NovaMind says that version 5 of NovaMind (http://clk.bz/p-novamind5),
its mind mapping software, will ship in the September/October time
frame..

Both the Mac and Windows versions of NovaMind 5 have been built from
the ground up using the latest technologies to take advantage of
hardware accelerated animations and graphics processing, multi-core
processors and the latest user interface designs to give the best
user experience possible, according to NovaMind founder Gideon King.

Included in NovaMind 5 is a wide range of new topic shapes, providing
the opportunity to create more visually rich Mind Maps, he adds. The
new design elements include things such as floating topics, attached
shapes, callouts, and "FlexiLine" topics that can be shaped as
desired, and have the text flowing smoothly along the line.

This applies also for the link lines used to show secondary
relationships between topics; these now have a choice of over 30
terminators for the start or end of the line to indicate the nature
of the relationship, as well as the ability to scale the terminator
to show the relative importance of the relationships. Text labels can
flow along the lines or be attached to the line at any point along
the line, and multiple labels can be used per line.

There is a wide range of new topic shapes available now. King says
that one of the key differentiators of NovaMind 5 as compared with
any other Mind Mapping application is the sophistication of the new
layout engine which both arranges the elements of the Mind Map
automatically, according to a range of layout styles, but at the same
time allows user control of the positioning of the topics. Another
unique thing in NovaMind 5 is the theme and style system which make
it easy to create fantastic looking Mind Maps using professionally
designed themes, design your own themes, and reuse the styling of
existing elemnents of a Mind Map, he adds.

Included are a number of new ways to automatically color topics on
the Mind Map, starting from any topic, allowing the user to set the
coloring up in one place and have all the descendant topics be
automatically colored with the desired colors. A plug-in architecture
is built in to both the Mac and Windows versions of NovaMind 5,
allowing for the extension of the Mind Mapping experience by third
parties.