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Tony Buzan introduced the term “mind map” during his BBC TV series Use Your Head in the 1970's. Buzan was a popular psychology author. Yet, the use of radial diagrams to display information had been around for centuries. Buzan introduced the world to his approach and set rules for the creation of mind maps. In his book Mind Map Handbook (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3118034-mind-map-handbook), Tony outlines 7 steps to making a mind map:
• Start in the center of a blank page. • Use an image or picture for your central idea. • Use colors throughout. • Connect your main branches to your central image, and connect your second and third-level branches to the first and second levels, etc. • Make your branches curved rather than straight-lined. • Use one key word per line. • Use images throughout.
I would add an eighth rule: customize the map to meet your needs. When using other diagramming methods, strict rules confine how you can build your map. With mind mapping, you are free to give your own meaning to symbols, codes, and groups.
Freeplane takes care of the connections between nodes by default. But, let's look at how you can modify the nodes and lines to make them mean something more to you. In particular, how you can change the colors, shape, and text of the nodes and lines to develop your coding system.
The Tool Panel
The Tool Panel gives you access to the properties of the individual nodes. To open the panel, press ALT+P on your keyboard, or from the menu bar, View > Controls > Tool Panel. You can also select the arrow on the right edge of the window. The Tool Panel docks to the right side of the window. The Tool Panel divides into sections related to the different properties.
Node Style
The node styles allow you to set the node to a predetermined style. We will discuss styles in a later article. These settings are disabled by default.
The first drop-down box applies the level styles. Levels are how far the node is from the root node. The ‘for non leaf nodes’ sets the level style on all nodes that are not at the end of a branch. You can think of nodes at the end of a branch like leaves on a tree. These are the leaf nodes. The other choice is for all nodes. This option includes the leaf nodes.
The Automatic edge color drop-down box sets the edge coloring for the nodes. When you select for branches, each branch uses a different color of lines. Select for levels to make each step away from the root node a different color. When you select for columns, you get an effect like for levels, but the column is the position rather than the level. You can grab a node and move it into a new column without affecting its level. If you select on branch creation, each new branch from the root node gets a new color.
The Edit edge colors button activates when you select an Automatic edge color other than Disabled. Clicking the button opens a dialog window displaying the different color levels. Click the level swatch to open a color selection dialog. Select a new color for the level and click the OK button to change the color for the selected level. Use the up and down arrow buttons to move the levels up and down in the hierarchy. The X button removes the selected level color, and the + button inserts a new level color. The default number of levels is 11, but I have added 50 without the program complaining. In most cases, you will rarely go more than 11 levels deep in your mind maps, except for the rare case of a very large map. But, if you are creating a different color for each branch, you could soon need more than 11.
The Style drop-down box lets you select a predefined node style for the node(s). We will talk more about predefined styles in a later article. For now, know that you can select them here. The conditional styles are also another topic of another article.
Color of whole core
The color section gives you two swatches. One for the text and the other for the background. Clicking the swatches brings up a color dialog where you can select the color you want. These colors affect only the currently selected nodes. Always make sure you select contrasting colors.
NOTE: The Core text section will be an article on its own.
Node Shape
The Node shape section is where you manipulate the geometry of the node. Most of the shapes are self-explanatory. The fork shape is the traditional mind map underlined node style. Most child nodes in the default template are fork nodes by default.
When you select the as parent shape, the node will follow the shape of its parent node. Combined is a special node. When you expand the children of a combined node, the node takes the shape of a fork. When you collapse the children, the node takes the bubble shape.
The Horizontal margin and Vertical margin set the distance from the core text to the node border. You can select a unit of measure of pixels (px), inches (in), millimeters (mm), centimeters (cm), and points (pt). These units are available for any settings using measurements.
The Uniform checkbox adjusts the height of the node to match the width of the node.
The Min node width and Max node width are the minimum and maximum widths of the node. The widths do not include the margins. The margins add to these settings. The default max width is 10 cm.
The Child gap sets the distance between the parent and its children.
Node Border
The Node border section allows you to change the width, style, and color of the border around the core text.
You can define a width using the Line width spinner control and the drop-down list to select the measurement type. If you want the border the same as the edge coming from its parent node, check the box Use edge width.
Select the Use edge line type to make the border line the same type as the line leading up to the node. The Border line type drop-down list lets you select a different line style. Your choices are solid, short dash, long dash, dots, and dot-dash.
For the border color, you can check Use edge color. Otherwise, you can click on the Color swatch and select a color from the color dialog.
Font of whole core
The Font of whole core section allows you to change the family, size, and styling of the core text font. Remember this affects only the core text and not the details text. To change the details text, you edit it in the editor dialog.
From the Font family drop-down list, you can select the font family you want. The list shows the fonts installed on your computer.
Select the size of the font from the Font size drop-down list. The size list box is a combination list/text box. You can select the size from the default sizes in the list, or type in a nonstandard size.
Check the boxes for Bold or Italic to apply those styles to the text.
The Text alignment drop-down list sets the alignment for the text. By default, the nodes are the width of the text they contain, hiding the alignments’ effect. The alignments appear when you have a fixed-width node, or the node contains multiple lines of text. To create a fixed-width node, set the minimum and maximum width to the same value.
The Hyperlink checkbox underlines the node text like a hyperlink. This works only when you have a hyperlink set to the node. We will cover hyperlinks in a later article.
Icons
In the Icons section, you can change the size of the icons in the node. Use the spinner box to set the numeric size, and the drop-down list to select the measurement type. Icons add visual clues to the nodes. Increasing or decreasing the size can influence the prominence of the clue. Often the icon itself is more important than the size. Yet, if you want to use an icon as the image for your central node, increasing the size is a must.
Edges
Edges are the lines connecting child nodes to their parent. You can change the width, line type, style, and color of a node's edge. By modifying the edges, you can create a visual clue to the level, meaning, or branch of a node. In the default template, each branch has a different color edge. As you read earlier, you can change this to give a different color for each level, branch, or column. You can also disable automatic colors.
The Edge width is set using the spinner box. The number here is a scale rather than a measurement amount.
To change the type of line used, select from the Edge line type drop-down list. The types are a solid, short dash, long dash, dot, or dot-dash line. You can use the line types as a code for different relationships between the node and its parent. For example, use a dashed line to show a hidden or temporary relationship. The choice is yours.
The Edge style controls the way the line is created. There are 6 different edge styles. The default style is the Smoothly curved (bezier). This best fits the suggestion of a curved rather than a straight line, but you can make a case for straight lines too. If a straight line makes sense to you, then the Linear style gives you a straight line from the parent to the node. Another form of a straight line is the Horizontal style. This style creates edges with sharp 90 degree angles. Hide edge does not display an edge between the parent and child node. For a unique touch, use the Sharply curved (bezier) or Sharp linear styles. The Sharply curved (bezier) is like the smoothly curved except the curves are tighter. If you increase the width, the edge becomes tapered from parent to child. For the Sharp linear style, you need a width greater than 0. The style creates a straight line tapered at the parent end and comes to a point at the child end.
Clicking the swatch for Edge color displays a color dialog. Select the new color for the node's edge and click OK. The new color will override automatic color settings.
Clouds
I will cover clouds and what they are in an article on grouping. For now, know you can change the Cloud color and Cloud shape here. The four shapes are Arc, Star, Rectangle, and Rounded Rectangle.
Tony Buzan gave us 7 guidelines for creating mind maps. Freeplane allows you to apply these guidelines as well as break them. The flexibility lets you create your own unique style of mind mapping. For me, mind mapping is not about following guidelines but finding what works for you. Tony's guidelines are a starting point. Mind maps allow you to create associations between objects and ideas. As we continue learning about Freeplane, we'll discover more ways to create associations.