Nodes and the canvas

The canvas is the open space where you arrange nodes. A node can hold a title, text, a web link and a colour. Ordinary nodes also have an inside: zoom into one to work on another canvas.

A node called Garden might hold your planting notes. Its inside might contain separate nodes for seedlings, tools and the seasons. Links connect things on one canvas; pins bring an existing node into another place.

Move the view#

Zoom out to see a larger arrangement. As you pull back, branches fold towards their parents so the canvas remains readable. Zoom in to reveal their detail again.

To enter an ordinary node, put the pointer over it and continue zooming in beyond the normal close view. The entrance needs a further deliberate zoom at the limit. To leave, zoom out through the exit at the wide end. The depth rings offer another way back.

The Nexus's catalogue pages use a fixed layout and open their doors by clicking. See The Nexus for that difference.

Create a node#

On a canvas you can add to:

1. Double-click or double-tap empty space.
2. Type in New node title, the small field beneath the new disc.
3. Press Enter to finish the title, or Tab to continue into its editor.

You can also right-click empty space and choose Create node. With the canvas active and no text field selected, Command+Enter on a Mac or Ctrl+Enter elsewhere creates a new note near the centre of your view.

An empty node you have just made is tidied away when you abandon it without entering anything. Pressing Escape on an empty title field is one way to abandon it. Once you have written a title, Escape ends title entry; it is not a promise to undo the text you typed.

Choose Add Child from a node's menu to make a node attached beneath it. The new node appears beside its parent with its title ready to edit. Its parent determines the branch it folds into when you zoom out. See Moving and connecting nodes.

Select, read and edit#

As the pointer approaches an ordinary node, its disc grows and its title moves with the edge. Moving away lets them return smoothly together; an open preview keeps its node at rest size. A web page or video card does not grow: under the pointer it shows a light edge instead, to say it can be pressed.

A single click selects an ordinary node. Its body can appear beside it as a preview. Double-click it, or choose Open from its menu, to open the editor where you may edit it.

Holding Shift while you are not typing reveals body previews for visible nodes. Release Shift to return to the usual view. This is useful for comparing several short notes without opening each editor. Use Shift+Command+Y or Shift+Ctrl+Y to show or hide node titles.

You can also use Node options for the name, description and tags. That popup makes the distinction between saved fields and immediate actions explicit.

Node titles can contain up to 120 characters. A node's web-link field accepts addresses beginning with http:// or https://. A shared canvas can contain at most 2,500 live nodes, including pins, and its rules may impose a lower capacity.

Choose a colour#

Right-click a node you can edit and open Color in Appearance. The flyout has a circular colour picker, a hue strip and brightness control. A pick is saved when you finish the drag; you can keep choosing colours while the menu remains open. Reset Color removes the custom colour and closes the menu.

You can also open Node options… and use Colour on its Properties tab. This hue bar changes the draft; press the popup's Save to keep it.

The round colour or picture beside a node's name offers a third route. On a node you can edit, a + appears when you hover or focus it. Press it for Change node colour or picture. Colour changes made in this small popover save immediately, even if other fields in Node options are still unsaved. Escape closes the popover and returns focus to its circle.

A node without a custom colour follows its branch's colour. A branch root receives its own default colour. Reset Color returns to that behaviour. Light appearance adjusts the colour's saturation for its background; changing your appearance does not assign a new custom colour to the node.

Give a node a picture#

In the editable node's Appearance menu, Draw new… opens Pixl Studio to make its picture. Choose a Pixl… lets you choose existing art. Remove image takes a picture off the node; the title-circle popover calls this Remove picture.

You can also drag a Pixl from Media onto a node you can edit. The picture is cropped to the node's circle, with the node colour behind transparent areas. A node showing a Pixl uses its picture-size controls rather than the ordinary node resize gesture. See the Pixl guide.

Resize and hold an arrangement#

For an ordinary node, pin or kept note that does not show a Pixl, hold Alt—Option on a Mac—and drag the node's edge. Its size runs from its default up to 5× that size. Escape cancels an active resize. The size belongs to this placement, so resizing a pin does not resize its target elsewhere.

A web page or video card is sized differently. Right-click it as its owner and choose Resize, then drag the handle that appears at its corner (Alt or Option and drag works too). The card is drawn at exactly the size you set, from small to large, for everyone; zooming out still shrinks it with the rest of the canvas.

Glue stops a node drifting under the canvas's movement. You can still drag it yourself. Unglue lets it move again.

Nearby eligible nodes can gather into a zone, a ring around another node. Drag one near the ring to join it; drag it away to leave. A zone is a spatial grouping. Drawing an ordinary link to a zoned node takes it out of that zone. Collapse Children hides a branch's children; Expand Children brings them back.

Remove something#

Use Delete in a node's menu to remove it. If you select nodes and press Delete or Backspace while you are not typing, the selection asks for confirmation before removal. Removing a pin removes that placement and leaves its target alone.

When an ordinary parent node is withdrawn, its direct children move up to that parent's parent, or become top-level nodes if there is none. They keep their positions; withdrawing the parent does not withdraw all its descendants.

If an action is refused, the canvas returns to the accepted arrangement and shows a reason in the multibar. Check that you can edit the node and add to the canvas, then follow the message. Troubleshooting covers the common messages.

Focus a brainstorm#

Select a node and choose Brainstorm from its tools. After the first suggestions arrive, type a focus in Add context (optional) and choose Load More (or press Enter). For a Garden node, try “small balconies” to narrow the next suggestions. The context applies to that next request and stays in the field for further requests. Earlier suggestions remain available to add as nodes or tasks. If a request fails or produces no ideas, Generate ideas lets you retry.

The AI panel's optional context field also applies when you choose Brainstorm. AI use still uses your credits.