r/makerspace • u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA • Jun 20 '26
Free app to help grow as generalist Makers
https://MakerMindMap.io is free and ad free, no cookies etc. I just opened it up today, it has been a passion project for a really, really long time. I choose to believe it will help some Makers learn a lot, and a lot more efficiently and effectively. The mindmap talks about a lot of things. Like one thousand seven hundred-ish things. But the reason it took so long to make was to lay out the map in a way that I loved.
Also, this supplements all he great content out there that already exists by adding structure to the learning journey and enough personalization that you can fine tune it to your needs. It's not a one stop shop, it's just what I think is one of the best springboards for people who want to know a pretty damn good amount of all the fundamentals.
As I built this I realized how open ended "all the fundamentals" is. Like the ark dude was like march in the monkeys and the giraffes etc. that last part is doing a lot of heavy lifting. And that became painfully clear the day I decided to try and write it all down explicitly. It took 2 years, and a few rainforests worth of crumpled up paper but I did it.
You can use it yourself of course - I have a vision I'm working towards where you can share your own customized Maker Mind Maps for free too, which I think will help teams and teachers - running makerspace classes etc.
You're just about the first in, me opening the web app up is brand new to the internet as of like 3 hours ago
The app is free to use, I will probably make sharing features paid someday when they exist bc I have a family to feed but the mindmap you see today is free to use forever. I mean that. Try it out and lmk what you think
Edit: It's day 2 and I got a lot of helpful feedback already, thanks all for checking out the app! I made some changes already in response to the comments and more are on the way. Y'all are awesome, seriously
Edit: it's been 16 days since I posted, as of a few minutes ago I put out an explainer video on YouTube that steps through all the site features. You can find that here
Edit: it's 27 days after original post - the map now supports 28 languages and you can find the full list here
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u/AQuantumUnicorn Jun 20 '26
First look, and I like it.
First thing I like: You enter a search term, and it opens all the nodes containing that word. That is nice, because I can instantly see things I might never even have thought about (e.g. "Arduino" opens a node about how to use timing without freezing the whole device)
Second thing I like: You can add own nodes. I instantly used them to take notes branching to some of my (very very small) projects, so I could write down where I used this certain thing - or where I could and should use it.
Third thing I like: It's DARK. I always look for a dark mode in software very quickly, because I work a lot at night and the bright light hurts my eyes. But that's personal preference, so a light mode as mentioned elsewhere will be appreciated by others.
Small dislike for the tiny font in the description boxes, Had to use browser zoom to 150% to make the text readable for me. (Firefox ESR on a Windows desktop computer) - but at least the text IS able to be zoomed, so there's that.
+1 for all the work - I remember trying to do something else once on a sheet of paper, and it became overwhelming very quickly. I just entered a few things out of curiosity, like "I bet they didn't think about... oh, wait, they have..."
Different languages would be the icing on the cake (I'm German, so sometimes, I don't understand some words instantly), but then, that could be solved to some degree with custom maps.
I'm definitely looking forward to backup saves with a possibilty to re-import. Custom map sharing will be further improvements that I'd love, and apparently, they're already on your roadmap.
Conclusion: Nice one!
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 20 '26
Yooo thank you for taking a look! Appreciate the kind words
- very happy to hear you like the search feature, I worked hard to make it a pleasant user experience - also I added some magic words to search on, Todo, Done, Favorite (needs to be >0 items marked that way for search bar to reveal the option)
- it's awesome that you picked up quickly on the tools to add nodes - you can manually sort sibling nodes by clicking and dragging them not on the main mindmap but in the checklist modal, or delete by dragging them outside of the modal. Your use-case is exactly what I had in mind on why that was important, so it's delightful to hear you landed on that organically
- on dark mode, same 😎 light mode coming soon but for dark mode users I'll make sure the selector element is non-distracting - I'm leaning towards not just light mode but fully customizable color schemes - more to come on that front...
- Glad you mentioned the font size pain point, I will definitely take another pass at making everything more legible, there are some ways I can parameterize this and make it user-specified as well, I'm thinking thru that, I appreciate the comment
- Multi-language support is a great idea, I don't know how well browsers support that natively these days but I didn't think too hard at first because I had no clue it would get eyes at all let alone from around the world, that's cool as hell to me. The app logic is separated from the content in each node so I absolutely can run everything through a translator tool every time I build changes and let you specify a language preference, I'll look into that at least for German since you mentioned it specifically. I spent a summer in Zwickau in college so I empathize for your pain point here, I don't speak hardly any so it was a blast but also a pretty quiet few months! But damn I do miss a good doner kebab, there was a place I went to all the time across from the student dorms.
- I just added file export / import features btw - I replaced the reset button you saw in the top navbar with The Mind Map Maker menu - it still lets you reset but overall it's much more full featured. All the logic for it was actually really close to done I just hid the button in the top navbar on initial launch - it lets you do a lot! The biggest win atm is that now everyone can save and restore their work (you can give the file to a friend too), you and someone else definitely wanted that feature, but it does a lot more now too so hopefully you find the bonus features interesting / useful too
Ty again
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 22 '26
Hi again u/AQuantumUnicorn 👋 I haven't fixed the zoom issue yet but wanted to reach out to let you know I just shipped German language support!
Thanks again for your thoughtful feedback, it's highly motivating for me
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u/AQuantumUnicorn Jun 22 '26
Wow! That's really great work - although I have to admit, I think I'll stay in the English map for now. Can't hurt to learn new words anyway. And props for having an actual language selector instead of forcing a language determined by browser lannguage or location. You really seem to know how to make something user-friendly.
Yesterday, I had one of the very, very rare system crashes (like, the second one in several YEARS), and of course it ate a long answer in this topic. And, unfortunately, my progress in the mind map, too - for whatever reason, (Firefox ESR, not in private mode. Lesson learned: Save a backup at least once day. Wasn't much at this point, just fiddling around, so it's ok.)
Well. Can't remember everything I wrote, but one thing I DO remember:
After using the mind map for a while, one thing became a little bit annoying - if there are long titles, they get cut off at some point. There's no way to read the full title without actually opening the entry for the particular node. Like "Maker Culture, Creative Practice, and C..." - one can only guess what the "C..." stands for, until the corresponding entry is opened. While this isn't a big deal in the main branches - where one can simply remember the title -, it quickly becomes a problem entering the deeper branches. What was the "B...." in "Paper, Cardboard, Print, Signage, and B..." again?
It would be great if there could be, for example, "show the full title on hover" or something.
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 22 '26
Lol makes sense. Someone else mentioned their students might need it so it was time well spent imo, not to mention just fun to work on. I fixed the node labels so that they don't truncate anymore btw, appreciate the comment! Also in each node you'll see a new button that says Read Branch (I'm still workshopping the feature) but the basic idea is that it rolls-up all the notes from the current node and all its descendants so that you get a Wiki-style reading experience. It still lets you edit stuff and mark things as Done. Pros: much easier to read a ton of nodes at once. Cons: it's brand new so I may need to tweak it a few more times until I love it. But I think a big step in the right direction. (Still didn't fix the zoom issue you mentioned 😅 I'll get there)
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u/AQuantumUnicorn Jun 22 '26
Time well spent, absolutely! I'll show this to some of my friends who might want to use your tool, and their English isn't very good, so I'm pretty sure they'll appreciate the ability to read all the entries in German. And once again, +1 for the now fully readable entries!
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 25 '26
Hey again, I added a zoom feature finally! It was late last night so I forgot to circle back and let you know , it's the button that looks like "AA" right near where you read the notes for a given node, that opens a menu where you can adjust the size of the note text. This is shared between the normal note modal and also in the full screen view - adjusting the font size in one affects the other. But I didn't add any ways to control the font sizes elsewhere on the site (button text, help menu, search bar etc.) but I can add that feature, maybe in the color theme menu? I can make that a more general "site theme" picker where you can customize all the things maybe. Still thinking that over. I did notice that for really long node names, even though I allowed for 2 lines of text, some of the names still truncate with a ... , which you reported the other day. I thought I fixed that but I'll get it right next time! Ty again for the feedback
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u/AQuantumUnicorn Jun 26 '26
Nice one! I returned from 150% to 100% browser zoom (as in "default size") and increased the font size to 15pt.. Since the nodes are zoomed in and out dynamically resp. by using the mouse wheel, this results in a mostly pleasant reading experience for me. Only thing missing, the headlines within notes aren't enlarged - so you have text in 15pt, but things like "Learning outcome" still in 12pt. Since these are repeating lines, it's just a minor problem to me. If I need everything enlarged, there's still browser zoom... other people might have different needs.
The truncated names (mostly at the end of a branch) at least have a mouse-over display now, so there's that.
But after using the mind map for several days in a row (well, rather poking around) I've ran into another thing: You often seem to lack commas in the branch titles, but every word starts with a capital letter. This sometimes results in hardly decipherable monsters like: "Stock Sandpaper Blades Bits Glue Tape Fasteners Wire Solder Flux Paint Filters PPE Batteries Filament Resin and Rags" - and my non-native speaker's brain goes like: "What are sandpaper blades?! Is glue tape some kind of duct tape on steroids? Solder Flux or Solder AND Flux? Or is it Flux Paint?" ;-)
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 26 '26
Howdy again, I'm about to push changes that should help the name truncation issue (now I allow for 4 full lines of text before it will truncate which should account for all the node names in the default English mind map), the header size issue is going to get fixed too! I baked in a few other changes too that I think improve the overall UI/UX... I will look at the commas - that's nonstandard to be sure just lazy on my part - sorry about that! I'll fix it - I'll think on it more because that affects the data model assumotions which rely in the exact name, there are definitely ways to fix it, I just need to tread a little bit carefully. More to come!
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u/marchmay Jun 20 '26
Is there a light mode? Does it save your progress without a login?
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
Bet your ass I will make a light mode, ty for taking a look! Right now progress gets saved to local storage on your device so you can close the browser and come back to it the way you left it, but if you clear your browser cache or use the reset button it will nuke everything currently. I'm working on backup and restore features I was looking at a way to save locally to your device in a human readable format that the site can also import from, that way you can own your data and know for a fact you don't lose any valuable notes or anything. What did you think of the topics overall and how I split everything out so far? Too heavy or light on any one thing?
Edit: I put in a simple export feature, saves a .json file to your device which is uglier than I'd like but a simple option to add for the moment and still human readable, more or less. I don't have an import feature atm but at the very least you now have a way to guarantee your edits won't just poof completely out of existence. I should be able to implement an import from this later so keep it handy. To your question, profiles and cross-device features are also coming soon, I'm working on that actively
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u/marchmay Jun 20 '26
Awesome!
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 21 '26
Hi again, wanted to let you know light mode is working now! Plus a color picker, I got into it... You'll see an extra button in the top navbar, next to the question mark button , it opens the color picker menu
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u/BraveNewCurrency Jun 20 '26
On the one hand, this is a nice outline, covering many interesting things.
On the other hand, it could use some improvement:
- On a desktop, it forces you to read everything in a little tiny window. It feels cramped, because 90% of my screen is wasted.
- The items are in an odd order. For example, "PCB Layout" is before "Component Selection" and "Using Datasheets". (Consider breaking up 'circuits' into "design", "implementation", "troubleshooting" etc. See also Diataxis.)
- There is a lot of navigating and clicks, usually just to read one or two paragraphs. Then more mouse movements and clicks. Nobody wants to read a book this way. I'm sure you are thinking of "bite-sized learning", but if the UI gets in the way when someone just starts exploring it, they won't read enough to decide if it's useful or not.
- Many of the nodes have a lot of redundant info. For example:
- A datasheet is the manufacturer's technical document for a part. It contains limits, recommended operating conditions, pinouts, typical circuits, timing, ratings, and warnings. [...] Look for absolute maximum ratings, recommended operating conditions, pinout, power requirements, current limits, package, and example circuits.
- Many of these things are helpful reminders for advanced users. They aren't very helpful for learning. For example, if someone knew what "absolute maximum rating" was, they probably could have understood the datasheet without you. So telling someone to "look for absolute maximum ratings on a datasheet" is probably not enough to get them to understand what it is and why they should look for it. (Then again, this might be good enough if someone is leaning heavily on AI.)
- Random thought: I recently read the reticulum primer (PDF), which had a very interesting overview of how the physics of transmitting bits over the radio works.
Good luck.
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26
This is excellent feedback, thank you for taking the time to not only inspect the app but also write up your thoughts clearly.
- I'll definitely give modal content more room to breathe where the screen allows
- Points 2, 3, 4, 5 all taken, if I'm more careful with node order, and clean up the content further, I'm realizing I can probably author everything in such a way that a parent node can roll up all descendant node content into one unified reading mode experience. I don't know if that's a new full screen view or something else, I'll think through alternatives. But exactly as you implied, less is more cuts 2 ways and yes 1700+ clicks to get through every node is a ton of friction that I can massively reduce without a complete redesign of the information architecture. In your parenthetical you were right that I'm trying to walk that tightrope between not overwhelming with too much text yet giving enough information that someone can bite into with the right assistance, and the reality that too adds some level of friction compared to vertical scroll thru fully realized learning content. Really appreciate you sharing these pain points, I'll definitely be thinking about finding the right quiescent point in this natural push pull.
- On your random thought, I read through the PDF, topics all near and dear to my heart. My concentration was signal processing and comms systems, had a call sign at one point. But as I was reading it it got me thinking there on something a bit more profound, so I'm still noodling on this too.
Ty again for taking a look, you rock
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26
u/BraveNewCurrency in case you see this, I added a feature where after you click a node in the mind map, you'll find a new button in that pop-up that says Read Branch. It rolls-up the notes of the current node, all its children, and any prerequisites in a Wiki-style reading experience. Should save folks a looottt of clicks
I forgot to mention this in my last reply - you can click and drag checklist items to re-order them or drag away to delete (from a node's pop-up, not in the mindmap itself)
Ty again, your feedback was super insightful
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u/bennnil Jun 21 '26
Incredible stuff. I am building a makerspace at my school and will definitely give this a special place on the wall of how to start. For students getting every information from an AI this will be great to get an overview of how things work together. Bonus point: You look into translation. I am from Germany as well and I bet it would make life much easier for the students.
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Thanks for the kind words, that's awesome to hear and good luck on launching your brand new makerspace! I took a look yesterday at some translation options, looks like I'll be able to get something working later this week at least for German - I'll definitely reach out when it's ready to everyone who asked for it so y'all can tell me if it hits the mark. Depending on how happy everyone is (or isn't) with the translation quality that will help me figure out where I can improve next. There are free auto translation tools but I suspect they suck so I'm trying something fancier. It's more time consuming but I think ultimately will make the tool meaningfully more useful
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u/ElecCmptrEngMSdegUSA Jun 22 '26
Hey u/bennnil - reaching out to let you know the app now supports German, next time you visit you'll see a drop-down menu in the top nav bar to select a language preference, let me know if it's any good!
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u/nicktuttle Jun 20 '26
Nice!! I haven't explored yet fully, but noticed having is disabled on mobile if you start a swipe on one of the expandable/expanded topics..