Arrange

The free layout places nodes by their connections. Arrange places them by their values: sorted along a ruler, split into lanes, and in four forms. Filtering happens on the canvas itself.

Arrange is a Mac-app feature; the web viewer doesn’t have it. The pages in this section describe it from the app, with its own words.

Opening it

The scatter button in Graph’s top bar, or ⌘L, opens a popover. The button is lit while the canvas is arranged or filtered, with a gold badge counting the filters; its tooltip sums the state up: “Rows · sorted by Year, lowest first · in lanes by Type · 2 filters”. It’s there whenever something is on the canvas, and on an answer.

The popover

Top to bottom:

1. Arrange the canvas (or Arrange the answer, since each canvas has its own arrangement), and Free layout to undo it all.
2. The form picker: Free, Rows, Rings, Spiral, Stacks, each drawn as a small picture of itself, with a line under them saying what the chosen one does.
3. The sort section (“Sort along a ruler”, “Order from the centre out”, “Order along the spiral”, “Stack by value”): a key menu, a direction button, and for numbers a By value / Evenly switch.
4. The split section (“Split into lanes / wedges / spirals”, “A stack for each”, “Band each stack by”): a key menu.
5. Filters: a chip for each filter on, with × to take it off, Show everything, and a hint for how to filter in this form.

Every change shows on the canvas as it’s made; nodes glide to their places in order, first to last.

What it’s for

• A timeline: sort by a Year property, by value.
• A ranking: sort by Connections, most first, in Rings, so the hub is in the middle.
• A breakdown: Stacks by an Enum, a living bar chart.
• A matrix: Rows sorted by one thing and split by another.
• Reading an answer: sort by Answer order or Relevance; page through it in that order.
• One node’s world: Arrange Around it by steps away.