Free Mind recommended project in February SourceForge

Freemind: Recommended items for SourceForge this month

Author: chelong published on: Last updated on:
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This month: 2006-02 recommended SourceForge project: freemind

Mindmap: Mind Map. This is a way of organizing ideas learned last year: Clear clues by tree structure. Freemind is a free desktop drawing tool dedicated to painting mindmap.

Download: freemind is written in Java and requires Java 1.4 and Windows Installation Tools.
Http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php? Group_id = 7118

Usage: I personally think several advantages of freemind
0 open-source, free, fast programs;
1. The most important thing to draw a train of thought diagram is to do whatever you like. freemind operations: most operations, including node creation, can be performed through the keyboard, nodes can be expanded without any interference of ideas;
2. After the completion of the thought tree, you can also drag through the node;
3. The new version adds undo and various icon operations;

Update: solidot was used on April 9, February 18;

Thanks to Lao Xiao: I learned how to add my freemind introduction below.

The following is an excerpt from SF's interview with freemind developers:
Why do you think your project has been so well received ed? Why is the project successful?

Juan: it is easy to use, intuitive, and powerful.

Dan: It fills an important gap, and in doing so, it has or at least had implements ally no free or open source competition. though it's multi-platform by means of Java, it is fast.

Christian: the usability is the most important goal of our software. freemind is intuitive to use and can be controlled nearly entirely by the keyboard. thus, you can enter your thoughts quickly and then concentrate on the map itself. but for the times that the ideas slow down, there are enough little features to discover or to play.

Availability is the key to software. freemind was originally designed to operate entirely on the keyboard, so that you can quickly think about it and focus entirely on the idea graph itself. However, this principle has been weakened, so many more novel functions can be used.

Where do you see your project going? Development Direction of the project

Dan: I imagine the project going toward an office suite, as strange as it may seem. but that does not prevent addition of features in the mind-mapping ction, like library of graphics or more visual aids.

Christian: my main goal is the usability. As eclipse is the master of usability, I 'd like to introduce more of its spirit into freemind.
My goal is availability, learning from eclipse

What's on your project wish list? Project requirements

Dan: freemind's wish list contains des pasting of Rich Text Format into freemind, WYSIWYG editing of rich text including mathematical formulas, export to and import from more formats including presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint and OpenOffice.org impress, more searching options, and combination sion of bitmap images directly in mind maps (currently, images are linked only ).
Visual editor: You can edit formulas and other items. You can easily import/export them to PowerPoint or OpenOffice. More search options include images directly. Currently, images can only be linked.

Cristian: My wish list contains scripting plus spreadsheet functionality and a good collaboration mode. But freemind has to remain easy and fast.
My goal is to increase the slide mode and better collaborative writing mode, while freemind remains short/fast.

Juan: More expressiveness (types of links, clouds, backgrounds, etc.), new icons, and better interaction.

What are you most proud? The most proud side of the project

Dan: I'm most proud of the simplicity and elegance of the user interface. I am also proud to hear that the software has changed people's lives. it has changed my life for sure.

Juan: the software is easy to use.
Easy to use
Christian: my recent developments: Undo and the plugin mechanisms, both via design patterns.
The "cancel" and plug-in modes learned in the design mode.

How do you coordinate the project? How to develop collaboratively

Our team consists of only a few people, so everybody knows what to do. We do not assign bugs. We use email and the main open discussion forum, and patches.

Do you work on the Project full-time, or do you have another job? How much time is spent on projects?

We all work on it part-time.

If you work on the project part-time, how much time wocould you say you spend, per week, on it?

It varies between two or three to 12 to 20, depending on the week.

What is your development environment like? Development Environment

Christian: Mainly I develop using Debian etch under x86 with eclipse. On the road, I use my PowerBook running Mac OS X 10.3.

Dan: I run Microsoft Windows 98 and XP, using the standard Java compiler, no debugger, and xemacs for source code editing.

Dimitri: 866 MHz Intel Pentium III, 512 mb ram, Windows 2000, eclipse 3.0, Java SDK 1.4.2 and 1.5.0, yourkit Java profiler 4.0.1.

Juan: eclipse with mtasc, flashout, and ASDT.

Eclipse

Milestones: milestone

* 0.8.0 (2005-09-06)
* 0.7.1 (2004-02-15)
* 0.6.1 (2003-2-08)
* 0.5 (2002-08-24)
* 0.4)

Future Plans

* Add M attributes
* Add filtering of Nodes Based on icons, texts, and values of M attributes
* Add wysiwyg html editing of long text nodes by means of kafenio Java Editor
* Add M icons

How can others contribute?

Others can contribute suggestions and visual ideas. we need help testing the applications and reporting the results to the forums. we urgently need more documentation: tutorials and manuals. we can also use a flash introduction, and patches that implement functions requested in requests for enhancements. java developers are invited to discuss their enhancements in our open discussion forum. anyone wanting to help in development is welcome.