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Map out your ideas with this superb productivity tool
Everywhere you look, MindNode 5 comes across like an app that’s been carefully considered
You’ve probably made a mind map before – a diagram with a central thought, from which branches (or ‘nodes’) sprout.
The problem is, the end result often ends up looking like an angry mutant spider due to you continually editing and re-editing as ideas coalesce. Software can bring some sanity to such creations, as earlier versions of MindNode ably proved. In this latest edition, though, MindNode has a serious need for speed.
Blazing through the brainstorming process is baked in. Whereas you’d once have started with a blank canvas, MindNode 5 offers Quick Entry input. Available from within the app or a Today View widget, the feature has you make a bullet-point list. When you’re done, MindNode converts your ideas into a new diagram. On iPhone in particular, this is a perfect way to start, rather than fiddling around constructing individual nodes when your brain’s firing on all cylinders. (The feature is so great, you’ll wish maps could be edited in this manner from MindNode’s Outline panel. Alas, they can’t.)
But even when you’re editing existing diagrams, MindNode wants you to think more about content and less about the app itself. This is evident in the new panel structure. At the top left, three buttons provide fast access to your documents, sharing and an outline. Elsewhere, what was previously a fixed sidebar on iPad becomes a floating dynamic panel across all devices. Initially, its context-sensitive options disarm, but MindNode always gives you logical settings for whatever’s selected; wisely, the panel is bookended with fixed areas that contain buttons for creating new nodes, as well as common functions like copy/paste, undo and delete.
iOS 11 niceties
In fact, everywhere you look, MindNode 5 comes across like an app that’s been carefully considered. There is a dark mode that gets automatically triggered when using the likes of a black background colour. For more rigidity and structure in your diagrams, you can, with a single tap, sort subnodes alphabetically, or use a new branch style that replaces curved lines with right angles. If the central element needs to be the most prominent, such as in company organisation charts, there’s a new top-down layout.
Then there are the iOS 11 niceties that you’d expect (but that many other apps don’t yet bother with), such as Files support, and drag and drop. The latter of those is especially handy to quickly get images and text into a mind map, and MindNode 5 intelligently adds content to existing nodes or creates a new parent, depending on where you drag it. Frustratingly, though, web addresses can’t yet be directly added in this manner, although they can be placed within an item’s notes.
Such niggles are rare, however. For the most part, MindNode 5 is a joy to use. In short, this update propels the app to the very top of the iOS productivity pile.