You can write the model as a text file, as an outline if you wish. And you can use spaces or tabs to determine successive levels.By outputting as plain text, you lose the internal hyperlinks between identical entries, but then if your friend or colleague is reading the file with a text or word processor, or even an outliner, then this won't matter too much. We provide a template for Word which presents the BrainStorm model very nicely in both Normal and Outline views

You can also publish your model as a simple HTML page, which makes it readable by a host of other programs, including Word.

More interestingly, perhaps, is that you can output your model as an HTML page, complete with an embedded JavaScript 'mind-reader' which attempts to present your information as a hierarchical, navigable model, complete with the original hyperlinks. Here's a sample clipping:

In modern browsers your information appears pretty much as it does in BrainStorm. The entry icons are clickable and the hypertext links (we call them 'namesakes') are easily followed. You can search the model and, in general, navigate it the way you do in BrainStorm itself. Of course, being a browser view means that it cannot be edited.

The older the browser, the less snappy the display. The very oldest browsers will give up on the clever stuff and just display the model as an outline, using HTML's heading styles to differentiate between levels.

BrainStorm's merge command allows you to embed BrainStorm and other files within the existing model. This can be useful when collecting contributions from other people. Assuming they are BrainStorm users, you just send them out a template of the information you require and ask them to throw in their suggestions, perhaps each using a different color. When you get these models in, you can merge them such that all their contributions appear under the respective headings but in their own colors.

Finally, we can provide a Java browser which you can embed in your own web page. You can point this to any BrainStorm model on your web server and it will be even snappier than the web-published version.

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