Structure your ideas with Heimer mind maps
Make Way!
Using the same approach, you can now create more nodes for ideas that arise directly from the central topic – in our example that would mean the chef's salad and the cake. In case of an incorrect entry, Ctrl+Z cancels the last step. You can delete a node by right-clicking it and selecting Delete node.
Ctrl++ and Ctrl+-, or the mouse wheel, let you zoom in and out of the entire mind map. To use a different font, click Font in the status bar (Figure 3). The arrows can also be adjusted using the status bar. Arrow size determines the size of the arrowheads, while Edge width controls the line thickness. Finally, you can round the corners of the nodes using the Corner radius.
When arranging the nodes, Heimer supports you in several ways. First, you can use the arrow keys to move the displayed section. Alternatively, you can drag the mind map to the appropriate position using the mouse. For better orientation, the software offers to show a grid to which the nodes automatically snap when moved (Figure 4). To do this, check Show grid in the status bar. If you can't see this entry, click the double arrow on the far right in the status bar. Then increase the grid size to suit your needs. In practical terms, any values from 10 upwards will be fine.
Despite the grid, you are very likely to keep pushing the nodes back and forth to create extra space. Again, the software will give you a helping hand: If the nodes look a little messy in the window, select Edit | Optimize Layout. Press OK, and Heimer rearranges the nodes. How this is done is influenced by Minimum Edge Length, which specifies the arrow length. The higher the value, the bigger the gap between the nodes. The Aspect Ratio determines whether Heimer arranges the nodes more vertically or horizontally (Figure 5).
Changing Links
The tree structure is now gradually emerging in Heimer. As usual in a mind map, the arrows always move out from the central node and never go back. But Heimer does let you retroactively disconnect and reconnect connections. To do this, hold down Ctrl and click on the relevant nodes. Alternatively, hold down the Shift key and drag a frame around the nodes with the mouse. All of the nodes should be highlighted in red. From now on, most actions will affect all of these nodes. For example, if you move one of them, the others will automatically move with it.
To rewire the nodes, select Edit | Disconnect Selected Nodes from the main menu, which removes all arrows between the nodes. Connect Selected Nodes tells Heimer to draw new arrows between them. Note that the Heimer software does that arbitrarily. If you select three or more nodes, the tool will most likely not connect them in the way you intended. When connecting, only ever mark pairs of nodes. To deselect all nodes, hold down the Shift key and then click on the background. Additionally, when you double-click on the background, Heimer creates a new node that is not yet connected. In addition, nodes that are selected and highlighted in red can be copied. To do this, press Ctrl+C to copy the node to the clipboard and then Ctrl+V to paste it.
Colorful
Big surprise, the cake option seems to be the favorite in my family. To highlight it as the winner, let's color its node. To do this, touch the node with the mouse cursor and press the button with the colors in the node's bottom right corner. Then pick a suitable color from the palette that appears, such as the red shown in Figure 6. Because the black font is not so easy to read now, let's press the button in the top right corner of the node. In the palette that appears, pick the font color; you could set this to white for our example.
The question remains, what kind of cake should it be? A lemon cake or maybe a cheesecake? At this point, just repeat the familiar principle used earlier on. Mouse over the cake node and create a new node by pressing the button; this time label it lemon cake. Repeat the process for any other cakes your family fancies. Doing so adds more and more branches to the mind map, but at the same time, you are adding detail to your ideas or tasks (Figure 7).
To make it easier to choose between the cakes, why not attach a suitable photo to each node. To do so, right-click a node and select Attach image. The selected photo is then used as a (somewhat blurred) wallpaper in the background. In some cases, Heimer will trim the image. If the photo is more of a nuisance than a help, right-click the node again and select Remove attached image from the menu.
« Previous 1 2 3 Next »
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.
-
Linux Sees Massive Performance Increase from a Single Line of Code
With one line of code, Intel was able to increase the performance of the Linux kernel by 4,000 percent.
-
Fedora KDE Approved as an Official Spin
If you prefer the Plasma desktop environment and the Fedora distribution, you're in luck because there's now an official spin that is listed on the same level as the Fedora Workstation edition.
-
New Steam Client Ups the Ante for Linux
The latest release from Steam has some pretty cool tricks up its sleeve.
-
Gnome OS Transitioning Toward a General-Purpose Distro
If you're looking for the perfectly vanilla take on the Gnome desktop, Gnome OS might be for you.