Scapple Mind Mapping App - How it Works
In a previous article, I introduced a great app for your Mac called Scapple, a Mind Mapping app from Literature and Latte. Now let's take a look at what you can add to your virtual page.
Notes
When considering your virtual page and your notes, Scapple gives you two options for setting the default size of the note's text box. You can drag the edge of the box to size it as you like or let Scapple resize the box as you type.
Some of the Mind Mapping software that I tested forced you to put only one thought within a text box. In fact this was the feature I disliked the most. I soon became overwhelmed with little one-line text boxes and I really didn't like that limitation. You couldn't add a blank line between paragraphs of text or even start a new line of text. You were forced to relay on word wrapping.
In Scapple, you have complete freedom as to the text in the boxes. You can put a title at the top of the text box, set the title font and style, add a blank line and type as much body text as you need. You can even set a different font and style for the body text. You can also set a custom background, border and text color for each box via the Inspector and save custom styles.
Beyond Notes
But you aren't limited to text boxes. You can also import images and other types of text files simply by dragging from the Finder to your Scapple page. If you want to highlight a group of text boxes for a special reason, you can group them within a background shape, which is a rectangle. Once locked all together, you an drag the group of notes and its background shape as one object on the screen. Getting your thoughts out of Scapple is easy too. You can export as PDF, PNG, txt, rtf, rtfd and opml or just print.
If I had to suggest a missing feature, it would be the ability to set the default startup action for the app NOT to display a new note. I'm just going to delete it anyway. Another would be an option to tile or stretch the background image for the page. If you are using a digital borderless texture, you're fine. But if you want to view a nice image, such as the mockup of our new apartment complex, it would be nice if the image stretched to fill the window instead of tiling across the space, especially if you like to work in full screen mode.
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https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple.php
Notes
When considering your virtual page and your notes, Scapple gives you two options for setting the default size of the note's text box. You can drag the edge of the box to size it as you like or let Scapple resize the box as you type.
Some of the Mind Mapping software that I tested forced you to put only one thought within a text box. In fact this was the feature I disliked the most. I soon became overwhelmed with little one-line text boxes and I really didn't like that limitation. You couldn't add a blank line between paragraphs of text or even start a new line of text. You were forced to relay on word wrapping.
In Scapple, you have complete freedom as to the text in the boxes. You can put a title at the top of the text box, set the title font and style, add a blank line and type as much body text as you need. You can even set a different font and style for the body text. You can also set a custom background, border and text color for each box via the Inspector and save custom styles.
Beyond Notes
But you aren't limited to text boxes. You can also import images and other types of text files simply by dragging from the Finder to your Scapple page. If you want to highlight a group of text boxes for a special reason, you can group them within a background shape, which is a rectangle. Once locked all together, you an drag the group of notes and its background shape as one object on the screen. Getting your thoughts out of Scapple is easy too. You can export as PDF, PNG, txt, rtf, rtfd and opml or just print.
If I had to suggest a missing feature, it would be the ability to set the default startup action for the app NOT to display a new note. I'm just going to delete it anyway. Another would be an option to tile or stretch the background image for the page. If you are using a digital borderless texture, you're fine. But if you want to view a nice image, such as the mockup of our new apartment complex, it would be nice if the image stretched to fill the window instead of tiling across the space, especially if you like to work in full screen mode.
← Back
https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scapple.php
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