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Styling and Layout Options

Visual styling​

Visual styling uses a system of stylers. The default styler, Color by Type, assigns a consistent color to each Concept so you can read the structure of the graph at a glance. All "Person" nodes share one hue, all "Organization" nodes share another, and so on. Custom stylers can be layered on top. Toggle them through the Style Picker in the toolbar.

Node and edge appearance​

Each node shows the record's display name and an icon resolved from its Concept. If a record has an associated image, the node displays that instead. Edges are labeled with the Relationship name and drawn as arcs when multiple Relationships exist between the same pair of records.

Layout algorithms​

Octostar offers several automatic layout algorithms:

  • Graceful (default) -- a custom force-directed layout that produces balanced, readable graphs
  • Grid
  • Hierarchical (Dagre)
  • Force-directed variants
  • Radial
  • Random Switch layout algorithms from the toolbar. For very large graphs, the system automatically optimizes its rendering strategy to maintain responsiveness.

Groups and layout​

Groups (combos) interact with layout algorithms. When you apply a layout, grouped nodes are positioned together. Collapse a group before applying a layout to treat it as a single unit in the arrangement.