Thursday, June 27, 2019

Instagram Head Denies Company Listens Through Smartphones

It’s happened to quite a few people, and the frequency with which it happens is quite alarming. You probably remember having a conversation and seeing an ad based on the content of that conversation shortly after you have had it. This has made a lot of people strongly believe that both Facebook as...

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by Zia Zaidi via Digital Information World

New Libra currency can expand Facebook's advertising platform

Kevin Weil, vice president of Product at Calibra, said that if Facebook’s new digital wallet Calibra becomes widely successful, the company will be able to give more financial services in the coming future. Kevin Weil said in an interview to Stratechery that if Facebook becomes successful at...

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by Abdullah Matloob via Digital Information World

Facebook's ad transparency tool is ready to launch in 140 countries

Facebook launched its ad transparency tools in the US last May and stretched them to the UK in November 2018 and shortly extended them to India as well in December 2018. This year in March, the European Union got their hands on the tools followed by Canada and Australia. And now Facebook is all...

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by Abdullah Matloob via Digital Information World

YouTube so called way of teaching Creators lesson is not working out as it meant to be

According to the report of The Verge, YouTube is considering demonetizing. Teaching lessons to some of the creators was necessary who exploit this platform to humiliate others. Steven Crowder’s example is the main reason for such decisions, he is an established YouTuber who runs a show on YouTube...

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by Maheen Ghani via Digital Information World

Facebook will soon Allow Users to Mute Notification Dots and Push Notifications!

It’s good news that Facebook is making moves to ensure that the time its users spend in the app is well spent. For that to happen however, the Social Media Giant needs to take care of the notifications that keep popping up (denoted by the red dots), urging the users to come back and check those...

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by Ali Siddiqui via Digital Information World

Users can have more control on the recommended videos with YouTube new updates

Majority of the Internet users use YouTube to access different kinds of videos according to their desires. With the huge demand also raises the risk of harmful content. Over the past years, people faced a lot of issues regarding harmful content in their recommended section. A harmful content...

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by agha ali via Digital Information World

The 9 Best Mind Mapping Tools for Designers

A Roundup of the Best Mind Mapping Tools

A mind map is a diagram drawn to help brainstorm ideas without being forced to organize or structure them. Instead, ideas are visually depicted in a hierarchical structure showing the flow and relationship between various ideas as they arise, which allows us to analyze them and recall them with ease.

Let’s take a look at the types of mind maps that are used in UX, and the mind mapping tools that are used to create them.

The Benefits of Mind Mapping

So, why mind map?

Ideation is exciting. Ideas here, ideas there. However, the enthusiasm to conceptualize them can be so invigorating that we don’t take the time to develop upon them or consider other ideas.

Rushing into a concept can take us down a road that’s seemingly harmless but actually quite dangerous. It might get us to finish line, which feels great, but with an end-result that’s mashup of random thoughts and ideas that don’t work together.

By mapping out ideas, we can better understand their:

  1. value (what’s to be gained by exploring this idea?)
  2. role (how does the idea fit into the bigger picture?)
  3. relationships (how does the idea relate to other ideas?)

Eventually we can start to organize these ideas by similarity using a methodology called affinity mapping, which in turn helps us design user-centric mockups and wireframes as opposed to being driven by personal opinion.

How Mind Maps Are Used in UX

Mind maps can evolve into other types of maps with more specific uses. For example, maps that explore the navigational hierarchy and user flows of software systems such as websites, apps, and so on, are referred to as sitemaps. Maps that explore the numerous ways in which customers might interact with a product are called customer journey maps.

Both of these are useful when planning UX design projects — sitemaps for planning wireframes, and customer journey maps for optimizing the online and offline customer experience.

Coggle

  • Pricing: $0, $5, or $8 (/month)
  • Platform: web
  • Pros: simple features, real-time collaboration
  • Cons: looks a tad outdated, only accomplishes mind mapping

While many old-school mind mapping tools have become tragically outdated over the years, Coggle is one that’s managed to survive by keeping its focus solely on mind mapping and sporting a fairly simple user interface.

a Coggle mind map

It still looks somewhat dated, but nonetheless is much better looking than veteran tools like FreeMind (which hasn’t been updated in at least four years) and Mind Manager (which looks like it came bundled with Windows 95).

Check out the Coggle Mind Map Gallery, especially the mind map that describes the various types of emotion.

Notice how each emotion is divided by color, then further divided into more specific emotions depicted with capital letters, and then divided once more in a smaller font. It’s totally up to you how visually organize your thoughts and relationships. Coggle lets us explore ideas using images, branches, loops, shapes, and whatever else we need to explore our story.

Stakeholders can weigh in by commenting on mind maps, but also collaborate in real time as if using a whiteboard.

Apart from real-time collaboration, these features are standard and are included in every other tool in this list.

TL;DR: Coggle is everything you need, and nothing you don’t.

XMind

  • Pricing: $1.24, $4.58, or $4.99 (/month)
  • Platform: web, iOS, Android, macOS, Linux, Windows
  • Pros: beautiful maps, very modern, excellent UX
  • Cons: only mind mapping, no real-time collaboration

Other than Coggle, XMind is the only mind mapping tool to withstand the test of time, these days taking inspiration from critically acclaimed screen design tools like Sketch to offer a mighty mind mapping experience, but still with a minimalist and intuitive user interface. XMind mind maps look stunning, and while there’s no real-time collaboration, the maps can be shared with stakeholders and exported in a variety of formats.

An XMind map

If you’re looking for a modern-looking mind mapping tool without the bells and whistles, XMind is more than suitable.

Tip: try “Zen Mode” to remove all UI distractions!

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by Daniel Schwarz via SitePoint