The Graph

This is where you live. The big canvas on the right. Everything else exists to support what happens here.

Two Modes

Tree Mode

Classic hierarchy. Parent above, children below (or parent left, children right — depends on orientation settings).

Good for:

• Seeing the whole structure at once
• Understanding depth and breadth
• Traditional org-chart thinking

The downside: deep trees get cramped. Wide trees sprawl. You're always fighting for space.

Radial Mode

Focus item sits at the center. Children orbit in rings around it. The further out, the deeper the nesting.

Good for:

• Exploring one branch intensely
• Keeping context tight
• Feeling like you're "inside" the data

The magic here is paging. When a ring has too many items to display comfortably, it shows a page at a time. Arrows let you flip through. No cramming.

Navigation

Pan

Drag the background to slide the view around. Works in both modes.

Zoom

Scroll wheel zooms in and out. Pinch on trackpad works too.

Rotate (Radial Only)

Drag the background in radial mode and the whole graph spins. Useful for bringing a particular branch to the top or side.

Dive In

Double-click any item to make it the new focus. The view reorganizes around it. This is how you explore depth — not by scrolling, but by refocusing.

Surface Back

Your ancestors form a breadcrumb trail. Click any of them to pop back up. Or use the back button in Controls.

Visual Cues

Selection

Selected items have a distinct highlight. One item at a time (unless you're rubberbanding — more on that later).

Hover

Hover shows a softer highlight. Preview without commitment.

Depth

In radial mode, items further from center are visually lighter — alpha fades with depth. Keeps the focus area punchy, periphery quiet.

Connections

Lines connect parents to children. In tree mode, they're straight or elbowed. In radial mode, they curve gracefully.

Paging (Radial Mode)

When a cluster has more items than fit comfortably, paging kicks in.

• Left/right arrows appear at the cluster edges
• Click to flip through pages
• The current page indicator shows where you are

This keeps radial mode usable even with hundreds of items. No overlap, no chaos — just one page at a time.

Clusters

In radial mode, children group into three clusters around the focus:

• Left — typically siblings or peers
• Right — typically siblings or peers
• Bottom — typically the main children

The exact arrangement depends on your data and settings. Point is: items don't just scatter randomly. They cluster with intention.