In this blog, I’ve already declared myself a huge fan of mind maps. So what could be even better than a mind map? A mind map based on my favorite markup language, Markdown, of course. The result is—ta-da!—Markmap (Markdown + Mindmap), an open-source solution.
Who do we have to thank for this highly recommended tool? Gerald2ld. A huge digital thank you to him!
Anyone who knows Markdown basically already has everything they need to work with Markmap. It even supports tables, and more importantly, everything is in color. Visually, it’s quite appealing. The graphs are created using Markdown headings at different levels. Brilliantly simple.
This very simplicity can be put to good use in connection with my favorite colleague. The colleague who never sleeps, always has time, and has seemingly read and memorized the entire internet. Okay, he hallucinates from time to time, sometimes more, sometimes less, but you learn to live with that. I’m talking about AI, of course, in this case ChatGPT.
Markdown plays a major role in ChatGPT. Among other things, it can output nicely formatted lists using Markdown. However, it can’t visualize a mind map. At least not yet. But fundamentally, a mind map also consists only of terms in the form of headings at different levels. This provides the link to Markmap.
Here’s an example prompt:
Create a mind map with up to three levels. I need tips on what to consider when refactoring in ABAP. Format the result as Markdown source code.
Using this prompt, ChatGPT outputs a list of headings in Markdown format. A copy button is located below the output, allowing you to easily copy the list to your clipboard. From there, it’s just a short step to Markmap. Simple. Have fun experimenting!
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Michael (a mind forever voyaging)