I have used bubbl.us before, but I’m thinking I may prefer one to be used offline (but not necessarily). I’m using a Mac, if it matters.
What is a mind mapping tool? It sounds interesting.
It’s kind of hard to explain, but it’s basically a visual way to collect your thoughts on a subject while establishing relationships between these thoughts in a meaningful and intuitive way.
http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download
Freemind’s one I’ve used before (it’s available for any platform you’re likely to have – it runs in Java. There are specific installers for Mac, Windows, and a few others).
I decided that I prefer to organize information in a more structured way, and haven’t used it for a couple years, but I liked it while I used it.
XMind now has a free and pro version, and it’s a nice product.
They have versions for PC, Mac, and Linux.
I have it configured as an automatic install on all of the machines at the kids’ school—don’t know if anyone actually uses it, but it’s really good for diagramming thoughts.
The pro version gets you some more business-oriented features such as export to Word and collaboration. Here’s the feature chart. If you need the PDF generation, save the expense of Pro and use a virtual-printer tool like PDF Creator to do the job.
A second vote for Freemind. You may find it easier to use with bubbles/boxes (i.e., enclosed text) rather than the default of underlined text. Changing background colors in the boxes is useful, too. Happy mapping! 