MindMeister for iPad takes mobile mind mapping to the next level in its latest release. Version 4.1 contains numerous new features that enhance its usability and degree of fit for business applications. Here’s what’s new and improved:

Auxiliary keyboard: MindMeister 4.1 for the iPad adds an auxiliary keyboard that sits on top of the iPad’s virtual keyboard (pictured above). This gives you fast access to recently used icons and speeds the creation of new topics. This is a very smart way to handle this toolbar – rather than creating a dedicated one that takes up valuable screen real estate, this narrow horizontal toolbar appears and disappears along with the iPad’s virtual screen. Why didn’t anyone else think of this before?

Context menu: Tapping a node (MindMeister’s term for a map topic) now causes a context menu to pop up, which enables you to cut, copy, delete and connect topics, as well as access recent topic colors and icons you’ve used.

Node creation gestures: You can now double-tap above, below or beside the current topic to quickly add siblings and child topics. MeisterLabs calls them “gestures,” which I think is a misnomer. To me, in a tablet computing environment, a gesture is a pattern that you trace with your finger on the screen, which the app interprets as a specific command. MindMeister’s implementation is simply a double-tap. Let’s call it what it is. This is a feature I’ve seen in several other iPad-based mind mapping apps, and it really is a productivity booster!

Themes: In recent months, MeisterLabs launched a set of attractive map themes for the web-based version of MindMeister. These are now supported in the iPad app.

Alternate logins: In the browser-based version of MindMeister, you can now login using your Facebook account. Version 4.1 of the iPad app not only offers this alternate login, but also Google and OpenID, with more options to be launched in the near future.

What I’m not seeing is live co-editing between users running MindMeister on iPads, iPhones and the web version of the app. Perhaps that’s coming in 2012? We’ll see.

Full details on MindMeister for iPad 4.1 are available on the MindMeister Blog.

• The huge variety of files and resources that can be linked within your mind maps
• Thoughts on PersonalBrain and its WebBrain companion application.
• Strategies for managing mind mapping files effectively
• Long vs. short topic names in mind maps – what’s best?

Several of these topics are important enough that they may become special reports in the near future.

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Please be sure to send me your questions for the October coaching call.

MindMeister, the innovator in the web-based mind mapping space, continues to advance with the recent release of a major update, which includes a completely redesigned user interface, social sharing of maps created online, new MS Office export capabilities and much more.

Here’s what’s most notable in MindMeister 6:

Redesigned user interface: The first thing you notice when you open a map in MindMeister is that the user interface looks brighter. That’s because the properties panels on the right, which were formerly dark blue, now have a white background color. Also, this panel has been simplified. In the past, it took up the entire right side of the workspace, from top to bottom. Each of 5 sub-panels could be collapsed separately. The redesigned properties panel is now only half as tall, and can be collapsed in a single mouse click, giving you more screen real estate.

Improved notes functionality: One example of how the usability of MindMeister has been improved is the notes panel. In the past, it contained a toolbar, which enabled you to format your notes text. Usability studies must have confirmed that few users did so. As a result, the developers removed it from the panel and instead provided an unobtrusive “advanced” text link – which opens the notes in a much larger pop-over window, complete with a formatting toolbar. Undoubtedly, this also meets the needs of users who didn’t like the tiny text input window of previous versions. This solution meets the needs of novice users, yet gives power users access to more options with a single mouse click – nicely done!

Social sharing: With version 6.0, MindMeister users can now share maps quickly via e-mail, IM and Twitter with a unique link that has been shortened with the application’s new mm.tt link shortner. This was long overdue, considering the growing popularity of social media. You can share maps from either the map editing view or the “my maps” list. In a clever move, the developers consolidated map sharing (inviting people via e-mail to view and/or edit your map) and social sharing (via a shortened link). You need at least a MindMeister Pro account (US$9.95 per month) in order to use this functionality.

Map themes: MindMeister 6 now includes 12 colorful map themes, another feature that was probably long overdue. Almost all mind maps produced using MindMeister have looked the same – a blue central image with with angular connector lines joining topics and subtopics together, topic text on a plain line and a plain white background. Bleh! What a wonder it is to select a professionally-designed map theme, complete with smooth, rounded connector lines, topic box shapes and background colors.  Not only that, but you can click on a “customize map theme” button to further modify the look and feel of your MindMeister maps. With this improvement alone, MindMeister moves the state of the art of web-based mind mapping closer to the experience of using desktop software.

New map exporting options: MindMeister 6 can now export to Word (.docx) and PowerPoint (.pptx) formats. In previous versions, it was possible to share your maps as embedded images, but MindMeister maps were more or less “islands.” You couldn’t easily export their contents to other useful formats for further development and refinement. Now you can. Once again, this is a capability that users of desktop mind mapping software have had for years; it’s nice to see MindMeister making this capability available to users of its innovative web-based application.

Keep-aligned feature: In previous versions, users spent a lot of time dragging and dropping topics to align them with each other. In version 6.0, a new “keep aligned” tool automatically repositions your topics. I tried this on one of my existing right-facing mind maps, which had about 12 topics in moderate disarray, relative to each other. The second I clicked this option, all of the topics jumped into perfect alignment with each other. Not only that, but if I tried to drag one of them out of alignment, it immediately snapped back into position. This tool can be toggled on and off; if you want to have more control over the positioning of your map topics, you can simply switch it off.

MindMeister 6 includes numerous other improvements, which you can read about in the developer’s blog.

It’s great to see a developer listening to its customers and responding with terrific new features and functionality. MindMeister continues to get my recommendation as the top web-based mind mapping application available today.

Developers of mind mapping apps have been someone slow to support Dropbox so far, but I expect that to change in the next few years, as tablets continue to grow in popularity. Here is a summary of those that currently support it and those that don’t:

Support Dropbox

• MindNode
• iThoughts HD – yes, and also web server, Mobile.me, WebDAV
• Mindo – yes, and also Box.net, wi-fi, iTunes and Picasa (image of mind map)

Don’t support Dropbox

• iMindMap HD – e-mail only
• MindMeister for iPad – share via MindMeister online and e-mail only
• SimpleMind – share via proprietary server, e-mail, cellular network and wi-fi
• Maptini (formerly CrowdMap) – only via the developer’s proprietary map sharing service
• Popplet – PDF only
• IdeaMapper – PNG and e-mail map image only
• MindCreator – image, freemind, PDF (via e-mail) only
• Total Recall – e-mail image, mind map or PDF
• Idea Sketch – image, photos, Facebook
• MyThoughtsBook – e-mail only
• Iditia – only exports to Google Docs

Some of these are newer mind mapping apps that I haven’t even talked about on this blog yet. Watch for more details on them in the weeks and months ahead.

In this review, we’ll take a brief look at the most notable features of this excellent mind mapping app:

Creating your mind map in MindMeister for iPad

When you first open a new map in MindMeister for iPad, you’re prompted for a map name, which is used to populate the central topic. To add a first-level topic, you simply tap on a topic to select it as the parent topic (it changes to a gray color to let you know it’s selected), and then double-tap in a blank area adjacent to it. A new topic appears, linked to the parent topic you selected. It’s a simple, intuitive and fun way to add content to your mind map. To add a new child idea, you use the “+” button in the app’s toolbar. To edit a topic, you simply double-tap on it. The tactile experience is intuitive and enjoyable.

MindMeister offers a number of options for embellishing your map topics, using a simple toolbar at the top of the iPad’s screen. Clicking on a paint brush icon opens a multi-tabbed dialog box that gives you options for:

• Style: Text size, style and color, and topic shape, border and background colors. You cannot choose fonts in this app, which I suppose is an acceptable compromise, since you will probably be using the mind mapping app to start your mind maps, and then finish them up in the main MindMeister application in your web browser.
• Icons: This tab gives you nearly 50 colorful icons that you can add to your map topics; this tab also contains a button to clear any icon settings for the currently selected topic.
• Theme: Using this tab, you can select from one of 12 map themese, which automatically sets the background color, topic color and shape and other attributes. If you’re looking for a quick way to embellish one of your mind maps, this is the way to do it.

The next button in the toolbar looks like a paperclip; it opens another 3-tabbed dialog box that enables you to add:

• Topic notes
• Links (URL or e-mail “mailto” links); you also use this tab to navigate to a link in your mind map. If you click on the “open in Safari,” the iPad opens the link in that web browser app. You can also clear links from this tab.
• Tasks: In this tab, you can designate the priority of a topic, percentage completion, “effort” (the number of days or weeks the task is expected to take), task start and end dates and who the task is assigned to. I clicked on the “assigned to” command, and it only showed me. I’m not sure how you add other people to it. It’s not controlled from the program’s settings, nor could I find it under the “account” options.

A final toolbar button enables you to share your maps with others via e-mail and to export your mind map to one of five formats:

• PDF
• PNG (image format)
• RTF (rich text format, readable by Microsoft Word)
• Freemind
• MindManager

Seamless integration with your cloud-based MindMeister account

When you first open MindMeister for the iPad, you’re greeted by a tabbed dialog box. By default, your local mind maps are displayed in a summary view. But if you click on the “online” button, you can just as easily view and open any mind maps in your online MindMeister account.In other words, this cleverly-designed app treats local and online mind maps as if they’re the same. Very cool! If you don’t need your full collection of online maps, MindMeister for iPad won’t force you to download them to your mobile device. But they’re only one tap away when you do need them.

If you create new mind map, it is automatically synchronized to your online map repository – you don’t even have to think about it – it just happens in the background, while you’re doing other things. I used the MindMeister app to build a mind map of information product ideas over the last week or two. When I was done creating it on the iPad, I simply opened my MindMeister online account, found it there, opened it and converted it into a MindManager map – very easy and intuitive. Other apps require you to e-mail you mind map to yourself. This approach is much simpler, and it’s delightfully seamless. I don’t have to think about it. It just works.

From the program’s main screen, you get a big view of the last map you edited – taking full advantage of the iPad’s expansive screen. You can also view your favorite mind maps, send an idea to your default online map using the developer’s clever “Geistesblitz” app, and change your account settings.

The ultimate test

As you can tell, I like apps that let me move from one platform to another, with my files available everywhere. Evernote is a shining example of that type of seamless integration, enabling me to access the same pool of articles, posts and ideas on my iPhone, my iPad or via a web browser. So I decided to try the ultimate test with MindMeister for iPad. First, I added a “task management” topic to the map I was working on in the MindMeister iPhone app. I then opened this map in my iPad, to verify that the new topic was there. It was. The next step was to add task information to this new topic in the iPad app. I gave it a priority of 2, made it 50% completed, gave it start and end dates and assigned it to myself. As the collage below proves, all of this task data DID show up in the browser version of MindMeister. From there, I exported this map to MindManager, and, as the inset image shows, all of that task data transferred perfectly. Awesome!

Conclusion

MindMeister for iPad is a well-designed mind mapping app that contains the essential features you need to do business mapping on the iPad. It’s real advantage is the way it seamlessly integrates with your online MindMeister account and with the developer’s iPhone app. That means no matter where I am, I can be working on a mind map in MindMeister. And I know that any files I update will be asccessible, immediately.

If you’re on the go and need any time, anywhere access to your mind maps, then I highly recommend that you take a look at MindMeister for the iPad.

iMindMap: This app is everything you would expect from iMindMap. The experience of creating new map topics with your index finger just feels right. The app supports all of the capabilities that I consider to be important In mind mapping applications, including notes, hypertext links and icons.

iThoughts HD: This full-featured app gives you a surprising level of control over the look and feel of your mind maps. The shape and color of topics, icons and start and due dates can be set via a simple multi-tabbed dialog box. Surprisingly, iThoughts HD does auto-versioning, which enables you to roll back your mind map to a previous version. Very cool! This well-designed app can export your maps in no less than 7 different formats, including PDF, Freemind, MindManager, PNG, OPML (an outline format), Novamind, iMindmap and Mindview. Other excellent features include the ability to sync your maps with cloud-based storage services Dropbox and box.net, unlimited undo and redo, and the ability to turn on or off inheritance of topic colors and shapes. iThoughts HD is the undisputed leader in the iPad mind mapping space.

MindMeister for iPad: This app appears to be well designed and easy to use. It’s claim to fame is its tight integration with the online MindMeister service; as on the iPhone, you can work with mind maps you have created locally on the iPad, or you can access the maps in your online message store and save new maps to this location – ideal for capturing ideas on the iPad and then fleshing them out in the MindMeister web application. In its first iteration, MindMeister for iPad didn’t support links, tasks or notes. But with its latest release, these features are now supported and work very well.

MindNode: This app has a fairly limited feature set, but does the basics very well. When you select a topic, a plus sign appears next to it. Tap on it, and a new subtopic is created, awaiting you to name it. Not quite as organic as iMindMap’s organic tap-and-drag motif, but wonderfully efficient nonetheless. What’s nice about it is that you can add new topics without having to use the toolbar button at the top of the screen. If your mind mapping needs are fairly basic, then MindNode is a solid choice!

SimpleMind: Like its name suggests, SimpleMind has a fairly simple user interface and only the most basic of features – adding topics and sub-topics, and changing their color, either via a set of builts in styles or by selecting a topic and adjusting the color manually. Almost too basic, I think.

Mindo: This app also has a fairly basic set of features, but can create boundaries around groups of topics and relationship lines – features not found on any other iPad mind mapping app.

CrowdMap: This is a fairly new mind mapping app that aims to make it easy for people to share maps with each other. However, the features are just too basic at this time. All it can do is create topics, subtopics and change their color. As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, even the most basic mind mapping app needs to support icons, hypertext links and notes – the basics for capturing at least a moderate level of detail about the topic you’re brainstorming.

Popplet: This interesting app does something akin to mind maps, except with topic shapes that can contain any combination of words, images and drawings. The effect is playful, rather than professional. Still, an interesting app nonetheless.

I’m excited to see how far the genre of mind mapping apps has come in the 4 months since Apple’s launch of the iPad in June. I can’t wait to see what’s coming next!

Here’s what’s new and notable in the latest release of MindMeister:

• A new user interface: The developers have created a new, more streamlined “business-like design” and is opening up the file view to potentially accommodate folders for storing your mind maps.
• Configurable sidebar: In the past, users had to constantly mouse over to the large vertical sidebar on the right side of the workspace in order to accomplish common tasks. What’s more, on smaller screens, accessing this toolbar required some vertical scrolling – not very efficient. MindMeister 4.0 solves this problem by making it possible to drag and drop sections of the sidebar to other areas of the workspace. Nice!
• Stats and reports: Subscribers to MindMeister Team Edition now have access to usage statistics and activity reports, which can be found under a new “My Team” tab. Reports include who’s logged in, most active users and the number of mind maps per user. The developer says more reports are in the works, and is seeking feedback on what you’d like to see.
• Backup your maps: One of the inherent shortcomings of any web 2.0 application, especially for businesses, is that your maps reside on a server outside of your four walls. If the app developer goes out of business, your intellectual assets are toast. Chances are, you’ll never see them again. The developers of MindMeister have addressed this issue in version 4.0, by giving Business and Academic Edition users the option of backing up all of their maps to a configurable external location. Administrators may specify how often and in which format these backups should take place, and can access them via a secure FTP connection. It’s great to see MeisterLabs GmbH taking the lead on such important business needs!
• Map themes: The developer has added the ability to change node, text and background colors. You can now select from 12 pre-defined map styles or create your own color combinations.

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I regularly answer other people’s questions about recommended mind mapping applications. In the world of web-based visual mapping tools, MindMeister is one of the tools I recommend most often. These guys are committed to making their terrific mind mapping app the best it can be, and they are relentlessly innovative.

Keep up the great work, guys!

• Widgets for the Windows Vista Sidebar, Mac OS X Dashboard and Yahoo Widgets
• Web browser extensions for Internet Explorer and Firefox
• The ability to capture ideas and add them to your map via e-mail and SMS

So it’s not surprising that Mindmeister has extended its reach to the iPhone and iPod Touch platform. About a month ago, the developers of MindMeister announced an iPhone version of its web-based mind mapping application, which includes the ability to send ideas via Geistesblitz.

The latest development, however, is the release this week of a separate Geistesblitz app – without MindMeister included. If you don’t relish the idea of creating mind maps on the diminutive iPhone screen but still want to capture your ideas and inspirations and have them automatically sent to your MindMeister account, then this new tool is for you.

The new Geistesblitz app is a free download from the Apple AppStore, and it enables non-users of MindMeister to set up a free account on the fly, from within the app. Best of all, having Geistesblitz at your side ensures that no idea should ever be scribbled down on a scrap piece of paper – and subsequently lost – ever again.

Here’s a brief summary of what’s new and exciting about this long-awaited mind map app:

Auto-synchronization of maps: One of the shortcomings of mind mapping on the iPhone/iPod Touch platform has been getting your maps off of this platform and onto your PC. You see, Apple only allows image files to be e-mail attachments. So most of MindMeister Mobile’s competitors have gotten around this limitation via complicated server arrangements. You have to upload your map to their server, and then type the server URL they give you into your desktop browser in order to retrieve your map. Kind of clunky!

MindMeister, fortunately, has a better solution – and that’s what they concentrated on in this first release of their iPhone map app. Remember, MindMeister is already a web-based service. As a result, MindMeister Mobile automatically saves any maps you’ve created on your iPhone or iPod Touch to your account on the MindMeister web service. In addition, if you have wireless Internet access available, you can view the maps you have stored online and download them to your iPhone.

In practice, this worked very smoothly. Here’s how I tested it: I recently came up with the idea of publishing a mind map of all commercially available mind mapping software. I began to create this map in MindMeister Mobile, when I had a few minutes of “down time.” The next day, I logged into my MindMeister account, opened this map and exported it as a MindManager .mmap file. I then opened it in MindManager and finished creating it there. Very slick, indeed!

You can still use MindMeister Mobile, even if you don’t have an account with the developer’s online mapping service. Obviously, then, you’ll be limited to saving your maps on your iPhone or iPod Touch. With the basic level of this web-based mapping service still available for free, you really owe it to yourself to set up a MindMeister account online so you can get the most out of this portable version.

Geistesblitz on the go: Another slick feature offered by MindMeister Mobile is one that debuted in the web version of this mind mapping application: Geistesblitz – German for “brainstorm.” The developers of MindMeister have created a number of ways for you to add ideas to your default map stored on the web service, without having to open it - via desktop widgets and e-mail messages, for example. I’ve always loved this innovative functionality, and it is now available on MindManager Mobile.

If you click on the Geistesblitz button in the app’s toolbar, you’re taken to a screen with a single form field and a “submit” button; the bottom half of the screen is filled with the iPhone’s pop-up keyboard. Type in your idea, click “submit” (or the “send” button on the iPhone’s virtual keyboard) and your idea is instantly added to a “my Geistesblitzes” branch of your default map. I verified this by clicking on the “maps” icon and immediately loading my default map (note to developer: it would be nice if a future iteration of MindMeister Mobile provides some visual designation of which online map is your default one).

In addition to these intriguing capabilities, here’s a summary of the other features offered by MindMeister Mobile:

• Create, view and edit maps online and offline
• Share maps directly from the device
• Full drag and drop support
• Zoom in and out
• Support for icons, colors and styles
• Favorites and pending maps (those that haven’t been synched yet)

MindMeister for iPhone and iPod touch is officially available in the App Store now for only US$6.99.

In summary, MindMeister is off to a great start with its new iPhone and iPod Touch app. Considering the reputation they have earned as a leading innovator in the world of web-based mind mapping applications, I can’t wait to see where they take it from here!

Support for multiple languages: With this latest build, MindMeister has been fully internationalized for German and Japanese languages, and more translations are on the way; next up are French, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese.

In-line images: Map topics can now include in-line images, selected from mind meisters a library of images, from your computer or from the Web – via a direct web URL or through an integrated Google image search. I love this type of integrated image search capability, because it opens up your map to a whole world of potential images that can help you to convey key messages or knowledge with greater impact.

Wunder Bild: This capability is actually part of MindMeister’s image search capability. If you click the image button itself, you can automatically add an image that the application selects for you, based upon the text of the currently-selected topic. Think of it as the image equivalent of Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, which takes you to the first page that appears in the search results for any given term.

History view player/time machine improvements: MindMeister has offered a “history view” for some time now. It utilizes a slider and a “play” button to enable you to play back the edits and additions you made to your map, as if it’s a stop-action movie. It’s a neat rethinking of the “undo” feature of conventional software. The latest update to MindMeister adds some new functionality. It now includes controls that enable you to quickly jump to the start of the change history and stop/start the replay. You can also change the replay speed and color highlight changes by who made them. An advanced dialogue enables you to filter the entire history by user and idea. The speed feature should be nice; in its earlier iteration, it only played back at one speed. If you’re trying to review a map that contains many changes, it could take several minutes to reach the stage of the map’s development that you really want to work with. The speed feature enables you to reach that point faster. If you use MindMeister to create collaborative mind maps, you should really like the ability to highlight changes by user.

Additional icons: MindMeister now includes 200 additional icons, based on those that were most requested by users. Recently-used icons are saved for quicker access. If you are like most users, there is a certain set of icons that you tend to use over and over in every map you create; making these easily accessible should be a major usability improvement!

New embed widget: Before now, it was possible to embed MindMeister maps in blogs and web pages. This latest update it enhances that capability with an improved appearance, plus buttons to forward and bookmark your map.

Line colors: One capability frequently requested by MindMeister users was to render topic connection lines in different colors; six line colors are now supported.

Also coming soon from MindMesister: An iPhone application, based upon the recently-acquired MindMaker application, and a MindMeister Enterprise edition that is self-contained and can be deployed behind corporate firewalls, for those companies that have tight security and cannot embrace web-based “software as a service” applications.