possible, the relative positions of the topics.

Mr King says “These layout capabilities are just one part of NovaMind 5, which is already generating a huge amount of interest in the market. The layout system is one of the core foundations of the product, and is clearly superior to anything else available. It lets you get on with your brainstorming and task management, secure in the knowledge that NovaMind is keeping your topics in the best possible position for your needs. It’s the perfect combination of power, flexibility, and ease of use.”

The video, and more information about NovaMind 5 is available at http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way people think — they organize the information in the same way our brains organize information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at gideon(at)novamind.com.

 

 Podcast Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Here is another video about NovaMind 5 – this one deals with topic editing and resizing, and image placement and resizing. Enjoy!

More information about NovaMind 5 is available at http://www.novamind.com/features/nm5.php

 

 Flash Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Mind Maps are an excellent tool for helping sufferers of ADHD / ADD because they allow you to jump around to different topics quickly and easily, organize information, focus on what is important, and explain your ideas to other people in terms that they can understand. I have just posted a brief article and Mind Map about ADHD and Mind Mapping at http://www.squidoo.com/adhd-mind-maps

Enjoy!

Last week, Chuck Frey posted an article on the Mind Mapping Software blog, entitled 8 little-known things you can do with NovaMind, which I recommend you read…and I thought I would give you some bonus ideas here too.

These apply to NovaMind 4 only (NovaMind 5 has a significantly improved user interface).

Here are your 6 bonus NovaMind Mind Mapping tips:

1. Sidebar Customization in Windows: Show the sidebar with the image library, adornments, notes etc by clicking on the relevant icon at the bottom right of the window. Resize the width to your preference. Hide it away by clicking the X in the top right corner of the panel.
2. Palette Options on Mac: Drag the palettes to reorder them, minimize them using the “-” button, flip them using the arrow icon at the top right of the palette to see the advanced options. In the Pro and Platinum editions, drag them off to become floating windows, stack them to connect them as a single floating window, click the “x” button to close the floating palette and return it to the palette panel. Hide the palette panel completely by using the minimize triangle at the top of the palettes panel.
3. Mac Toolbar: Hide the toolbar by clicking the lozenge shaped button at the top right of the window. Click it again to show the toolbar.
4. Template Chooser: If you don’t want to see the template chooser when starting NovaMind, you can turn it off in the Preferences. You can still create a Mind Map from a template by using the “File / New From Template” option.
5. More Images: If you have not downloaded the image libraries, go to the supporting files page for Windows or Mac and download and install them. The image libraries will give you a huge selection of images (1,400 for Express and Pro, and 2,300 for Platinum) that you can just drag on to your Mind Map.
6. Create your own Templates: (Pro and Platinum) Save your Mind Maps as Templates so you can easily reuse them – they will then show up in the template chooser when you create a new Mind Map from a template.

I hope this helps you get more out of NovaMind. Happy Mind Mapping!

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“Power Brainstorming: Great Ideas at Lightning Speed” by brainstorming expert Hazel Wagner draws on her wide range of experience as a mathematician, business owner, public speaker and consultant to Fortune 100 companies, to produce a book that covers everything required to conduct individual and group brainstorming sessions.

The book is aimed at anyone who owns, runs, or works in any business. It provides practical tips and examples that can be applied in any business to cut costs and open up new business opportunities. Existing products and services can be improved, processes streamlined, and new product lines and services added as a result of the brainstorming processes taught in this book.

Processes are taught in the book to super-charge the innovation of the company and instill a culture of effective brainstorming throughout the company.

In the current business environment it is critical to differentiate a company to stay ahead of the competition. The techniques taught in this book are specifically designed to provide the tools necessary to achieve and maintain that differentiation.

Illustrations are provided throughout the book to show how to implement the concepts, including a number of NovaMind mind maps. There are two parallel tracks in the book: Track 1 is filled with instructions and methods to make brainstorming sessions productive and fun, and gives so many choices that your brainstorming efforts will never get boring. Track 2 tells the story of a group of employees that begin brainstorming with a young novice facilitator. This team’s efforts start to catch the attention of the firm’s executives who want to learn how and why the methods have been so effective.

This combination of presentations makes for a book that is both thorough in its coverage of the topic and easy to implement in a practical way in the workplace.

The book is available as an eBook from http://www.novamind.com/mind-mapping-books/power-brainstorming.php

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind said “I was privileged to be involved in the development of the book, and am impressed with the thoroughness of the book and the practical advice that is provided. This is the kind of book that could be picked up by anyone and used to learn all you need to know about brainstorming quickly and effectively. The NovaMind Mind Maps included in the book are a great example of the power of Mind Mapping when used in conjunction with brainstorming.”

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way people think — they organize the information in the same way our brains organize information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at gideon(at)novamind.com.

NovaMind Software is pleased to announce the immediate availability of iBlueSky version 2. iBlueSky allows creation of Mind Maps in iBlueSky on the iPhone or iPod Touch, which can be sent to NovaMind or vice versa.

Having iBlueSky Mind Mapping software available in your pocket on iPhone or iPod touch means that the user has at their fingertips (literally) the ability to:

• create to-do lists whilst in the moment so as to avoid forgetting anything
• take notes in meetings where there is no laptop available
• jot down ideas as they arise, and organize them
• be productive anywhere and everywhere, in those spare moments waiting in line etc.
• solve problems and make decisions using Mind Mapping techniques, at any time
• brainstorm in places where it would be impractical to take a laptop
• summarize and memorize information no matter where you are

iBlueSky 2 is now available as a free upgrade for existing users, and features the following new capabilities:

• Huge page size (nearly 1500x screen size)
• Import mind maps from NovaMind
• Branches with more than one line of text
• Attach notes to branches (optional “T” indicator shows branches with notes)
• Double-tap to zoom in/out
• Change branch colours using an intuitive colour picker (option to apply to sub-branches)
• Toolbars are now translucent and auto-hide when no branch is selected
• Attach a message and set the email subject when exporting projects
• Export destination email address can now be entered manually, or selected from the address book
• Remember last used email address when exporting projects
• Change project sort order (Preference setting: Creation date, modification date, alphabetically or Manually)
• Tap status bar at top of screen to scroll back to the root branch or selected branch (if a branch is selected)
• More responsive when dragging branches around
• Improved branch layout
• Compatibility with iPhone OS 3
• Minor bug fixes

For further information about iBlueSky and NovaMind integration, please see http://www.novamind.com/ibluesky/

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind said “We are very excited about the possibilities that this integration of NovaMind and iBlueSky brings. iBlueSky 1 was very popular with our customers, but a frequent request was two way integration of NovaMind and iBlueSky. This new version offers great flexibility with the file transfer, and also provides an excellent Mind Mapping experience that feels comfortable when using your iPhone or iPod Touch.”

About Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are diagrams that work the way people think — they organize the information in the same way our brains organize information. They make it easy to understand, remember, and communicate complex information.

Our brains like thinking in pictures. The smooth curves and colorful pictures used in Mind Mapping create powerful images for your brain to remember.

Mind Maps cater to both logical left brain thinking and pictorial right brain thinking at the same time, which makes them a very good way of storing and recalling information, presenting things to other people, and brainstorming new ideas.

About NovaMind

NovaMind is used by businesses, in education, and for personal effectiveness, for tasks such as note taking, managing to-do lists, brainstorming, research, problem solving, decision making, presentation preparation and delivery, project planning, knowledge management, writing, and many other uses. NovaMind has been the top Mind Mapping program available on Mac computers for the last 7 years, and has been available for Windows for over 3 years. It is rapidly gaining recognition for its many unique and innovative features and ease of use. NovaMind makes Mind Mapping intuitive and fun.

For more information about NovaMind, please visit www.novamind.com or e-mail Gideon King at gideon(at)novamind.com.

NovaMind was today named as one of the top 3 Mind Mapping applications for delivering presentations.

The original article is at http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/the-3-best-mind-mapping-programs-for-making-presentations/

In his review, Chuck Frey says: “The NovaMind Mac presenter mode divides your map into a series of “slides,” consisting of your entire map, each topic and its associated subtopics. Like other mind mapping software presentation modes, it “walks” you clockwise around your map and its contents, branch by branch. Where NovaMind differs is that it doesn’t make you, the presenter, click on each branch and sub-branch to expand it. It does that for you, creating a set of views with each topic and sub-topic automatically centered on the screen. This enables you to focus on presenting your remarks, and eliminates the need for you to fiddle with your map while you’re talking.

The presentation view in NovaMind also contains an elapsed time clock. Below that is a split screen; the left side displays the view of your map that your audience sees, while the right side displays the “slide” that will appear next on the screen. This gives you a preview of the next slide, so you can mentally prepare for it. Finally, below the split screen is a selector panel, which displays a timeline of all of the map views that will be part of your “slide show.” You can use it to jump to any “slide” in your presentation at any time.

In the Windows version of NovaMind, the presentation mode highlights the branches and automatically expands children branches as necessary to show the detailed information. The presentation toolbar also enables you to access the program’s libraries of icons and images, which can be dragged and dropped onto topics, edit task information and access the Suggesterator, a thesaurus-like tool that you can use with your colleagues to brainstorm additional topics and ideas while in the program’s presentation mode.”

To read the full blog post, head over to the Mind Mapping Software blog.