Mind Mapping with Termboard

Mind mapping is a powerful visual technique for organizing thoughts, brainstorming, and structuring information. Termboard’s core features, originally designed for semantic data modeling, make it an incredibly flexible and robust platform for creating detailed and dynamic mind maps.

This guide will walk you through how to create and manage mind maps, leveraging Termboard's existing features for a fast and intuitive workflow.

1. Start with a Central Topic

Every mind map begins with a central idea or topic. In Termboard, this is represented by a single Term at the center of your canvas.

• Action: Open the Mind Map template from File > Load Examples > Mind Map template.
• Or: Create a new document (File > New) and create a single Term on the canvas.
• Best Practice: Give your central topic a concise and descriptive name, as all subsequent branches will radiate from it.

2. Creating Branches and Sub-Branches

The main ideas or concepts related to your central topic form the primary branches of your mind map. Sub-branches then extend from these main branches, creating a hierarchical structure.

In Termboard, you can use either Terms or Groups to represent these branches. Creating Groups is a good practice for main branches, as it allows you to easily nest other Terms or Groups inside them.

• Action: Add new Terms or Groups to the canvas.
• Connect them: Create a relation between 2 terms. This will create a hierarchical connection, visually linking it as a branch.
• Create sub-branches: You can also create a term and relation in 1 go. Enable Create relation+term in Application setttings

You can easily rearrange the branches and sub-branches by dragging them around the canvas. This allows you to organize your ideas organically as you brainstorm.

3. Creating Cross-Connections (Relations)

One of the key advantages of using a digital tool for mind mapping is the ability to show connections between any two ideas, regardless of their position in the hierarchy. This goes beyond the traditional, tree-like structure of a mind map.

In Termboard, you can use the Relations feature to create these connections.

• Action: Select a Term or Group on your canvas.
• Create a Relation: Create a relation between 2 terms to create a new relation and connect it to another Term or Group anywhere on the map. It might be handy to bend the relations. See Add Control Point in the relation menu
• Best Practice: Use relation types (e.g., "is linked to," "is a cause of," "is a prerequisite for") to clearly define the nature of the connection.

These relations will appear as visual lines on the canvas, showing a non-hierarchical link between your ideas.

4. Visualizing Your Ideas with Styling

Mind maps rely heavily on visual cues to make information easier to remember and process. Termboard provides a rich set of styling options to make your mind maps more effective.

Customizing Nodes (Terms and Groups)

• Change Color: Use the styling options in the sidebar to change the color of your terms. For example, use red for critical ideas, green for completed tasks, or different colors for each main branch.
• Change Shape and Size: You can modify the shape (e.g., circle, square) and size of your terms to make them stand out.
• Add Icons: Use the icon feature to add visual cues to your terms. This helps you quickly identify ideas without reading the text. For example, use a lightbulb icon for new ideas or a clock icon for time-sensitive tasks.

See graph styling for how to do this.

Customizing Branches (Connections)

• Change Line Style: Select a branch (the line connecting two terms) and use the styling options to change its color, thickness, or style (e.g., solid, dashed, dotted). This is a great way to visually differentiate between different types of connections.
• Organic Layout: Use the styling and manual drag-and-drop to create a more organic, free-form layout that feels natural to a mind map.

5. Organizing and Viewing Your Mind Map

As your mind map grows, it's important to keep it organized and easy to navigate. Termboard's features are designed to handle this complexity.

Auto-Layout

Sometimes, an organic layout can become messy. Use the built-in auto-layout feature to quickly rearrange all your terms into a clean, readable structure. This can be a great way to tidy up after a rapid brainstorming session.

Filtering

Termboard's filtering capabilities are a powerful feature for mind mapping.

• Focus on a term + relations: Filter your canvas to show only a term and its direct relations, hiding the rest of the map to focus on one area. See Select ... Relations and terms in the term context menu
• Find ideas by property: If you use extra fields, you can filter terms
• Find ideas by colors: When you use colors for terms (see graph styling), you can filter on colors. See Highlight in term menu

6. Exporting Your Mind Map

Once you've created your mind map, you'll likely want to share it or save it for later. Termboard offers flexible export options.