Scapple

Scrapple is a good alternative to Corkulus, especially for my goal of organizing written pieces for Medium and the task of organizing ideas in the first place.

• There is no iPad version of Scapple but there is a Windows version
• Scapple has a lighting-fast, responsive "feel" to it. Corkulous tends to be a bit clunky.
• There is a lot of depth to Scrapple, under a simple-seeming surface. It seems to be very well thought out, whereas... 
• Corkulous has a slapped-together feel, including a few things that look like bugs. For example, the Corkulous sidebar is cluttered with shapes borrowed from VISIO. Scapple sidebar is 100% relevant to what is selected.

A Sample Sheet

(First effort - perhaps 2 hrs)

Interesting features:

• Pictures can be dragged directly onto the sheet from a web page
• Basic skill level in a few hours - similar to learning any UI tool
• Displays have a clean, professional look with deep and powerful options to enhance things like consistency, alignment, etc
  

Problems

• No easy way to link a "live" sheet. Exports to the picture format are not an issue.
• The idea of having boards within boards is theoretically attractive in Corkulous but seems buggy.

Plans

• The apparently useful "copy URL" in Corkulous doesn't supply a real URL.
  
• Google Drive shares a real URL
• A fair question is why you need to share these outsides of Mac/iCloud. The picture may be fine.
• Links can be shared through iCloud or direct access. Windows and Mac formats appear compatible - sheets compared on one platform work on the other.

Introducing Corkulous and the Mind Map Project

Corkulous (as I use it) is a "Mind Mapping" tool. The idea is to visually map concepts and the connections between them with the aim of pulling some kind of coherent structure out of a pile of related ideas. In this case, I have over 400 posts that, if printed, would be over 1,000 pages. While creating each post has helped my clarify my thoughts of the moment, the result is a pile of essays that are not accessible in any practical way to interested users.

A small mind map is shown here.

A typical blog entry tends to touch on several related issues, each of which is likely to require some clarification. The index tries to do this, but it is not realistic to expect a reader to explore the index and the dozens of essays whose connection to the topic may be obscure. In any case, this results in a geometrically expanding demand on the reader. 

The Mind Map project aims to isolate a few key ideas, such as "Mind" and create a single essay or a small number of linked essays that cover the topic in a format convenient to a reader. Moreover, such a packet of essays may be suitable for publication to the wider world. 

In the map shown above, each box (and perhaps each link) can be expanded into a map of its own. More detailed maps can include HTML (web) links, links to blog entries, pictures, PDF, and links to other maps. Maps can be exported in many ways, including the ability to export to a reader who doesn't have Corkulous. This adds up to an extremely powerful set of tools that should simultaneously encourage a quantum leap in quality plus the ability to communicate the content in "bite-size" chunks.

It does not seem possible to include functional mind maps directly in this blog. It's an open question of how to share these. A more basic question would be why to share them. 

Maps can be placed in Google Drive, which provides extensive global sharing capabilities, but a "raw" board can only be viewed with someone who has Corkulous, which also means some kind of Apple device (PC not supported). That is probably too restrictive for general use. An HTML download (web page) would be widely shareable but is not there now. I vaguely remember that it once was. NOT saving the board in a standard (XML) format would seem to be a fundamental design error. Note that text items, such as links, can be exported and, with a bit of effort, appended to a blog entry that shows the board as an image. Better than nothing.

It seems that the core application of Corkulus will be to allow me to think graphically about related ideas. I have a mind quite suited to this.

Belyea Rd 6 - Corkulus and visual presetations

Thinking about Corkulous applications. I signed up for a 1-year subscription at this point. The app can be a black hole when you try to sync iPad and MacOs activities. macOS seems to be the way to go in spite of the theoretical attraction of the iPad.

-- PS --

I have basically accepted the "bug" about the iPad and decided to work around it. My efforts to isolate the issue and correct it don't seem to be supported by the vendor.

However, I have not withdrawn my nasty comments about support. I still feel that the vendor made little effort to work with me on this issue, seldom responding to my questions or suggestions. It was almost like I was talking to a "bot" who doled out canned advice based on keywords.