Mindmapping is a great way to present your ideas/brainstorming in an easy to follow manner. Previously, we has discussed how the free desktop mindmapping software – FreeMind can make this task much easier. Today, we are going to discuss another excellent mindmapping software that you can access to as long as you have an Internet connection.
Mindmeister is an elegant and easy to use web application that allows you to create mindmaps easily and quickly. In this article I am going to demonstrate how to use Mindmeister to create Mindmaps and share with your friends and colleagues.
1. Go to Mindmeister.com and sign up for a free account. You can skip this step if you have an OpenID account. Alternatively, if you just want to try out the software, there is a live demo on the front page where you can get a hands on experience.
2. Login to Mindmeister and click on “Create Mind map” button
3. You will now see the root node at the center of the screen. Before creating the mindmap it will be nice to get comfortable with the navigation structure in Mindmeister.
The toolbar at the top contains the buttons for you to add, delete and connect nodes. On the right side lies the navigator, text editor and icons where you can use them to enhance the overall look and feel. At the bottom is the Share button that allows you to share and collaborate your work.
4. Once you are comfortable with the menus, it becomes very easy to create a mindmap. First, click on the root node and edit the text to reflect your brainstorm topic/idea. Next, click on the Add button on the top toolbar to add new node. At the end of this step you should get something as shown below:
5. Keep on adding the nodes to complete the mindmap and if necessary, add icons to make the node more distinguishable or add links if needed. At the end of this step, your mindmap should be almost completed.
6. Once the mindmap is completed, click on the Share button to share and collaborate with your friends and colleagues. You can also make it public or embed it in your site.
Conclusion
Not only is it easy to use, Mindmeister is also a feature rich web application that allows you to create mindmaps and share with your friends easily. Some of the other useful features include making a clone copy of your existing mindmap or export your mindmaps as images or PDF files.
The free edition of Mindmeister allows you to create up to 6 mindmaps. There are also various paid editons for heavy users.
