Coggle: A digital review

The tool I chose to investigate for digital humanities purposes is called Coggle. It is a mind mapping tool created by three former Cambridge graduates in 2013. It allows for collaboration between colleges and is very easy to use. I had seen many reviews of it and wanted to investigate it further.

Simple Collaborative Mind Maps & Flow Charts - Coggle
Coggle Logo
Invite tool
Account inbox

Coggle is free for everyone to use and allows you to invite other members of your team/group to edit/add to the mind map in real-time. This is very useful if, for whatever reason, you and your team cannot meet up in person to discuss what it is you are doing, for example, social distancing regulations. You can download and instal the program on your laptop, and it has iOS and Android support, or you can choose to use it from your browser. It can also be integrated with Microsoft Teams. I could not find much data from companies or projects that have used Coggle, although there are many public mind maps that suggest that there are many users for the program. As for articles, there are not many out there about Coggle, except for a few from when it was released in 2013. In one such article from Lifehacker, it was named as one of the top five mind mapping tools. While the developers of this program have promised to always make Coggle free, except for some special features behind a paywall, there are many reviews criticising the limitations of the free version. There are two premium versions which are paid for with monthly subscriptions. Ā From my own personal use, I found that there was quite a lot I could do using only the free version.

my practice mind map on Coggle

The one complaint I would make is that you can only have three private mind maps in the free version. The two paid for options are affordable for most people. The program is licenced as ā€œfreeware software as a serviceā€. Ā 

The development of Coggle is well documented in their blog ā€œBoggle.Coggle.Itā€ and goes back to their first post on January 27th, 2013 to November 16th, 2020. The posts are fairly consistent and informative for Coggle users. The mind map itself is fully adjustable and can be moved around easily, similar to another mind map tool called DebateGraph.

DebateGraph Mind map

DebateGraph was created in 2008. Unlike DebateGraph, Coggle does not have a ā€˜sub- mind mapā€™ for its branches. Although, Coggle has a lot more features than DebateGraph, as you can change the colours of the branches and insert images. This resembles another mind mapping tool called MindMaster, which was created in 2007. However, there are also a few differences between the two programs.

MindMaster mind map

To use MindMaster you must instal the program onto your computer. Both Coggle and MindMaster have emojis that can be used in their branches. Nonetheless while Coggleā€™s branches are easier to adjust and move to suit the user, MindMasterā€™s branches are more customisable. For instance, you can change the thickness of the branches and mark things of importance or interest on the map. You can also put clipart anywhere you want on the mind map in MindMaster. Other features for MindMaster include: the ability to upload images from your device and re-size them, change colour of the background, change both the size and style of the font, and change the layout of the mind map with any of their available free templates

.

Branches with different thicknesses
Slides for MindMaster

There is also the option of creating a slide show with the program with the premium version. However, the price of the premium version of MindMaster is more costly in the short term for someone on a lower budget. It is also more difficult to see what is available only to people with the premium account on MindMaster, as not all of it is marked as premium only and comes up in the menu, regardless of what version you own. Aside from that, they are very similar programs. Both programs allow for collaboration, they both permit you to change the colours of branches and bubbles in the map, and all three programs allow you to move the mind map around the page, as you see fit. On the other hand, in terms of the visuals, I prefer Coggle although, there are some things about MindMasterā€™s visuals I like as well. Coggleā€™s colour scheme is brighter and fun, which is visually more appealing. I think that not being able to adjust the thickness of the branches works in its favour, as it leaves less for the user to over think when it comes to their mind map. Ā 

Full version of DebateGraph mind map
Full version of MindMaster Map
Full version of Coggle mind map

I found a blog for Coggle and searched through the archive so I could look at the roadmap for this tool. When it was first introduced in January 2013 it did not have half the features it has today. From that time, it had the following features: it was possible to invite people to edit your mind map, you could add images to your branches, download your map as a PDF and it was online.

Image of a Coggle mind map from 2013
Short keys for Coggle

The current version of Coggle has all of these features too and more. It now allows for you to re-size the fonts, change it from standard to bold or italic, add emotes, link websites and, an improved short key system. When using the tool, it is very easy to add branches and change their colours. The branches are easy to move around, although if you try to move them in a way the program deems too complicated, you will receive a pop-up advertisement for the premium version of Coggle. This can become frustrating when trying to edit a branch that just is not co-operating as this pop up can come up as much as six times. This is something other users of Coggle have complained about on different review sites, like Google Workspace. There are, however, an equal number of users praising the program because of how easy it is to use.

Coggle has been available for eight years and is not open sourced according to a blog post from GoodFirms. However, it does have a Facebook and Twitter community, as well as their own blog. The most recent posts in the blog were in November 2020, where the company was showing some new features for the program in a video. The Coggle team post quite regularly and are very encouraging to their users to engage with them, so that they can keep improving the site to make it more user friendly. Using Coggle, one can export their mind map by saving it as a PDF. They can then use this PDF in presentations or add it in to the final document for their essay, project, etc. You can also present directly from the page.

I found using this tool to be quite straight forward. Even if it was not as self-explanatory as it is, there is a video on the home page of Coggle to show new users how it works. The way Coggle functions, it is a great tool to assist research for those in digital humanities, and it is very helpful for things like group projects. One of the difficulties that people experienced during semester one, with group projects, was coming up with the actual plan for the project. With a tool like Coggle, it might be easier for people to contribute ideas to the group and flesh those thoughts out. Even if nothing comes out of those ideas for the project, it could end up becoming something that they might later explore.

Based on my use and experience of this tool, I do feel that it is something I would recommend to others. It is simple to use, very easy to understand, and above all, it is very accessible. I found it to be very visually appealing, which I think is essential for a mind mapping tool. My only real complaints are that you can only upload images from your own device, and cannot re-size images in the free version. Those are two things I would want to change, as I think it would improve it for most users, as a whole. Another change I might make although it is not essential, is the option to underline keywords in the branches. Regardless, I do really like this tool, and it is very user friendly.