Freemind and Flash
(2 votes, average: 4.5 out of 5)
Loading ...Freemind is an opensource mindmapping tool (written in Java) that can usefully export to a variety of formats (main homepage seems to be freemind.sourceforge.net , link from wikipedia). I had an occasion to use it recently with a view to providing a mindmap on the Nominet website. A problem here though was Freemind’s required use of Java - and no real practical way to provide an accessible alternative (imagemaps anyone?) for anyone viewing the map.
A solution was to use Flash as a container (although that in itself raises accessibility questions). To create a mindmap entirely in Flash was also a possibility although that would be tricky and time consuming; so using Freemind was the only realistic alternative. Unfortunately, the latest release (0.8.0) does not support exporting to ‘.swf’. Exporting SVG (or even JPG) static maps is entirely possible, but this would not have contained any interactive links to other content, for example.
Luckily, the latest beta (0.9.0 beta .8) does indeed contain an option to export to ‘.swf’. The bad news is (as I found out) that the functionality of ‘rich text’ within nodes does not work within a Flash environment. This means that anything other than text within a node (or even styling of that node’s text, including any formatting) will not appear. Any attempt to include an image next to a node results in ‘undefined’ when displayed.
However, there is a tweaked version of the Flash browser, developed by Juan Pedro at Efectokiwano.net. This has some sketchy support for rich-text within the Flash container, which at least means images can be placed. However, there are definitely some areas that could be improved, such as:
- Complete rich text support for all image formats
- Ability to place images before or after a node’s text.
- Hyperlinks: this needs to be customisable, either by underlining the text or by linking an image, not just the tiny red arrow.
- Nodes that have children: currently shown by a small rounded circle - this needs to be far clearer.
- Icons - again should be able to be placed left or right of a node’s content.
- Local links (local to the .mm’s file location) currently do not work unless the map is on a server.
A fairly useful userguide can be found at: fb.stikipad.com.
January 24th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I don’t really understand what you are trying to accomplish and why SVG wouldn’t cut it in this case.
Fixing something with going to a more restricted format like Flash sounds strange at the least. Sorry if i misunderstood, otherwise take a look at http://svg.startpagina.nl for finding some help with the SVG.
January 25th, 2007 at 8:42 am
SVG wouldn’t cut it in this case as the file it produces (I’ve tested it) is not interactive - it’s static. The requirement is for the mindmap to be expanded or collapsed - you can’t do that with a static image, such as a JPG or exported SVG image.
You could take the SVG and import it into Flash (it would still be static) and then develop the Flash interactive functionality, but you may as well develop from scratch in Flash in any case (and also time is an issue).
January 25th, 2007 at 8:43 am
…and also using Flash as the vehicle here was a workaround to not using a Java applet.
May 14th, 2007 at 9:40 am
Were you able to link Flash MindMaps? I have another .mm and I am trying to figure out how to link them. Apparently there is support for this, hence the arrows in the flash browser. I have both the standard .mm http://relaxseo.com/mindmap.html and a flash version (available from sidebar navigation) … but it’s a real pain keeping them sync’ed.
Dave
May 14th, 2007 at 9:57 am
Not sure whether you mean link as in hyperlink, or link as in synchronisation.
I manged to get my .mm file working in a ‘flash browser’ container, but you should also be able to have two or more such containers and hyperlink between them. As far as synchronising them, it should be a simple case of editing one .mm, then copying into or overwriting the .mm used for the flash browser.
Issues I can see with this however would be relative links inside the .mm, if you ran the two (or more) .mm’s in different locations.
If you don’t want to synchronise, maybe it is possible to load two .mm’s intially, and then the arrows you mention may become functional.
May 15th, 2007 at 3:33 am
Thanks for the reply. I was able to hyperlink but I think either the ” buttons in the flash export are either misleading or undocumented.
Dave,
www.relaxseo.com