The user interface

The Headspace user interface is a study in spartan design. Brightly colored, rectangular topics float against a black background, making it look like they are in outer space. A simple toolbar at the bottom of the screen contains only five buttons: settings, world view (which centers your map in the workspace and zooms it in or out as needed to make all of it visible), the “nothing button” (which has multiple functions that are explained below), edit item and add new item.

When you create a new map in Headspace, you are prompted for a group name. This is the functional equivalent of the central topic in a mind map. It is the central focus of your visual outline, a container for a family of topics. When you add an item to your outline, a pop-up window asks if you want to add it after the currently selected item (at the same level), as a child of the current item or as an entirely new group. You can have up multiple groups in Headspace, and can link topics between them.

As you add topics, they appear in long, colored horizontal bars in a vertical “stack,” which makes excellent use of the iPhone’s screen. Because the topic text is scaled to fit the topic shape, you’ll want to keep your topic names fairly short; there is no support for text wrapping. Topics can contain checkboxes, which makes Headspace quite useful for maintaining simple to-do lists and carrying them with you wherever you go. You can also add notes, another point of similarity with mind mapping applications.

Leveraging the unique capabilities of the iPhone

Headspace makes excellent use of the iPhone’s intuitive user interface. If you tilt the iPhone, your map’s orientation changes to keep it horizontal. Dragging a single finger across the screen causes your outline to tilt and pan. Dragging 2 fingers rotates the view. Zooming is accomplished via a 2-finger pinch motion. Your visual outline can also be rotated within the workspace using a 3-fingered gesture.

I’m not sure how useful all of this manipulation is for the average user; when I first played around with Headspace, I actually managed to rotate and skew my map to the point where I couldn’t figure out how to get it back to a normal view. I guess that’s why the developer added a “world view” button to the interface – to help you restore your view to a “normal” one!

Finally, Headspace recently added support for landscape mode. If you rotate the iPhone to a horizontal orientation, your visual outline follows suit; the toolbar stays put, which means it is now on the right side of the screen. This actually makes it easier to view the topic bars, which are fairly long and not very tall. I would recommend using Headspace in this landscape orientation as your default working mode. In the program’s settings, you can turn off this auto-rotation feature, if you find that the movement of the outline in the workspace every time you move the iPhone is too distracting.

Manipulating your visual outlines

Once your map contains multiple topics, rearranging them is a simple matter of dragging and dropping them from one part of your outline to another. If you drag a topic below and to the right of an existing topic, it will become a child topic. Double-tapping an item collapses all of its child topics behind it, which helps to conserve screen real estate by hiding less important topics. Triple tapping a topic enables you to send it to a different group. One minor complaint: I found that I sometimes couldn’t clearly tell if a new item I added was a child topic or at the same level as the topic above it, depending upon the viewing angle. When I finally figured out how to rotate my outline to a different angle, it was a little more obvious that it was actually a sub-topic, but not abundantly so. In this context, I think the 3D interface of Headspace is actually a bit of a disadvantage, even if it does have a certain “coolness” factor.

The “nothing button” that does much more than nothing

In the middle of the toolbar at the bottom of the Headspace workspace is the curiously named “nothing button.” It looks like a dotted, rounded rectangle. If you tap on it once, it deselects any currently selected topic. But if you hold down your finger on it, it transforms into a multi-functional secondary toolbar, which enables you to move to another group, do keyword searches of your outlines and select other Headspace files to load into the workspace. It’s pretty cool, and is highly functional. I love the way the program takes a minimalist approach to toolbars – by default, it only displays enough buttons to accomplish common tasks, yet more options are available at the tap and hold of a button. Nice!

Likewise, the edit button performs multiple functions. Not only can you edit the text of your topic, you can also change the item’s background color and adjust its transparency. You can also copy a topic so you can duplicate it in another part of your outline, or delete the item. Finally, from this same button you can set up a link between the currently selected item and any other item in the current group or in other groups. This is what gives Headspace its quasi-mind map capabilities. It enables you to set up relationships between disparate topics in your visual “info-bases,” which could be very useful, depending upon what you’re using Headspace for.

Export/import options

Headspace enables you to export your visual outlines to an XML-based format that can be interpreted by Freemind, the open source mind mapping program. Headspace handles exporting by transferring the XML file to an external server; a URL appears on the screen to tell you where to retrieve it. This workaround is needed because Apple has restricted e-mail attachments to image files only. You can also import Freemind files, although the developer acknowledges that some map elements, such as topic boundaries, may not transfer. It would be nice to see some other export options, such as Microsoft Word or tab- or space-indented plain text files. Perhaps these options will be coming in a future version of Headspace.

Help for newbies

By default, Headspace is set up to give you hints on how to use it. These appear as translucent notes that hover on top of the program’s workspace. To make a hint go away, you simply click on it. It curls up and exits the screen with a cool animated effect.

Conclusion

Headspace is a very capable visual outliner that enables you to capture and arrange your ideas, to dos and other information quickly and easily. The Headspace interface is visually stunning, and some of the functionality is quite clever. The black workspace background and 3D effects are stunning when you first begin using the program – they’re wonderful “eye candy.” But as you begin work more with Headspace, they actually become a bit of an impediment. It’s too easy to accidentally rotate or pan your outline into an orientation that you don’t want (I actually managed to get one almost sideways and vertically flat, making it impossible to read). Fortunately, the “world view” button gets you back to a normal view with a single finger tap.

Rotating and panning your outline would be excellent if it actually revealed to you some new insights or relationships between its topics. But I can’t see much of a benefit to this capability – other than it makes your outlines look really cool.

Headspace is US$2.99 in the Apple App Store. A free version was also added recently that is restricted to only a single group (one outline, in other words) and doesn’t allow files to be exported. My recommendation: go for the paid version; it’s inexpensive and doesn’t hamstring you to a single file – which I would consider to be a real limitation.

I will be intrigued to see where the developer takes Headspace from here. It should be interesting!

Here is a brief summary of mind mapping tools that are currently available for the iPhone and iPod Touch:

iBlueSky

Developed by Tenero Software Ltd., iBlueSky appears to be one of the most fully developed mind mapping tools for the iPhone and iPod Touch. It features organic looking, curved connector lines, the ability to drag, arrange and edit items on the page, scroll, zoom and rotate the workspace and e-mail finished maps in NovaMind, PDF, PNG, OPML, text and Freemind formats. Click here to read my blog post about the integration between iBlueSky and NovaMind. The cost of iBlueSky is $7.99

iThoughts

This mind mapping tool, developed by CMS, offers some nice functionality. In addition to enabling you to create maps with colored topics and curved connector lines in multiple colors, iThoughts also enables you to attach notes (with embedded hyperlinks to web pages, e-mail addresses and phone numbers) and icons to topics, and to merge topics together. You can also link one map to another – very useful if you’re working with a complex issue. Maps may be saved to OPML and Freemind formats, as well as imported from these format into iThoughts – nice! You can zoom and scroll maps in both landscape and portrait modes. I thought this also supports maps that are much larger than the iPhone screen, up to 100 times larger. Attached notes can contain hyperlinks to phone numbers, websites, e-mail addresses and other maps – nice! You can also wirelessly upload and download maps using a web browser. This works by selecting the program’s “transfer” option. This uploads your map to a secure website; a message in the iThoughts window tells you what URL your map has been uploaded to, so you can retrieve it with your PC. This URL displays a list of the maps stored on your iPhone. Why did CMS resort to this workaround? Because Apple will only allow users of the iPhone to attach JPG images to outgoing e-mails. The cost of iThoughts is $6.99.

Instaviz

This application offers rudimentary mind mapping and diagramming capabilities, with straight connector lines. Unique capabilities of Instaviz include the ability to undo an item by shaking the iPod (which contains an accelerometer that senses motion). To change a topic shape, simply sketch a new shape over the old one. Zooming is accomplished using the two-fingered pinch motion. Diagrams can be exported to box.net or iDisk (online file storage services) or to any WebDAV server (in DOT/GV and PDF formats). To view a video of Instaviz in action, please visit the application’s website. The cost of Instaviz is $9.99.

iDiagram

This application, developed by Nexar Software Studios, lets you draw diagrams with rectangles, ovals, lines and text, both portrait and landscape modes. While iDiagram is not strictly a mind mapping application, you can create mind map-like diagrams, with a central topic and connected subtopics. You can change the line width and color, font size and color, and object background color. Diagrams may be saved as JPG images in your iPod photo album; from there, you can e-mail them to yourself or others. The cost of iDiagram is $3.99.

Headspace

Headspace, produced by Flat Black Films, was recently reviewed in this blog. Headspace topics are arranged in vertical columns called “groups.” They can have “child” topics, which are indented from the main level of the column – a visual hierarchical outline. Items can also be grouped into “stacks,” which makes efficient use of the iPhone’s screen real estate. An Item in one group can be linked to an item in another group, which gives Headspace a vaguely mind map-like quality. To move items around the workspace, you use a single finger to drag and drop them. To pan the workspace, you drag with two fingers. Zooming is accomplished using the popular two-fingered “pinch” gesture, while dragging three fingers across the screen will rotate the view. As of this writing, Headspace doesn’t offer any options for exporting your files – they remain stuck on your iPhone. Click here for a review of Headspace by AppleTell.com.  The cost of Headspace is $0.99.

MindMaker

MindMaker, developed by Ultravague, enables you to create topics and connect them using straight lines. You can navigate your maps by dragging your finger across the iPhone’s screen. You can export your maps in OPML and Freemind formats, and can also backup your files online and share them with other MindMaker users. The cost is $4.99.

Zeptopad 2.0

The developer of Zeptopad, Ubiquitous Entertainment, characterizes this application as a mobile note taking and mind mapping tool. You can use it to draw freehand mind maps, starting by placing topics around the workspace and then drawing circles or rectangles around them and connecting them with lines. You can also draw vector images in Zeptopad, and can adjust the color and thickness of the lines. What’s more, you can take a photo using the iPhone and then import it into your Zeptopaad drawing. Pinch the screen and the workspace expands to provide more space for drawing. You can rotate an object by first selecting it and then moving two fingers in a circular motion. If you’re standing close to another iPhone user, you can use the application’s unique “shake and share” capability to transfer the drawing on the screen to him or her. In addition, you can use Zeptopad and your iPhone with a wireless projector as a mobile presentation device – very cool. You can export your maps and drawings as JPG or PDF files. The cost of Zeptopad is $9.99.

MindMeister

In early January, the developer of MindMeister announced that he plans to release an iPhone version of this popular web-based mind mapping application. It will contain most of the functionality of MindMeister, and should be released around mid-February.

Recommendations

The most attractive usage scenario for these new mapping tools would be to use the iPhone to capture your ideas in a basic mind map, and then transfer it to a desktop mapping application for further development and refinement. While most of these tools enable you to move your maps off of the iPhone, only iThought and iBlueSky enable you to export them in editable form; the rest output your maps as static JPG images or PDF files – not very useful. I give iBlueSky a slight edge because of its tight integration with NovaMind.

I can’t wait to see what developers come up with next on this exciting new mobile platform!

Headspace topics are arranged in vertical columns called “groups.” They may have “child” topics, which are indented from the main level of the column – something like a visual version of a hierarachical outline. Items can also be grouped into “stacks,” which makes efficient use of the iPhone’s precious screen real estate. An Item in one group can be linked to an item in another group, which gives Headspace a vaguely mind map-like quality.

To move items around the workspace, you use a single finger to drag and drop them. To pan the workspace, you drag with two fingers. Zooming is accomplished using the popular two-fingered “pinch” gesture, while dragging three fingers across the screen will rotate the view. Nice!

Headspace appears to be best suited for maintaining smaller lists of items – such as to do items and shopping lists. There doesn’t appear to be any way to export Headspace lists to other applications, but perhaps this capability will be added some time in the future. If you want to see how Headspace works, here is a link to the instructions page.

I hesitate to call Headspace a mind mapping program, because it doesn’t allow you to arrange radial diagrams like a conventional mind map. However, because it enables you to connect topics to one another, it does fall under the category of visual mapping. If you own an iPhone and iPod Touch and are looking for applications that do visual mapping, then Headspace is worthy of a look.