Here’s what’s notable about this new app:

Seamless synchronization: As you would expect, this new app syncs seamlessly with your online repository of DropMind maps. I love to see this kind of integration, because realistically, a mind map you create on the iPad will be developed further elsewhere. DropMind for iPad enables you to view the maps you have stored locally as well as those in your web account, and to work with them regardless of their location. That’s the way it should be!

There is no doubt in my mind that mind mapping apps that synchronize files to a corresponding web app or the cloud (a file storage and backup service like Dropbox) are going to have a big advantage in the years ahead versus those that only allow you to e-mail files to yourself and others.

Properties inspector: Like other well-designed mind mapping apps for the iPad, DropMind utilizes a property inspector – accessible from the app’s toolbar – to enable you to change topic shape, font, and add icons, notes and links.

Nice use of pop-over menus: When you select a topic in your map, DropMind automatically displays a pop-over menu that gives you the option of copying the current topic, creating a sub-topic or deleting the current topic. This is quite convenient for creating new sub-topics, because you can do so right in the workspace. There’s also a toolbar icon that you can use to do this, but I’m a big fan of contextual commands that you can invoke right in your mind map, without having to rely on a toolbar. If a topic you select contains a hypertext link, this pop-over menu will also contain a “go to link” command.

Clever display of topic notes: If you select a topic that contains a note, the contents of it are displayed in a translcuent window at the bottom of the screen. Nice!

Support for floating topics: If you want to create a floating topic, you simply double-click in a blank area of the canvas.

Feedback on moving topics: Some of the iPad mind mapping apps don’t make it very clear what’s happening when you attempt to move a topic. I’m pleased to see that the developers of the DropMind app have paid close attention to making this intuitive. When you select a topic, a red “shadow” of it appears just below it. As you drag your finger to move the topic, it follows along, and places a red box around nearby topics as you pass by them. This shows you where your topic will “land” if you release your finger from the screen. It’s simple and very intuitive. Love it!

Conflict resolution: This is something I haven’t seen in an iPad mind mapping app before. Let’s say you made some changes to a DropMind map using the developer’s web-based mapping tool. Soon after, you modified the version of it that’s stored on your iPad, but didn’t have access to an Internet connection to grab the latest version. Now you have 2 copies of the same mind map, with slight differences. Which one is the right map? This tool enables you to tell DropMind which version should survive and be sync’d across both devices.

Anticipating user needs: Seavus assumes when someone downloads the DropMind iPad app, they may not have an online account. So the app gives you the opportunity to create one. Very smart! Even if you don’t actually use the web-based version of DropMind, this service is still useful as an online backup to the maps that are stored on your iPad.

Conclusion

I am somewhat particular in my expectations of mind mapping apps for the iPad and iPhone. They must have a certain minimum set of capabilities in order for me to take them seriously, namely:

• The ability to capture topic notes
• Support for hyperlinks
• Support for floating topics
• The ability to display icons and symbols
• Common-sense map management tools – how can I export a map, and how easy is the process?
• Undo and redo (these devices have small screens; you need to be able to easily recover from a mistake)

DropMind for the iPad shines on all counts. A great user interface design, combined with easy synchronization with DropMind’s “cloud” application help to make this app one of the best for the iPad.

Task information: You can now set task priorities, add, start and end dates, add task duration and percentage complete, as well as assign resources to task topics.

Filtering: In order to make sense of large, complex mind maps and zero in on the information you need, map filtering is essential. DropMind 1.1 now supports this capability. You can now filter topics based on icon markers, notes, hyperlinks, attachments and key topics or alerts. Nice!

Map parts: DropMind 1.1 enables you to save part of a map that you’ve created as a “map part,” and then re-use it later in different mind maps. This is a real time-saver, especially if you tend to frequently create the same types of mind maps (such as to do lists, meeting plans and business proposals). Business users will especially benefit from this new capability.

Alerts: You can now use alerts to set a reminder to open and work with a specific map at an assigned date and time. You can set an alert for any map topic.

New export formats: XML and Freemind have been added to the extensive list of export file types that DropMind can produce. When it comes to business applications of mind maps, more export formats is a very good thing.

Topic numbering: You can choose the numbering scheme from a predefined set of options and depth to which it will be applied within your mind maps.

Topic styles: You can modify the topic font, shape and color, alignment, size and margins, and subtopics layout, and then save these settings in the program’s style library.

Expanded language support: DropMind 1.1 now supports Japanese, French and Spanish languages.

Multi-platform support: DropMind 1.1 can now be used on the Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS and Linux Ubuntu operating systems.

A new Application Programming Interface (API): This will enable developers to write add-in programs to DropMind to further enhance its functionality. This could be potentially huge for Seavus and DropMind – but only if they can get the attention of developers.

Click here to view all of the new and improved features in DropMind version 1.1.

One of the biggest omissions that I complained about in the beta versions of DropMind was the lack of integration between the desktop and web-based apps. Seavus has addressed this limitation by offering two-way synchronization between DropMind and DropMind Web. The desktop version of the program also includes a convenient synchronization option. When it is enabled, your online maps will always be updated with the changes that you made on your locally stored maps – nice! I tried uploading a map from the desktop client to the web version, and it worked seamlessly.

The commercial version of DropMind also includes enhanced import and export options. During beta testing, the desktop program was able to import MindManager and FreeMind map files; the commercial version also enables you to import maps from XMIND and Microsoft Word document outlines. These two formats can be imported into the web version of DropMind, too.

The desktop version of DropMind now supports six export options: PDF, image, Word document, Rich Text Format (RTF) document, PowerPoint presentation and HTML. The Web version of DropMind offers export as image, Rich Text Format document, Word document, desktop DropMind file, PDF and HTML.

Another new feature: The beta of the Web version of DropMind featured a presentation mode. This capability has now been added to the desktop version. It enables you to generate separate slides of different topics by taking “snapshots” of specific branches and making them into a slideshow. You can also tell the program to auto-generate a set of slides – which wasn’t very impressive when I tried it with a map I produced in the program. I got better results doing my own snapshots, but still its performance was inconsistent. You first drag select topics to be included in a snapshot, and then select “take snapshot.” At one point, I selected three top-level topics to the right of the central topic. But when I took a snapshot, it only captured the bottom topic. Strange…

You can export presentation slides as a list of images. For some reason, DropMind groups them all into a zip file. I’m not sure why, but my personal preference would be for a set of JPG, BMP or TIF images.

In addition, the desktop version of DropMind contains the following new features:

• Insert parent topic
• Insert date and time on topic
• Mark topic is a key topic
• Balance map
• Choose map color with one click
• Unattach topic or whole branch
• Map outline view
• Same map as template
• Send map as e-mail attachment

The web version of DropMind also contains the following new features:

• Format painter, cut, copy and paste functions
• Spell checker
• Background gradient
• Flexibility in icon and image placement
• Outline view of the map
• Same map as template
• Send map as e-mail attachments

The desktop version of DropMind is available from the developer’s website for Windows and Linux operating systems. You can also sign up for an account for the web version here. A variety of pricing options are available.

It’s good to see this promising program improving. Map styles still look somewhat amateurish, however.