@payashim I think FreeMind is best known of the free ones, MindManager for paid-for ones. Novamind and iMindmap catching up in reply to payashim5 hrs ago
During installation of the latest Topicscape Pro (v.2.6 that we just loaded up on line) you will see a new option. One of the panels asks if you want to install two buttons in your Browser toolbar (Internet Explorer or Firefox). Here they are:
Press the ‘S’ button: The Topicscape Box will open very briefly and close again. It will then contain a shortcut to the page you are viewing.
Press the ‘M’ button: The Topicscape Box will open and use Topicscape’s method to make an Internet Archive (.mht) file in the Box. As with Topicscape and Topicscape Box, you can carry on surfing, and build a queue of MHT requests, leaving the software to get on with its work.
The MHT file will include the panel that Topicscape adds to show the source of the page.
Topicscape Box does not need to be open for these buttons to work.
Roy
Please sign up to the Topicscape Google Group for brief Hints and Announcement about Topicscape.
Follow @roygrubb on Twitter for mind mapping tips.
The medical mind maps source Allergy Cases has maps about allergies and immunology. Links to all the allergycases.org mind maps can now be found organized in an on-line 3D Topicscape.
I came across this site by Peter Jones long ago, and at the time spent several hours browsing its collection of well-organized and very interesting links on subjects organized under its main domains:
Recently Peter left a comment on a post at another of my blogs, and that reminded me of his interesting collection. I started looking at how it might fit into a Topicscape.
Here are some screenshots showing the top level, a focus on one of the four domains (Sociology) and a deeper focus on one of the topics under that domain (Patients, Carers and Self-care):
Each topic cone has a link to the relevant page. This renders four enormous pages of links as a 3D landscape organized under multiple topics and sub-topics. You can zoom and fly around this, as well as center the landscape on different topics at will.
I’m hoping to be able to publish this as an on-line Topicscape soon so that you can try for yourself, but I need to make sure that’s OK with Peter Jones first.
Topicscape Pro 2, the new and major upgrade to this 3D information organizer and mind map software has just gone live.
Swinging panels swung back out of the way
For three months now, our public Beta users have flexed 3D Topicscape Pro 2, made suggestions and seen many implemented. Recently, they’ve pushed to know when they can get their hands on the production version. Well, now this new version is on-line and waiting for you to download.
With Pro 2 you can add tags to any item, filter according to your tags, grasp visually and even more quickly the way your information is organized, find controls more easily, and personalize each Topicscape you build. Oh, and there’s a new skin and some improvements to existing skins.
If you have an earlier Topicscape Pro license, please do not try to install it in Pro 2. This will cause Pro 2 to fail and you will have to uninstall and re-install it in order to use it in trial mode.
1. Did you buy Topicscape Pro in the last six months?
Purchasers of earlier versions of Topicscape Pro, bought after 1st October 2008, can email us from the address used for the purchase and we will send you a Topicscape Pro 2 license free.
2. Did you acquire a Topicscape Pro license more than six months ago?
You can have access to the benefits of Pro 2 at an upgrade price of just US$29.99. Meanwhile Topicscape Pro 2 will work in trial mode for 30 days, so you can try it out. If you install Topicscape Pro 2, it won’t overwrite your Pro 1 installation, and if you convert your Topicscapes to Pro 2, you will still be able to use them with Pro 1.
3. Did you trial Topicscape Pro sometime in the past?
Topicscape Pro 2 will work in trial mode for 30 days, even if a previous trial has expired.
There’s a new version of the Topicscape Beta that’s going through testing now, and it’s up on line.
But before going into the details, can we ask for more feedback on the Beta – things you haven’t already told us about? (And thanks for all the feedback so far.) Even if you’re not trying the Beta right now, we’re still glad to hear from you about Topicscape generally.
1. What is your experience when using the new Beta? We know many people like it, they’ve told us, but what do you not like about it? How could it be improved?
2. Did you download the skins to use in Beta? (If not, you can use the usual skins installer and install it, but select the Beta checkbox when the installation starts.)
3. Which skin do you mostly use?
4. Do you tweak the skins to your own taste (for example by using the Skin button in the new swinging Quick Options panel)?
Feel free to include comment about aspects of Topicscape that exist in the pre-Beta version as well.
Full details are in the revised PDF file, as before with the additional features and changes (since the second release of this Beta) highlighted.
The additions / changes are as follows: - Deleting entire Topicscapes can now be done from the File menu so that you don’t have to dig around with Windows Explorer (thanks Alex). - Tags can now be edited or deleted throughout a Topicscape, so if you wanted to change all references to a tag “Tuesday meeting” to “Sales meeting”, or even delete all references to “Tuesday meeting”, this can be done in one operation (thanks Ian).
- The Help system has been updated with most of the new capabilities described in detail.
- In Vista, Topicscape’s capability to use Windows Desktop Search (WDS) for searching file contents, was broken. This is now fixed (thanks to observation from ”tireless Ian” again).
So, once more, we have user feedback to thank for these improvements. Keep the suggestions coming folks, and thank you for all the input.
A quick reference to download locations is below.
Roy (follow me on Twitter @roygrubb for mind mapping tips and hints)
3D Topicscape Pro, the only true 3D mind mapping software, is moving into an all new version: vsn.2.0. Here’s an opportunity for you to see the tool that makes information overload easier to cope with by letting you see much more of your information at one time, organized just how you like it and laid out in a landscape before you.
This new version brings you easy-to-use and powerful 3D software in an even easier form.
Full details of Beta 2.0 are in a picture-rich document here. Meanwhile, here’s a summary of the new features that make this a great upgrade:
• Tagging
• Halo menu on topics, and associated dynamic help
• Innovative swinging panels
• Topic footprints
• Quick view of topic contents
• Topic name layout improvement
• Neighborhood views
• Additional built-in demo
• PB5 import update
• and more…
You can see here how our beta tests work http://www.topicscape.com/betahow.php and then if you’re interested in this exciting information organizer, move on to the Beta application form and choose a user name and password … http://www.topicscape.com/applybeta.php We need a few details about your computer so that we can know it has a good chance of running Topicscape.
The Beta will work without a license, whether you have previously installed Topicscape or not, until March 31st.
We’re keen to hear what you think, whether you find any problems, and what suggestions you have. You can contact us for help and feedback.
A couple of weeks back, I gave a talk about how Topicscape began and how it became what it is now. That was the spur to writing the article that I blogged about in the previous post.
Something that came out of the direct, on-the-spot feedback, was that it would be a good idea to encapsulate what Topicscape’s scenes mean, in one simple web page. Even though we’re moving 2D mind maps into a 3D space, most users ‘get it’ pretty quickly, but it can’t do any harm to speed the process along.
At our sister site InformationTamers.com, there’s the story of how Topicscape came to be built – the journey through various tools, ideas (even involving ‘programming’ in clay, would you believe?) and realization of the ideas.
A useful new version of 3D Topicscape Pro, the information organizer and 3D mind mapper, is now available that implements four specific requests from our users. As usual this update is free to all who have licenses or are still in their free trial period.
1. Topicscape is noted for the visibility it gives of tasks and information. Now you can see even more at one time: Choose the number of columns for Current Topic’s children – previously four, now you can show five or six as well. This stays at four columns until you change it in the Options panel (User Preferences).
2. Reduce distraction: Minimize the Topicscape window to an icon while you work on other tasks. This is a customizable option that defaults to Not Hidden, so you need to take action to see it.
3. Get more of your information when importing from PersonalBrain: For PB4 users, we have enhanced PB import to Topicscape beyond the limits of the data exported by PersonalBrain itself. Importing from the .pba file exported by PB is still an option.
4. Navigate large Topicscapes even more quickly: The programming for “Make Current” has been optimized to provide a faster re-calculation of the scene when the user selects a different topic to be the Current Topic. This is particularly noticeable with large Topicscapes (several thousand topics).
And you can download the new 3D Topicscape Pro installer from the usual place.
We hope you like the new version, 1.59. Within the next month, we hope to release an exciting new Beta version those who have registered with our Beta program.
AN EXTREMELY RARE BUT CRITICAL BUG AFFECTING 3D TOPICSCAPE PRO AND LITE HAS BEEN FIXED
New versions with fixes are now on line: 3D Topicscape Pro 1.57 and 3D Topicscape Lite 1.11
A user reported a problem resulting from an action that we had never anticipated: If you drag a partition (that is, a logical disk drive, not a folder) into 3D Topicscape Pro 1.56 or earlier, or Topicscape Lite 1.10 or earlier, the software gave an error report and lost files and folders. In the nearly two years that users have been making 3D mind maps and organizing their information with Topicscape, we believe no one has tried this operation on a partition before, or even thought of it. Fortunately, we were able to help the user to rescue all his files.
Do not try the action described with any versions of 3D Topicscape Pro before 1.57 or Lite before version 1.11 because you WILL loose files and folders.
Using the import functions to make a new Topicscape or a floating topic from a partition was already prevented by earlier versions of Topicscape Pro, but not Lite.
3D Topicscape Pro version 1.57 and Topicscape Lite version 1.11 now detect and prevent such a drag operation and give an explanatory message.
To import an entire partition into Topicscape, you could make a new folder in the root directory of the partition, and drag all the other folders into it. Then drag that single folder to Topicscape. Note that generally an entire partition would make a very large Topicscape, and if you chose the move or copy option, the contents of the whole partition would end up as a sub-sub-folder of your ‘My Topicscapes’ folder.
2. Reduce distraction: Minimize the Topicscape window to an icon while you work on other tasks. This is a customizable option that defaults to Not Hidden, so you need to take action to see it.