Requests for enhancements
From FreeMind
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We prefer that you send your requests for enhancements here. Please look first if a similar request for enhancement already exists, using Ctrl + F. Also, there is a section of requests for enhancements (http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=7118&atid=357118) at FreeMind's project page at SourceForge. [edit] Features in development2006-07-16. The development team of FreeMind is currently working on the following features. (We cannot guarantee that the features will actually make it into the next release; most of them should.)
[edit] Project management[edit] Firefox IntegrationMy suggestion is to integrate FreeMind with Firefox so you can classify anything you download and extract useful knowledge. In case of being a html page also would be great some clipboard features to add selected text to FM notes in a particular node or as a new child etc.. My html notes consist on a short text I write about the webpage, below link to webpage and below selected text of this webpage, then I save the webpage in a directory for later use. Currently I am using FM to organize some info from my html notes and recent html pages (several hundreds) I have downloaded and I would find this feature fantastic. First you download a file/html page with selected/typed/default text as filename and assign selected or typed text to their FM node, then you organize downloads in a new tab in which FreeMind is running.. Wonderful!! (Also persistent notes instead of temporal ones or at least the ability to choose their behaviour would be great too) [edit] Ganttproject/Freemind integrationIt would be very interresting to integrate Ganttproject, for a better project management. This solution would be very close from JCVGantt pro + mindmanager (http://www.gantt.fr/#). Both (Freemind and Ganttproject) are GPL, and java coded. - actually there is already a data converter for this: Freemind2gantt converter (http://kutsam.at/home/johannes/content/view/15/4/) It now needs a tighter integration and some more intelligent overlap of contents, so that 1:1 conversion is possible (in both directions) --BoP 05:31, 22 Jul 2007 (PDT) [edit] Time management and dependenciesIntegrate date attributes and a timing view Allow to set other attributes (people, groups, objects, locations) Build on top of that a half-hierarchical structure with dependencies
--BoP 05:31, 22 Jul 2007 (PDT) There should be the option for recurring Reminders (e.g. every week, every month, etc.). --Terkor 07:29, 19 Aug 2007 (PDT) [edit] Nodes[edit] Automatically selecting a specific node on startuphtml allows you to access specifically marked sections immediately using the anchor syntax, which is incorporated into the url. But in freemind, all nodes already have unique id's. It would be very convenient if you could refer to a specific node id right after specifying the filename so that freemind could jump to that particular node immediately. For example: freemind foo.mm -> opens foo.mm and selects the center of the map freemind foo.mm bar -> opens foo.mm and goes to the node ID'd bar. This kind of syntax will make it very convenient for a user of freemind to make a network of mindmaps, and to jump in between networks using the hyperlink input. Of course, for this to be useful, there must also be a shortcut to display the current node's unique ID, and a mechanism for freemind to recognize other hyperlinks that are also mindmaps. -Markd [edit] Automatic Numbering of NodesA key feature of MindJet and Simtech mindmaps is the ability to toggle a numbers on or numbers off view. This makes a large mindmap more workable, because everyone can quickly reference specific nodes by the node number(s). This is especially useful after converting a map to Open Office or Word, so you have a numbered outline. The numbers would be the logical parent-child relationship seen in outlining or data modeling. The number should be displayed above the node text with a dashed line or shading to distinguish it from the node text. The user should also have the option to display numbers with dots, or without dots (to reduce the length). When a node is moved, deleted, etc. - the maps numbers are auto-recalculated to show the new relationships. This enhancement (along with spell check) would make FreeMind a more useable business tool. GregA FullACK. The feature should allow to have all/selected nodes ISO2145 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_2145)-numbered (in map-view or at least on export). I believe this would not be too difficult to implement. (Probably in 0.9.0 this can be done more or less easily by Groovy-scripting, but maybe it would just turn into a standard-feature for everybody, if it was included into one of the standard-menus.) Thanks, Golgol Numbering can be easily achieved by having an external plugin, which is a program that analyses the data (node) it receives, and just adds a "number" attribute. lkcl. [edit] Automatic word wrap in NodetextI'd like to see this feature. I want for example set a default max node width. So the text will wrap when this width is reached. This would make mindmaps more readable and easier to edit. Edit: I just noticed, that it is possible by giving "width=" to the body tag in html mode (or rich formatting) but it would be nice having this in plain text mode, too. Edit2: If you set a "width=" in the body TAG the Node will be this wide. The Node should get smaller if the given width is not needed. nautsch [edit] Automatic transition to Edit Long NodeWhen the user starts typing a node, she/he may not know in advance if the text will fit on one line or require multiple lines (Long Node). It would be advisable that pressing ALT-ENTER at the end of a single line node, switches to the Long Node editing window as it does now, but with the cursor already on the second line of the editing window, so that the user can keep typing right away from there. Currently it's necessary to press END and then ENTER to obtain this behavior. The proposed modification would avoid pressing this two extra keys. Marco [edit] Add to alert to a nodeI do use Freemind to keep track of my current tasks. MindMaps are IMO a very good way to organize to chaos in them (if you know a better tool, please mail hoffi@muskelshirt.de). But since some tasks do contain da deadline, the possibility to add an alert would be very handy (e.g. like Outlook-alerts).
[edit] Sorting nodesIt will be very useful to SORT SELECTED NODES at the same hierarchical level like a list. The simplest and fastest sorting rule would be the alphabetical order. It will improve the visibility of a map. It could be added as plugin or function at the same level as the function "join nodes". It would have to work even if the nodes have subnodes. Thanks. Franck --Fb5 02:50, 15 Nov 2007 (PST) [edit] Synchronised nodes / mirror nodes / relational nodesSome times you might want a node in two locations. What you can do today is to add a link and/or a graphical link. What I would like to is to have mirrored / synchronised nodes. Say that I have node A, and that I want the same node in another location as well. Simply I should be able to ‘Insert mirror node’, and wupti node A is shown here as well. No matter whether I now edit the node at the new or original location the nodes is changed in both locations (but of course only stores once). If a plugin for this exists then please mail me at freemind@skinny.dk. Martin Another more data centric way to look at this is as relational nodes. Instead of restricting the data model to a simple tree you could store the data in a relational format. This would give users the ability to store nodes with many parents. This would produce the effect described about but would also open up the possibilities of the app for more human like brain dumping. I am almost certain that the human brain does not relate 1 single piece of information to 1 other piece, it is more natural for us to relate it to as many other pieces of info as possible as this helps us to remember. So... new data model!! Many to many relationships! :-) A simple way of storing this type of data would be a flat list of nodes with IDs and then another list of relationships with a focus on Parent relationships. There is only a need to store which Parent(s) a node belongs to. This could be none or more than one. Some other considerations include rendering the data. For e.g. if a user highlights a node which appears in more than one location in the map (i.e. has more than one parent) do you explode both end points, just the one or maybe provide the option to do either. PH4wks [edit] Export and Import[edit] Import from an "interpreter", Export via "programs"Possibly the most important feature to have for FreeMind is to have an "interpreter" plugin, of scripts - external programs - which can "suck in" content that is defined in a SIMPLE (and by simple i don't mean XML) format. FreeMind should therefore, ultimately and effectively, be a "cacheing" and "display" and "edit" mechanism. Likewise, for exporting of information, it should be possible to feed internal data to a predefined program (where the program to be used should be an attribute, where the attribute itself can be the result of a decision made from running an external script!!) Ultimately, therefore, it should be absolutely trivial to do all of the import and export capabilities, listed below, in terms of well-defined and very simple external programs. (side-note: the external programs can be non-java programs, of course - even shell scripts. java is a really stupid programming language to do this kind of work in: as a statically typed object-orientated language, it's simply not up to the job. it's great for display purposes, and it's great for platform-independence, but that's about all that it's good for) RFE 1687292 (http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1687292&group_id=7118&atid=357118) [edit] Import and Export from HTML and different Wiki formatsSimple import/export scripts can be written which have "rules" on understanding the different types of web pages, for example Wikis, and, also, the current "wiki exporter" should be the first plugin created as an "exporter". It would be trivial for people to then use lynx or wget for example and a few lines of awk or perl to write an HTML "import" plugin. Instead of having to wade through tens of thousands of lines of stupid java (which is only really suitable for display purposes and platform-independence). Include an option to state whether the notes file should be in a pop-up window, or a link to a separate file in a scrollable window (in the last version I used notes text came up in non-scrollable temporary pop-ups). [edit] Import and Export from BugtrackersIt would be really nice to have import/export plugin scripts which understand the different bugtrackers. FreeMind is already an extremely good project management tool: why isn't it also helping to be the Uber-Project Project? [edit] Import and Export databasesAny database connectivity would be nice to have, especially import, be it either via ODBC or MySQL. Thanks, UndiFineD Corresponding requests for enhancement.
[edit] Filesystem Integration complimenting Import/ExportDefinitely powerful would be the use of a node to view/edit the contents of a local file instead of an in-program node. This could effectively replace a lot of import/export functions, as a mindmap could be stored as a folder instead of as a single file, so that clients could extract wanted nodes without having to bring their freemind executable. Secondly, while native viewers do not yet exist, it could help users access their data nodes in extraneous formats. Some ideas. [edit] Loading viewers for certain data nodesNow that nodes can be given attributes, it isn't too that farfetched to create different kinds of viewers/editors for different kinds of nodes - or to load viewers for those nodes specifically. [edit] Completely virtual nodesLikewise, nodes whose content relies entirely on an external text (or other) file could be created which could be parsed back as text to freemind when viewed. [edit] Directory operationsFreemind's hierarchical structure of node viewing makes it an interesting way to organize directories. [edit] Exporting from command lineA feature I would really like would be to be able to do export programatically from cmdline.. something like: [edit] Exporting Legend of used IconsIt would be nice when a legend would be attached to the exported graphs, explaining the meaning of the icons used in the map. Would support usability for everyone who doesn't know what the freeMind icons should mean; even if they should be intuitive. comment on the above: "Yes, I agree too. It would be great also if a TITLE and SUB-TITLES can be placed (and movable) anywhere in the MindMap, so when it is printed out, people know what this mind map is for. Also, since we can color our own ARROW LINKS, having their descriptions customizable alongside with those colored arrow links inside the legend would be a great enhancement!" [edit] Export to OpenOffice
Unfortunately there seems to be some problem though with opening the files in version 2 of OpenOffice. I haven't had a chance to go and check against the 1.x versions.
[edit] Export to OpenOffice ImpressI wonder how difficult it would be to export into Impress presentation. The Nodes cen be Slide Headers, Subnodes can be Outlines and so on. Then Notes can be exported into Slide Notes. One can do a presentation off the screen, give away handouts with full notes to keep. --Koaster 08:48, 7 Aug 2006 (PDT)
[edit] Export Options to Open Document Format .odtAllow user to set options such as:
[edit] Export to Scalable Vector Graphics format (SVG)Available in FreeMind 0.8.0 RC2. Yes! I'd love to see something done with scalable vector graphics, or some such... I really wish Freemind could export to SVG, or maybe even flash... -- Bruce And happily, developers are thinking the same thing: -- Here's Dimitri on that very possibility in forum thread (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1031174&forum_id=22101). [edit] Export to Flash or teach Flash to view mmSVG, however, is still not widely supported - not even in desktop browsers, so it is mostly a way to exchange drawings and print. Exporting to Flash or having a Flash viewer that displayed .mm files (after all, ActionScript can now load XML data easily) would enable quick and effortless integration with current Web browsers without requiring them to install the Sun JVM (which can be a major issue in some environments).
[edit] Support for Embedded Freemind Maps in Pages.GoogleEmbedded maps on free hosts like pages.google would be very cool. Here is a video of my efforts to get Freemind flash maps to work in pages.google. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4967726587301956565&q=freemind+dennis --Ddaniels 20:40, 22 Mar 2007 (PDT) [edit] Export to LaTeXFeb 10,2005. MindMapping concept is perfect when organizing the structure of a document. I believe that it would be a great feature if freemind could directly export a mindmap as a LaTeX file (using the text of the main node for the title, the text of the main branches for \section and so on). In the mean time (and since I know nothing about java) I wrote this perl script (http://control.cicese.mx/twiki/pub/Main/FreeMindToLaTeX/mm2tex) to translate mm->tex. Any improvements are welcome. I will mantain this utility here (http://control.cicese.mx/twiki/bin/view/Main/FreeMindToLaTeX), but I hope this feature will be included in freemind one day. June 19, 2007 The above links to the perl script are broken. Does anyone have it or something similar? [edit] Export and import to Ganttproject
in Freemind 0.8 you can use "File->Export->Using XSLT" to export a ".gan" file using the xslt file from the link above [edit] Export to favorites or bookmarksRequests for enhancements:
[edit] Export to ontology formats (OWL, DAML)Requests for enhancements:
[edit] Export and import to OPMLRequests for enhancements:
See also OPML (http://www.opml.org/). OPML - Outline Processor Markup Language. [edit] Export branch as folder treeA function like "export folder structure" would be useful for the use cases of bookmark manager, and of project preparation. I use Bookmark Manager (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bkm) from SourceForge, a very nice project. I found that importing bookmarks into FreeMind is a great option, if there only was a plugin to export them, Freemind would work as a perfect bookmark manager. Plus, Freemind would work as a nice 'project manager' for creating directory-trees for large projects, at least I see I could find it very usable in my projects which require managing a lot of project files. Creating such structure in Freemind and then exporting it would be very usable. Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 18:10:33 +0200 [edit] Import through any XSLT filterThe File->Import Menu should have an item "using xslt" (just as File->Export has "using xslt") This would ease the integration of costum transformations (e.g. ganttchart <-> freemind) lkcl: not recommended. xslt is so bad at doing "programming" that you will have an absolutely _awful_ time. however, if there's a plugin mechanism, and you want to shoot yourself in the head by having an xslt import/export plugin - then great! if the plugin architecture idea is ever taken up, and comes about, i will watch with fascinated horror at your efforts to add an XSLT import plugin... [edit] Export and import to GraphViz[edit] Export to eps[edit] Integrate with Microsoft Outlooksupport for adding specially labeled nodes to Outlook's calendar and Outlook's todo list. Is there a way to integrate the calendar dates for start and completion of events into Outlook. The export formats allowed in Freemind and the import requirements of Outlook appear to be different. Is there a format that is acceptable to both of them or a process such as converting to notepad and then into Outlook. Austin. austin@elanay.net [edit] Integrate with Microsoft OfficeEnable export in EMF (enhanced metafile format). It will help to integrate FreeMind's Mind Maps with Word, Excel or Powerpoint. --- I'm a new user, and a very computer-illiterate one, but if possible would love to see more integration with Windows Word. At the moment I can copy-paste from FreeMind into Word to get an indented list representing my mindmaps, but could see myself better able to use FM for putting together documents if it had more functionality: (1) Dynamic integration between Word and FM with nodes mapping to (formatted) Word headings. (2) Text placed in a node's Note appearing under the corresponding heading in Word as body text. (3) Changes made either through Word or FM being reflected in both the document and the corresponding mindmap (including rearrangements, additions, changes to text etc). No doubt a tall order, but it can't hurt to ask :) -KCM --- [edit] Import/Export in various Calendar formatsThe idea being that I can import can a list of meetings, or tasks into Freemind. They would be imported into a sub-node and then i can redistribute them in my mindmap as I want. -- Thanx AP [edit] Import via XSLTWould be nice to hase the same dialog for importing as the xslt dialog for exporting. That means the user can import any XML with a proper XSL (sure that needs to generate valid .mm, otherwise the importer will throw an error). [edit] SearchingRequests for enhancements:
Further searching requests.
Actually, I'd wish that we have search across all maps opened or not. Just like 'find . -name "*.mm" -exec grep -H "long term" {} \; > /tmp/scratch, but much more user friendly. Ideally, there should be a Google Desktop search plug-in for FreeMind. I wish I knew how to do it. --yushen 00:17, 28 Feb 2007 (PST) [edit] Plugin architecture for "actions"Searches is a specific category of the general category of "actions", which should themselves simply be external plugins of actions, with an input capability, output capability and an "iterator" capability. essentially, what is needed is this: * Internally, the "search" terms that you're performing are stored in a FreeMind database. so, the text (as it's being typed!) is entered into a list of "Searches". * The "context" is the location where the search is to be performed. * Then, an external script is run called "search" which is passed the two nodes: the search terms as they're being typed, and the "context" i.e. the data to be searched. Essentially, you're applying subject-predicate-object to the issue. Then, you could _have_ your "google desktop" search plug-in, because if the data is stored in flat files (instead of XML) and the search term is turned into a flat file, your plugin can return search results by parsing the HTML that comes back from the Google Desktop search and returning new "nodes" or "attributes" in the simple "import" format that was recommended to be added. [edit] Notes attached to Nodes[edit] Note enhancements in 0.9 beta 7 ...
[edit] Shortcut for adding a note to a nodeIt would be nice if there was a shortcut for adding a note to a node In mousing from the selected node to the menu in order to reach the Insert->Note menu item, I often overfly another node: the selection changes, which is a useability feature I like very much - but then the note drops on the newly-selected node, which is not where I wanted it.
[edit] Link to Nodes from NotesI wish to have the ability to create links to various nodes on words within the notes pane. This would be a great feature. I agree. [edit] Mechanism to delete a note from a nodeI have not found a way to delete a note from a node.
In my case this doesn't work - the note icon remains at the node and the notes window keeps appearing if I mouse over such a node. Deleting jsut the text doesn't help. (Version 0.8.1) - Florian [edit] Option to keep Notes window openMany but not all of the nodes in a map have notes. As I mouse around the map, the Notes window pops into and out of existence. This is distracting: I would like an option to keep the Notes window open, and see its text update if the selected node has a note. Include with this an option to stick with the current note - and be able to move around the map from node to node without changing the note and still be able to edit it. [edit] Option to position Notes window at rightI would like the Notes window to be at the right; others may prefer it at the bottom. Or to undoc the notes node - movable separate window. [edit] Attach note to a nodeRequests for enhancements:
Many people want to have a note attached to a node. Some mind mapping programs have this feature. In my view, such a feature creates a basis for splitting of uses. I would expect long nodes to contain paragraphs or even small articles; I have such nodes, both plain and HTML. I also have long nodes containing nicely set HTML tables. An XSLT transforming script can either assume that paragraphs are in the long nodes or that they are in the notes; not both. Different uses would then require different XSLT scripts. Searching would need to be extended to also search through notes. Notes of different nodes, unlike nodes themselves, cannot be made visible on the canvas at the same time. Without note, every piece of the text in the mind map is a node and therefore first class citizen; it is allowed for it to have children, and whatever feature is offered to other nodes (like icons, time reminders, changing of the default color and the like) is offered to it as well. Screenshots showing how long nodes can be used follow.
As this is such a requested feature, I'd like to invite you to discuss pros and cons here. --Danielpolansky 11:47, 15 Feb 2005 (PST)
Maybe it could help to add something like a 'keep-folded' property to a node. Idea behind it: A node with 'keep-folded' set is not shown, when the parent of it is unfolded. You would need extra handling for setting the property or showing those 'moved to the background' nodes though. But that way a note could just be a node with that property set. I think a property like that could be helpful in other contexts, too. If you use the Mind Map as a todo-list, you could keep done ((sub-)sub-)...)subtasks folded for example. Hilmar
[edit] Copy/Export note(s) of node(s)WYSIWYG & note editor ... are very inviting for extensive usage of notes.
AlesPoredos --ap 07:26, 28 Sep 2006 (PDT) [edit] Misc[edit] Multiple Maps at StartupWhen I start FreeMind it loads the last map I worked on, which is very good. I can have multiple maps open, which I juse a lot, so I can work on multiple projects at the same time. However when I close FreeMind and open it again, it only loads the last active map. It would be very usefull if it loaded all the maps that was open when FreeMind was closed, so I quickly can continue to work on my ongoing projects. [edit] Single Copy MultipleThe Single Copy command is used to grab stuff to duplicate without also copying all child nodes. For example I have numbered items that I keep in an "Unresearched" node, and the same numbered items in a "Researched" Node. Instead of entering the node #'s of 1 - 20 several times, I would like to be able to use the Copy Single command while selecting multiple items. Obviously it would have to be renamed "Copy Without Children" or something similar. Just keeping the command the same but adding support for multiple selection would help me a lot. Then I could copy items 1 - 20 and paste them somewhere else in one shot.
[edit] Print across pagesWould be great to have a possibility to print spanning over several pages if mind map is huge. Hint: In 0.8.0 this is possible if you deactivate the "scale to one page" checkbox in the page format dialog and enters a scale factor like "1.0". But there seems to be a little bug; if I enter just "1" as scale factor the output is still scaled to fit on one page. [edit] Print out of notesI think it is a very good idea to add the possibility to print out the notes together with the map(on a separate page/pages), something like as in the export of HTML sides. I agree with this suggestion. It makes a lot of sense to be able to print your notes. [edit] Print previewI would like to have a print preview dialog to see if my manually set scale factor (defined in the page format dialog) is ideal. [edit] Auto scale to fit one page wide for printingI would like to be able to set a map to print "one page wide" rather than just "fit one page". [edit] Auto scale to fit several pagesAs RFE 972845 another has already provided code to have FreeMind scale the output to fit several pages. It would be really nice to have this enhancement in the normal code base. [edit] CalculationsI think that is good idea to add possibility to associate numeric values with nodes and make top nodes to recursively calculate sum of child nodes' values. This feature will turn FreeMind into easy and visual way to do home accounting or resource planning. Adding, removing or dragging child nodes between parents must cause sum to update. More complex feature - adding multiplication factors to parent nodes.
[edit] Support for Unicode and RTL languagesI think that the inclusion of better support for Unicode and RTL languages such as Hebrew and Arabic would allow a larger number of people to use Freemind as their mind-mapping tool of choice.
[edit] Use UTF-8 in the XML file to store unicode characters
[edit] Support general graphs rather than treesSome users want FreeMind to support general graphs rather than only trees. To an extent, their wish is covered by what we call arrow links, and what is called connectors in Microsoft Powerpoint. FreeMind's arrow links are not that powerful as connectors, but that can be improved. Still, FreeMind is not planned to become a general graph editor, or a concept mapper. Some years ago there was a discussion (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=821693&forum_id=22101) on that in Open Discussion forum, followed by a concluding consideration (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=957873&forum_id=22101) by me where the final position on the issue is stated together with an explanation. --Danielpolansky 11:56, 27 Jul 2005 (PDT) [edit] Always OnI would like to minimize to the system tray(for Windows). Or better yet, let's run FreeMind as a transparent window docked to the desktop. Like my brain, I like to always have FreeMind on in the background. Regardless, thanks!
[edit] Better File Operations, Restore Workspace, New File ExtensionOn Mac OS X at least, the file dialog is buggy - it does not show network drives or my iDisk. Also, it would be useful to have FreeMind re-open the last edited file (and restore the workspace as it was when the user last quit). Still, the most annoying thing is the .mm filename extension - that extension is tied to Obj-C code files in Mac OS X, and probably on other platforms as well. Maybe .mind or .mmp? -- RuiCarmo [edit] File Dialog ImprovementsThe file dialogs could use some minor improvements. I would like the dialog boxes for load and save to remember what directory they were in and start from there the next time the dialog is open. Also, if you try to open a file from the "recent files" list but the file no longer exists, there is no warning from freemind. It would be better to have a "file not found" warning, and better still to remove the bad entry from the list when that happens. --fist_187 It would be better not to "remember what directory they were in", but add possibility to choose "Default directory" in Preferences, which will be opened automatically whenever you save or load something. --Elwin
[edit] Crosslinking NodesThe possibility to create cross-references between nodes which are already part of the mindmap tree would be a great feature. In many real-life mindmaps items could not be categorized in one and only one category. The possibility to visualize these dependencies would be a great advantage over other mindmap solutions. Something like this is already implemented in Freemind by selecting two nodes and pressing STRG+L. For enhancing this feature the following aspects should receive attention:
[edit] Unlimited/Arbitrary AttributesWe use a couple of different products (including an internally developed one) to manage requirements. In each case we have the ability to assign arbitrary attributes to requirements at any level in the structure (e.g., Type=�Priority� Value=�High� or Type=�Source� Value=�Mike Jones�). To support migration between Freemind and these requirements management tools, Freemind should allow X number of attributes per requirement. Though I know this concept would scare the minimalists. -- unknown And a custom plugin might read these values, then calculate and display something on the map, e.g. an indicator or an aggregate. -- abadger 30 May 2006 (or even just set the colour or insert a tick or cross icon) --Violetlight 15:24, 2 Aug 2006 (PDT) It would be really nice if as well as text attributes, we could support check or radio buttons (e.g. "done", or "priority H/M/L") [edit] Node-specific actionsAt the moment, there is one "action" on a node (discounting the usual edit/cut/paste etc) - navigate to the target link. I can see a reason to have more than one action on a node, depending on the semantics of the map's content, and specifically the storage backend or plugin. For example, a map that was a live visualisation of the tree structure of a website could have an action to navigate to a page, to check it with a W3C validator, to edit the page, to submit it to a search engine etc etc. These actions would be defined by the plugin supplying the data content, or by other plugins resident - e.g. "schedule this node" for the time scheduling plugin or "bookmark this node's target" for a (possible future) Google Bookmarking plugin.I can see two (possibly co-existing) methods of implementing this:
I'd welcome feedback on whether this is a nutcase idea. --Violetlight 15:16, 2 Aug 2006 (PDT) [edit] Images in freemindI really like the way freemind can use images as nodes. However, one of the problems with adding a lot of images to a map is that they are all different sizes. So, I wrote this php script: <?php
$tsize = 100; //thumbnail size
function noresize($name)
{
global $argv;
$fullpath = $argv[1] . "$name";
echo "<node TEXT=\"<html>";
echo "<img src="$fullpath"/> \"";
echo " FOLDED=\"true\">\n</node>\n";
}
function thumbit($name, $w, $h)
{
global $argv;
$fullpath = $argv[1] . "$name";
echo "<node TEXT=\"<html><img src="$fullpath"";
echo " width="$w" height="$h"\" FOLDED=\"true\">\n";
echo "<node TEXT=\"<html><img src="$fullpath"\"";
echo " FOLDED=\"true\">\n</node>\n";
echo "<node LINK=\"$fullpath\" TEXT=\"$name\">\n</node>\n";
echo "</node>\n";
}
if ($argc < 3)
{
die("usage: " . $argv[0] . " IMAGEPATH IMAGE1 [[IMAGE2] ... ]\n");
}
echo "<map version=\"0.7.1\">\n<node TEXT=\"Ian's image generator\"";
echo " FOLDED=\"true\">\n";
for ($i=2; $i<$argc; $i++)
{
$myimg = $argv[$i];
$props = getimagesize($myimg);
$w = $props[0];
$h = $props[1];
if ($w <= $tsize && $h <= $tsize) //too small
{
noresize($myimg);
}
else if ($w < $h) //resize height to 100, scale width
{
$w = intval(($tsize * $w) / $h);
$h = $tsize;
thumbit($myimg, $w, $h);
}
else //resize width to 100, scale height
{
$h = intval(($tsize * $h) / $w);
$w = $tsize;
thumbit($myimg, $w, $h);
}
}
echo "</node>\n</map>\n";
?>
This is a command line PHP script, so to use it under linux you would type something like: $ php freemindImgGen.php "file:////path/to/prepend/to/images/" image1.jpg [image2.jpg ... ] This will output the text for a new mind map (direct it to a file of your choice) with each image thumbnailed in its own node. The images should all be in the same directory (for some reason, relative paths for images don't seem to work). Each thumbnailed image will have 2 child nodes: one node with the full size image and one node with the filename of the image as a freemind link. Anyway, the reason that I'm posting this here in the request section instead of the user contributions section is that I would like to see this behavior ported into freemind itself. This would be a better behavior for when you drag-and-drop an image file into freemind, as it does just about everything you would want to do with an image in one shot. --fist_187
[edit] Node Cloning or Mirroring (aka soft links)Requests for enhancements:
One feature request that has attracted a lot of attention from users is what they call node cloning or mirorring. This amounts to enabling a node to have more than one fathers. That is, such a node appears visually at more places of a map, still, has only one structure and data. Linking a node graphically to more parts of a map is already possible, but users proposing cloning would like to see more visually integrated approach. Users get encouraged by the fact that the hierarchical application LEO (http://leo.sf.net/) already has such a feature. This feature has been discussed at forums under threads Cloning of nodes (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1022954&forum_id=22101) and Node cloning/mirroring (http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1051440&forum_id=22101).
[edit] Mindmap-WikisCreating a mixture of Freemind and a Wiki would be very interesting. It would be shown on the web, and editable by everybody, like a Wiki, but it would not be text-only but a FreeMind's mind map instead. That is, provide FreeMind user interface to the underlying wiki technology, handling versioning and other issues. Is there any use of wiki markup in this scenario? (lkcl: yes - see "Notes" section!)
Current wiki technology like MediaWiki is already quite attractive in its present state. Either FreeMind interface would be the only one, which would in my view discourage most of the users, or FreeMind interface would be alternative to a web interface, which would require FreeMind to understand wiki markup. This considered, I hold such a project for too expensive compared to the value it brings. Quite another issue is collaborative mind mapping. This issue is similar to wiki, but here the wiki name does not properly apply as neither wiki markup nor wiki's versioning concept applies. --Danielpolansky 13:24, 18 Feb 2005 (PST) Ok, GraphViz is not really mindmapping, but oddmuse-wiki in colaboration with graphviz is really fascinating, take a look (and don't forget to follow the "Edit the text of the Page"-link): http://wiki.doomicile.de/LinuxMuleHistory -- HinnerK
I would suggest starting with a simple save-to-WebDAV (http://www.webdav.org/) option, and then following it up with a standardized XML-RPC (http://www.xmlrpc.com/) interface (maybe Atom would be too complex). Having some sort of hooks into node editing operations in the code would be useful, so that people could develop plugins of some sort to perform the actual HTTP transactions live from the applet version -- RuiCarmo The first thing that came to my mind while opening FreeMind for the very first time was: "Would it be possible to integrate Wiki in FreeMind?". Currently I am working with a project management software (named Trac) which integrates a Wiki Engine. It is a kind of colaborative project management solution, and it has encouraged all the team to document and activelly contribute to each other´s tasks. Maybe WikiFreeMind :-) could be something similar. I don´t think that FreeMind being the only one interface to be an issue, I think it would be great if we could use wiki formatting inside FreeMind nodes. It would be easy (a gross guess) to allow Wiki-links between nodes, or wiki/web-pages outside the map. It would not be too difficult to do a kind of serialization of the map as a Wiki Database, each node being a wiki page, following the extension mechanics proposed by WikiMedia, you could allow wiki tags that would keep track of the properties of the node as a serialized wiki-page. It´s pretty much brainstorming, but I think it would be possible to use FreeMind as a Wiki Navigator, and the Web Browser + Wiki Engine as a Node Editor. --loudenvier 17:15, 05 Apr 2005 (BRA) Have a look at the WikkaWiki software (http://wikka.jsnx.com/HomePage). My zero programming skills don't let me to grasp how it works or what it does. But it seems pretty interesting. It allows to insert FreeMind maps into the wiki. here's a inline example (http://wikka.jsnx.com/MindMapRecentChanges). --Calamar 04:31, 20 Dec 2005 (PST)
--Ddaniels 05:17, 24 Mar 2007 (PDT) [edit] Applet allowing editing mind maps.Requests for enhancements:
It would be fine to edit a map via applet and save it to a webserver directory.
I wonder why the .mm extension is mandatory on the applet. At this point on the web we use Content-type instead of extensions, isn't it? Why then don't use Content-type OR .mm extension to open a map with the applet? Will be fantastic if the applet could capture drop events. With this enhancement we could use a custom toolbar to add custom snippets or integrate it with our solutions [edit] Saving maps using WebDAVLet FreeMind read from and save to WebDAV (http://www.webdav.org) server. Repeatedly requested. According to the WebDAV website,
Working with WebDAV would make for an outstanding creative toolkit. There is a keen need for a tool like this in our business (long distances; documents cobbled together from Basecamp and IM logs). One consideration: how would changes be merged? And is there an unobtrusive way to identify authors of specific changes and content? [edit] Changing attributes by depth level.Wouldn't it be good if nodes could have levels (defined as outward from the centre) so that you could change color, font and other node properties by level. For instace, all nodes of level two would have red bubbles.OR Allow user to define default level attributes to be applied when a branch is made. The most common one being font size and edge width. Undefined attributes like colour should flow down. This is just the desired default at creation time and may be changed. Branches further out than the deepest defined default all inherit from previous branch. [edit] Integrated Google web searchHow about an accessory software that would input FreeMind's XML and conduct Google and Google News searches on all nodes plus their neighbours? If anything useful is found (and there would be less than x hits), it would *wget* them and add links to the material to the map. Run this as a cronjob and your mind map will always have new ideas when you open FreeMind again.
[edit] MIDlet for editing with mobile phonesMIDlet idea entry front-end is a MUST! I want to be able to do mind mapping with my mobile phone and then upload the changes to the main map on my desktop.
[edit] Have floating textbox for titles or commentsHi I would like to request a feature, namely a title and/or comment at the beginning/end of page to be able to use it in presentations, where I would have my name on top right. I would suggest that there is no link to other nodes just a kind of text box. Maybe there are more people thinking about this nice addon? Request for enhancements:
[edit] An editable tree view (like the html export)With such view I can imagine freemind to be useable an smaller devices like an ipaq running familiar (or ppc). Can you run freemind on such devices? --Alex [edit] A non graphic tree view modeSimilar request as Alex. A non-graphic linear mode would be usefull ! The graphic mode is the best to organise and visualise the information, but a simple linear tree mode is more comfortable for reading and editing large portion of text. It would also allow to access the same databases on a small screen. Freemind has become one of my most important tools on my Pc and I am dreaming to use it on a symbian phone too. Thank you so much. Franck [edit] Option not to open last opened file upon startUsers request that they should get a user option to tell FreeMind not to open the last opened file upon start. Seems like a sensible request to me. --Danielpolansky 10:07, 2 Jun 2006 (PDT) [edit] ToughGraph like dynamic layoutRequests for enhancements:
I think FreeMind would become much more powerful (not to mention cool looking) if it had a dynamic mode without a root node. It would be great if arbitrary links (not just parent/child) between any nodes were supported, if text size and colors would dynamically adjust according to the distance, relevance and other factors, and if the layout would be dynamic, with the graph rearranging itself on the fly. More details at the TouchGraph site ([1] (http://www.touchgraph.com/)), and at this page: [2] (http://www.jspwiki.org/PageInfo.jsp?page=TouchGraphWikiBrowser)).
I agree that alternatives to the hierarchical view are important and the whole advantage of using visual mapping in the first place --Ryba 17:16, 27 Oct 2005 (PDT) [edit] More flexible Resize OptionsWhat about the following resize possibilities: --TMaschler 01:46, 17 Feb 2005 (PST)
Resizing should be able to resize a node and the text dynamically wraps and changes the size of the box. The current approach requires hard returns to resize the text boxes.--Ryba 17:06, 27 Oct 2005 (PDT) [edit] Easier to delete nodesA relatively straightforward enhancement: the Node/Remove Node on the popup menu could be moved to the main popup menu, under 'Insert Child Node'. It would probably be better server by being called 'Delete Child Node'. I think it would also be fantastic if it had a shortcut key - Del probably being the most suitable. I find it a right pain to delete nodes (I notice someone submitted an RFE on sourceforge asking for a delete function, clearly not being aware there already was one - I think this indicates it needs moving!) David Perez comment: An alternative I use is to cut the node in order to delete it.
Torsten Gräßler comment:
Most of the times you delete something and sooner or later you find out that you actually need that thing again. Undo is good, but once you have closed FreeMind it's lost forever. Wouldn't it be nice to have a .trash file to accompany every .mm file just to make things easier? --Anonymous.
[edit] StatisticsRequests for features:
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