Month: June 2016

Mind Mate: Mind Mapping on Windows 7 and 8

Umar .Net, Mind Map, WinForms , ,

(for background on Mind Mate, click here)

I have been developing Mind Mate on Windows 10 machine, so wasn’t sure how it is going to behave on earlier versions of OS. Today, I tested it on Windows 7 and 8 using VMs made available by Microsoft.

Mind Mate worked perfectly on Windows 8 but encountered few issues on Windows 7 related to Windows Ribbon Control. These issues are:

– Images in PNG format are not displayed in the ribbon. Seems like Ribbon control on Win7 only supports BMP, that too generated in a certain version of BMP specification. I found that only PixelFormer knows how to generate the right BMP file for Windows 7 Ribbon control.

– Controls don’t layout properly after initial launch, it requires resizing the main window once, then it starts working fine.

– Non true type fonts are not supported.

These issues are resolved in the new Build. Download it from here and give it a go.

Developed Mind Mapping software–codenamed ‘Mind Mate’

Umar .Net, Mind Map , ,

Mind Map is a graphical way of representing concepts and ideas. It starts with the main idea at the center with branches going into details.

Personally, I use it for all my notes taking, to-do lists, managing project information etc. Probably it goes beyond what normal usage of the term Mind Map implies but I found many people using Mind Mapping software in the same way. The appeal of Mind Mapping software, in the regard, is the ability to handle the depth of information. Due to outlining you focus on the level of information you want, dig deeper into a topic or zoom out to the headlines with ease.

FreeMind and XMind are the most popular software out there. Personally, I prefer FreeMind as it is more suitable to the usage style I described above. XMind is more focused towards presentation, rather than daily usage for notes taking. Unfortunately, FreeMind is a not being developed very actively.

Since last couple of years, I have been developing my own Mind Mapping software on Github. It started just as a pastime and somehow I managed to put in some hours week after week. It has been a fun ride and a very good learning experience. I switched to it for my daily use for a few months now. Today I prepared an installer for MindMate to make it more accessible. Please download it and give it a short. I will wait for your feedback.

It would be my pleasure if you are interested in contributing to the project in any role. It could be as a developer, document writer, tester or just providing feedback as a user.

Download Windows Installer or Portable Zip from here: MindMate

(MindMate only supports Windows 10 for now, will test and build it for earlier version soon. MindMate works fine on Windows 10, 8 and  7)