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Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

jumproot.com

31–40 of 54 posts

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#31

Looks cool, I always loved the hierchical nested node structures (like folders or e.g. trees) to organize my data. Would you be willing to tell what your tech stack is like? And what are you using for Rich text editors? Great work tho. Looks good.

Thank you. I don't mind sharing at all. Please be forgiving and constructive because I am a one man show here.

Tech stack: - This is a django app. MVC. No separate API project and UI project. - Front end is basically Bootstrap 4 and jquery. - The tree is FancyTree - The DB is SQLite because there are no users. When usage becomes significant, I can easily migrate to MySQL. - Rich Text is Summernote.

I am 100% sure I would do this differently now. But I started it a few years ago and have kept it pretty much private. Thanks for checking in!

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#32
It looks like OneNote where you can have several NoteBook, Section, and Pages that can be at different levels. In the end, you can have a similar hierarchical structure. The advantage of OneNote is it is native cross-platform (Android, Mac, Windows, iPhone) with sync, ink, etc.

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#33
I see a lot of comments revolve around the note taking, mind mapping aspect of jumproot (which is 100% on point). I just want to invite everyone to try the other aspects of the site, such as document structuring/viewing and the different node types. Have fun!

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#34
post #2

As someone who's used several outliners, this looks like a neat tool. I'm curious why you decided to call this a "mind-mapping tool", which makes me think of visual graphs rather than textual hierarchies. Can you talk about that decision?

Thanks for the feedback. To answer your question: To me, a mind map is a tool with which one can map his/her mind. I see some comments that claim that colourful and interesting graphics should be a part of that definition. I disagree. With such mind mapping tools, I've found that it's that "cartoony" nature that limits their size. I wanted a mind-map tool in which I could store every little piece of minutia that I wa…

A mind map usually has a relational component. Can one Item show up on two lists, and if it changes in one place, it changes in the other? They also tend to be drawn from the center outward, and have color as an additional dimension of information (categories?).

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#35
post #17

In a similar vein, I recommend workflowy: https://workflowy.com Kudos on the design though. Clean and simple, and reminds me of the Windows XP help window that would come bundled with every major desktop app.

Workflowy is nice and easy, but seems a bit like the crappy MVP for Dynalist.

Agree that Dynalist is nicer, as it has features like multiple documents.

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#36

Looks cool, I always loved the hierchical nested node structures (like folders or e.g. trees) to organize my data. Would you be willing to tell what your tech stack is like? And what are you using for Rich text editors? Great work tho. Looks good.

Thank you. I don't mind sharing at all. Please be forgiving and constructive because I am a one man show here. Tech stack: - This is a django app. MVC. No separate API project and UI project. - Front end is basically Bootstrap 4 and jquery. - The tree is FancyTree - The DB is SQLite because there are no users. When usage becomes significant, I can easily migrate to MySQL. - Rich Text is Summernote. I am 100% sure I w…

Love the stack. Great call on Django, definitely makes it easier for a one man show. Also good decision to eschew an API for now as it’s just more overhead that’s not currently needed.

Have you checked out the great djangochat.com yet? Awesome content there.

Also, just curious, what would you do differently if you started from scratch today?

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#37

I tend to believe people naturally think in graphical structures, not trees. It's sort of an impedance mismatch though because our physical world is tree based - you can't put an object in more than one container. So we're continually struggling to transition back and forth, to the point that we unnaturally try to force our thoughts into tree structures like outliners.

Exactly this. Also most information of any complexity has multiple “categories” it could fall into.

What you actually want is a network graph of concepts and notes. This will let you see relationships.

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#38
Fun! I started building my own Workflowy replacement too, mostly because I got tired of not being able to extend it, I can only export my data. My idea is to not stop at 'basic' data types, but to provide a pluggable architecture to code in. Godspeed to you good sir.

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#39
post #9

https://gingkoapp.com/ is another similar app. Like some of the other commenters in the thread, I gave up on these apps and went back to using filesystem folders/files.

The editor Ulysses supports markdown, but more relevantly, supports folder/file structure such that trees of hierarchy can be selected at once to become part of a same generated master document.

https://ulysses.app/tutorials/split-merge-glue

(You can also just select and then export, which does a temporary glue, more or less.)

Re: Show HN: I made a mind map tool meant for large, detailed node hierarchies

#40

I miss "The Brain", a mind map tool from the late 1990s, beginning of 2000s. The cool thing was that you could link an object (called "idea") to any other object regardless of it being a parent, child, part or not of the same tree structure.

This Brain? https://www.thebrain.com/
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