Basic Navigation

The model consists of a graph of nodes and links, with information associated with either nodes or links.

Most information is stored in the nodes. The nodes are called "Thoughts" by TheBrain.

The node in the center of the screen is the "Current Thought". Any notes or links associated with the node will be displayed in the separate pane (initially on the right), in the desktop or web versions. In the mobile app, you may have to click on a Note icon to see the notes and attachments.

If you're reading this, the current thought looks like this:

There are two kinds of links, vertical and horizontal. The vertical ones indicate a parent/child relationship of some type. For example, for a company, an outside director would be represented as a "parent" director relationship, while one working within the company, would be a "child".

The horizontal links are used for non-hierarchical relationships.

Here we see a variety of horizontal relationships. They all connect at the little bubble on the left or right side of the nodes. (Sometimes it appears on the right, sometimes the left, but it's the same bubble. It just moves to make the diagram look better).

Here all the horizontal sibling relationships are along the left side. Parents will be along the top and/or right, and children along the bottom.

The links are often labelled to provide more information. However, two nodes can only be linked by one link. There is no way to link two nodes twice to represent different relationships. So sometimes, new nodes are introduced to represent the relationship. This is called "reification"; the relationship has been "reified". You don't need to worry about it, but some nodes that seem unnecessary are not.

Other extra nodes are there to keep the diagram from getting too complex.

Yet it is unavoidable that sometimes nodes become too complex to display on the available space. In that case, scroll bars are introduced for each section.

The scroll bars here are green and yellow. Drag the corresponding section, or use the scroll bars direction, to show the additional nodes for each section. Here, children have a scroll bar, as well as siblings (horizontal). The parent relation is lined up along the right in this image, but does not have a scroll bar.

If you don't see something you expect, check for a scroll bar.