Storybird vs Simple Mind

Storybird offers a very intuitive interface that allows for a professional finish with impressive graphics. But the point is that this can be achieved without too much thought about the tech side of things, allowing for a focus on creativity and originality. The provided guides(opens in new tab) are really useful for teaching or having students work at home. From guides on how to write a prompt, to writing a killer hook, there are lots of ways to work directly on creative writing improvement.

- Luke Edwards

An online writing platform that allows learners at any level to find inspiration, write, read other’s writing, and receive feedback. Storybird has thousands of images to prompt learners’ creativity and get them writing poems, long-form stories, short 500-word “flash fiction,” comics, and even picture books. With hundreds of writing prompts, lessons, video tutorials, and quizzes, educators can assign work in class or use Storybird for homework or classroom extension projects.

- Matthew Lynch

Design: Light and fun best describe StoryBird. Given the target demographic, this is a plus. After logging on, users are only one click away from reading their first StoryBird. The homepage is dominated by a selection of the most recently published stories and offers easy navigation to the sign-up page. All of the StoryBirds are easily navigated. A simple click command turns the pages, making them suitable for younger children to read on their own. Review: The content here is all great—if you’re a young a child. Keep in mind that this is a tool, rather than something aimed at teachers. Lessons run the gamut from what to do when faced with a bully, to how things would be if everyone cared. There are also non-lesson-based stories available for pure enjoyment. All of the StoryBirds are nicely illustrated and beautiful to look at. Their content is very age-specific, but would be very well received by that demographic.

- Jason Tomaszewski

I use this on an iPad and iPhone. There are so many mind mapping apps that are subscriptions or you only get a couple maps with the free versions. It took me way too long just to find one that I could just buy with a one time cost. I think I did read that you purchase it per platform though, so if I want to use it on my laptop I would have to buy that version. I probably won’t use it on the computer but even if I did, the software is good, so I’d be okay with the cost. There’s one really big problem for me though which I hope is fixed in a future update. When I’m using the Apple Pencil on the iPad and enter a field to write into, it centers that field on the screen. That means I have to lift and move my hand to the center every time I want to write and then move the whole map back to the position I had it in. The palm rejection in the app isn’t great, both these together have caused some frustration. I’d much rather have an option to toggle this off so I can just write in the field where it already is.

- Fuser-Invent

’ve been looking for ways to help with studying, and wish I found this sooner. Downloaded the free trial on my iPhone and was sold before it even ended. Maybe it’s the OCD nerd in me, but my thoughts and notes have to be organized JUST the right way or I can’t function. I’ve tried tabs, highlighters, binders, note cards, quizlets, you name it... nothing did the job until I found this app. There are soo many features that give you the freedom to organize the clutter in your head; it’s like painting your thoughts onto a screen. I haven’t tried any other mind mapping apps since this is my first one, but I feel like it has everything I need already and don’t even want to venture. I’m pretty satisfied. I now have the paid versions for my iPhone/Ipad and windows pc too. LOVE this app! BTW: definitely read the MindMap Editor Help, and FAQ sections so you can truly enjoy the creative power of the app.

- Visay1

I bought the full version for the cloud saving functionality, and I've been impressed by how quickly I got the hang of using it. It's been a valuable tool for my creative writing projects. The only issue I had was a close call I had where I almost erased my entire map by accident with no way to undo. I think this may have been due to a weird interaction with my bluetooth keyboard. This could be prevented by either a toggleable option to ask to confirm before deleting main topics, or by the ability to restore previous versions of a map. In my case, I was able to save the map by reverting to the previous version in google drive, but I was lucky in that case. Overall, a great app!

- MaverickHunterN