MyThoughts

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:04:27 +0100

Version 6.4 brings native file format support for the fantastic MyThoughts mindmap application for OSX. If you’re looking for a clean, uncluttered and easy to use interface then check it out...

www.mythoughtsformac.com

As a quick test, I hopped over to biggerplate.com and downloaded one of their top10 (Mindmanager) format maps into iThoughts then exported it in MyThoughts format and opened it on my Mac desktop in MyThoughts. The results can be seen below:

v6.2

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:30:08 +0000

Version 6.2 is now ‘in the can’ and will be released (Apple willing) on the 27th Feb. This has been a significant release in terms of ‘under the hood’ changes - but no massive new features - they’ll take a little longer. That said, I’ve fixed a lot of bugs and many UI issues which have been bugging me for some time now. You can download the release notes PDF from here.

The more interesting new features are as follows:

Much improved zoom

I finally figured out how to zooming properly - which means that zooming in is crisp and zooming out can go ‘all the way’.

Fast Drag/Drop

Not sure why I didn’t do it this way in the first place - but it’s no longer necessary to press/hold before you drag/drop. This makes moving topics around MUCH quicker. It also supports dropping the topic as a sibling (rather than just a child.) Hold a topic over another and the option to merge is presented. Hold the topic over a blank area of the canvas and the option to ‘float’ the topic is presented.

More Background Canvas Options

There are now 32 background canvas options - ranging from ‘plain colours’ to patterns (blotting paper, graph paper, carbon fibre etc.)

Send web links from Safari to iThoughts

You can now configure a button in Safari to send (a link to) the current page directly into iThoughts as a topic. This is one of those features I developed for myself. Obviously I try to do everything in iThoughts and stashing away links that I want to remember is no exception.

Getting Started

As always with a new release - there is a new Getting Started video....

v6.0 is live

Fri, 9 Dec 2011 13:39:03 +0000

So, it’s been nearly 6 months since the last (significant) update to iThoughts - sorry about that - but this one’s a biggy :-)

This version is now has feature parity with the latest v3.0 iThoughtsHD for iPad - adding the following features:

• Cloud Folders now enable synchronisation at a folder level rather than a map level. Just copy a map into a cloud folder and it will be synced.
• Synchronisation is now automatic and it happens in the background.
• Multiple cloud accounts can now be configured (eg Dropbox home account and Dropbox work account.)
• When synchronising, multiple formats are now supported (eg sync ITMZ, PDF and MMAP simultaneously)

As a by-product, the following improvements are also in there:

• Cloud operations (upload/download/sync) are now ‘asynchronous’ (i.e. the app doesn’t just hang until they complete)
• Folders can be bulk uploaded/downloaded to/from the cloud (without syncing)
• Backup archives can be uploaded/downloaded to/from the cloud.
• No longer necessary to pre-configure which export formats should be enabled.
• Email attachments (and outline) are now set on a per email basis.
• PDF and PNG formats can be downloaded over WiFi browser interface.

And a few other features for good measure:

• Markdown is now supported as an export format and it’s also the format used on the clipboard (when copying/pasting from iThoughts into another app) See here for more info on Markdown.
• Map links can now be relative paths.
• Delete entire folders.
• Daily archive now happens in the background (no more annoying popup first time you use the app.)
• New sibling topics take their attributes (colour shape etc.) from their sibling not the default
• MUCH improved drawing (smoother and faster with less flickering)
• Improved task management features - see here:
• Optional ‘At a Glance’ task attributes badge.
• Effort and Resource fields.
• Email task reports (by project/resource)
• Export tasks to Outlook (and by extension ToodleDo)
• Hide completed tasks.

• Read-Only Maps - see here.
• Generate complimentary HTML page with PNG export - see here.
• Hide callout topics and/or topics which are not in focus - see here.
• Copy/Paste styles (colour, shape etc.) to groups of topics - see here.

There are many other UI and ‘under the hood’ tweaks - plus the usual batch of bug fixes.

...and one final thing - the pointy finger is now optional (in the Settings App)

v5.0 is live

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:30:17 +0100

v5.0 of iThoughts is now live on the AppStore. This is a huge update and brings the app into line with v2.2 of the iPad app. Some of the more significant new features are as follows:

• Image Topics
• iMindmap5 support
• Hyperlinking Topics
• Text Attributes (size, bold, italic etc.)
• Adjustable Topic Width
• Sort Maps by Name or Date
• Send To App...
• Integration with Biggerplate.com and XMind.net

In addition there are many other feature tweaks, bug fixes and performance improvements.

As always, any issues or suggestions just drop me a line.

So now that’s out the way - what’s all this iCloud stuff???

Image Topic Preview

Wed, 4 May 2011 19:27:08 +0100

Just a quick update on iThoughts for iPhone development. I’ve been working hard on porting the latest iPad features into the iPhone version. One of the more ‘visible’ features is image topics. Take a look at the following screenshot of a map with images on the iPhone.

v14.4 is live

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:37:55 +0000

I’m pleased to announce that v4.4 is now live on the AppStore. It’s a pretty big release with lots of new features mapped out here.

I have taken the features from the last 3 iPad (iThoughtsHD) releases (v1.5, v1.6 and v1.7) and rolled them into this release. Headline features are:

• MobileMe/iDisk synchronisation
• WebDAV synchronisation
• Send map image to Camera Roll
• Organise maps into folders
• Sync via iTunes
• Create new maps based upon clipboard contents
• Improved keyboard shortcuts
• Merge option for drag/drop
• MindGenius support (requires MindGenius v3.71)
• ConceptDraw7 and MindView4 support
• Hyperlinks in PDF exports
• Entire system archive/restore feature (using email)
• Modify map options (canvas etc.) from within the map itself.

Hope you enjoy using iThoughts and that you fins some of the new features useful. Now back over to iPad land and some cool new features I’m adding to iThoughtsHD.

Craig

Facebook

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:26:34 +0000

Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve setup a Facebook Site for iThoughts:

http://www.facebook.com/ithoughts

NB: You do not need to have a Facebook account to view the site.

Progress Update

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:30:23 +0000

Sorry it’s been so long since my last update - I’ve been working on the next release of the iPad version - and dealing with a rather nasty bug I introduced :-(

Anyway, v4.3 went live just before Christmas and now I’m in the process of porting all the iPad changes (from v1.5, v1.6 and v1.7) over into the iPhone version. Headline features are:

• MobileMe
• WebDAV
• Send to Camera Roll
• Folders for maps
• Sync via iTunes
• Create map based upon clipboard
• Improved keyboard shortcuts
• Merge option for drag/drop

Probably the biggest change is support for folders. The following screenshots demonstrate how maps can be stored in folders - just like on your Mac/PC. This has been the number1 feature request.

Callouts Boundaries and Floating Topics

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:44:18 +0000

v4.2 is now with Apple awaiting review. It adds many of the features recently added to the iPad version of iThoughts (see here, here and here) - namely:

• Boundary Topics (visually group topics together)
• Callout Topics (the sticky notes of the topic world)
• Floating Topics (multiple maps on the same canvas)

Should be ready for download in a few days - hopefully coinciding with the iPad release (iThoughtsHD) which is currently awaiting the iOS4.2 release.

v4.1 now live

Mon, 8 Nov 2010 09:20:59 +0000

v4.1 is now live - this was a small bug fix update for an issue when displaying Chinese characters. It also fixes a bug where the ‘auto scroll’ feature was a little ‘keen’.