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Comment on Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

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As someone who's used several outliners, this looks like a neat tool.

I'm curious why you decided to call this a "mind-mapping tool", which makes me think of visual graphs rather than textual hierarchies. Can you talk about that decision?

I agree with the “mind map” terminology. The defining feature of a mind map is that it is a visual process displayed as a diagram with colors, icons, etc. Without those things specifically, you have an outliner.

This looks like a neat outliner, but it is not a mind mapping tool.

Thanks for the feedback. To answer your question:

To me, a mind map is a tool with which one can map his/her mind. I see some comments that claim that colourful and interesting graphics should be a part of that definition. I disagree. With such mind mapping tools, I've found that it's that "cartoony" nature that limits their size. I wanted a mind-map tool in which I could store every little piece of minutia that I want and have it organized. I don't need the graphics, have search.

I hope that relays my thinking a bit.

A mind map usually has a relational component. Can one Item show up on two lists, and if it changes in one place, it changes in the other? They also tend to be drawn from the center outward, and have color as an additional dimension of information (categories?).

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