CmapTools 6.01.01

Concept maps are a good way to put thought to paper... to ones and zeroes in this case. If you ever started thinking up something more complex than say... "me hungry." you would see that breaking up your idea into linked concept bubbles can help you expand on it easier and also make it more readable to others.

CmapTools is designed for creation and sharing of concept maps. You can either create a map and share it with others in the network or you can collaborate on one, adding value so to speak. A concept map can be anything between a work flow to a technology tumble weed from your favorite space empire board game.

Working with CmapTools won't be obvious at first. Let me give you some pointers. Double clicking creates a new concept blurb. You can draw a line and create a linked concept by clicking and dragging a new blurb. Links contain descriptions that can be edited as well. Concepts can have their own style (colour and font size) and what is really neat is that you can copy styles and apply them to other blurbs easily. Furthermore, lines can be bent and arrows can be pointed. What more could you want?

For starters, setting up background images is a chore. Starting from the fact that you cannot browse for pictures but instead must guess where CmapTools wants you to put them, to the total lack of sizing and arranging. You can simply ignore this feature and settle for a blank background. It is more elegant anyway.

Features

• Styling
• Network sharing

Pros

• Especially tailored for concept mapping

Cons

• Not very user friendly

Conclusion

If you're interested in drawing a nice concept map for yourself then you should probably get some vector graphics program and create something you like. In case you want to share and collaborate online, CmapTools is probably a must.