Links and moving nodes

Moving changes where a node sits. Connecting can change which node is its parent, or add a separate connection between two existing branches. These differences matter when you zoom out: a child folds into its parent and travels with it.

For example, connect a detached Seedlings node to Garden. Seedlings becomes Garden's child. A connection between two established branches can remain a link between them without making either branch the other's child.

Move a node#

Press and drag a node you can move. A simple click selects it without moving it; the drag begins only after your pointer has travelled a little. The node keeps the point where you grabbed it instead of snapping its centre to the pointer.

Children travel with their parent and keep their arrangement. A group selected together also travels together when you drag one of its selected nodes. At a zoom level where a branch is folded, its hidden descendants come along with the branch.

Moving a node stays within its canvas. To make the same item reachable on another canvas, use a pin. To make an independent item, use Duplicate.

While you drag a node you own, other signed-in people on the same canvas see it move as you move it. The rest of what travels with it, and everyone who is signed out, catches up when you let go.

The server checks the destination. If the move would overlap another node, exceed the available space or break an access rule, it can be refused. The node goes back to where it was, on your screen and everyone else's. Read the message in the multibar and choose another destination.

Select several nodes#

Choose Select — drag nodes to move on the rail. Drag over empty ground to draw a selection rectangle. You can then drag one of the selected nodes to move the selection together.

Right-click a selection of two or more nodes for its selection menu. Delete N nodes applies to that selection and asks for confirmation. Keep the selection small enough that you can check what will be removed before confirming.

Right-clicking in an active canvas tool normally returns you to navigation. A right-click on an existing multiple selection can open that selection's menu first.

Draw an ordinary connection#

1. Press the rail's edge-tool button to choose the blue link tool.
2. Drag from one node's disc to the other node.
3. Release over the destination.

The blue tool also accepts a small margin just outside each disc, both when you start and when you release. That margin stays the same size on screen as you zoom. If two nodes are within reach, the nearer centre wins.

The node at the far end must be on the same canvas. Inside an ordinary node, you can also connect to the large centre disc that represents the canvas you are in. The Nexus's catalogue pages do not accept these centre links.

The tool stays active after a connection. Right-click the canvas to leave it and return to navigation.

Parent connections and separate links#

A parent tells the canvas which branch a node belongs to. A separate link connects nodes while leaving those parents alone.

• If one end is detached—with no parent and no connections outside its own subtree—connecting it can make it the other node's child.
• If both ends are detached, the node you drag from becomes a child of the node you drag to.
• Connecting nodes that already belong to established trees creates a separate link.
• You cannot make a node a descendant of itself.

Dropping a movable node onto another node can also make it that node's child. The visible branch and the zoom-out fold follow the new parent.

This is different from entering a node's inside and creating content there. Being inside a canvas does not itself draw a link to its large centre node; you draw that connection when you want one.

Bridges#

Press the edge tool again to switch from blue links to orange bridges. Further presses alternate the two kinds.

A bridge is a separate connection that does not establish a parent. Use it when you want to relate two places without joining their branches. A bridge and an ordinary link can exist between the same pair of nodes; trying to add the same kind twice is refused.

Cut a connection#

With the blue link tool active, drag a stroke across an ordinary connection. With the orange bridge tool active, drag across a bridge. Each tool cuts its own kind.

Cutting a parent connection detaches the child. It stays where it is, with its own descendants, and stops following or folding into its old parent. Cutting a separate link removes the connection without reparenting either end.

The detached branch stays independent even if a separate link still connects it to the old tree, including after a reload. Giving it a new parent makes it fold into that new parent instead.

On a touch screen, dragging empty ground in the edge tool pans instead of cutting. Use the keyboard cut action when you need a precise alternative.

Use the keyboard#

Tab to the canvas and use the arrows to focus a node.

Keyboard links and cuts use the edge kind currently chosen by the tool. Editing permissions still apply. See Keyboard shortcuts for the full canvas reference.