The connections between the nodes in the data determine which layouts you use. You can try layout options for link charts to decide which best represents the data. If you have a large graph of data that takes a long time to render, you can zoom in to a section, select nodes and links in the area, and change the layout for the selected parts.
Hierarchic
Hierarchic layouts organize the nodes and relationships from the most prominent nodes to the least prominent nodes in layers following the selected orientation.
The following are the hierarchic layout types:
- Hierarchic—Highly structured layout emphasizing levels of connection with orthogonal links
- Hierarchic Curves—Hierarchic structure with rounded links
- Hierarchic Flowchart—Hierarchic structure with smoothed links
Circular
Circular layouts are used to visualize and emphasize groups and trees within a larger network. Main structures are organized as a ring or star with node partitions arranged as separate circles.
The following are the circular layout types:
- Circular—Overall ring or star shape
- Circular Substructures—Overall ring or star shape with emphasis on detecting and partitioning subnetworks with the larger network as smaller circular groupings
Organic
Organic layouts spread nodes with forces pushing or pulling them. They are useful for exposing symmetry and clustering in a network and for visualizing networks with highly connected backbone segments with attached subgroups. You can use these layouts to visualize large networks.
The following are the organic layout types:
- Organic—Multipurpose layout for undirected networks
- Organic Substructures—Organizes subnetworks as chains, cycles, or parallels
- Organic Clustered Substructures—Groups subnetwork clusters
- Organic Clustered—Provides automatic clustering within the network
Tree
Tree layouts allow you to emphasize child-parent relationships in a graph.
The following are the tree layout types:
- Multi-Parent Tree—Considers multiple parents for tree nodes
- Tree Mindmap—Delegates two layer places with different orientations, for example, left to right and right to left, or top to bottom and bottom to top
- Tree Compact—Uses close placement for smaller tree structure
Balloon
Balloon layouts are organized in a radial pattern around their root nodes. You can use them to visualize larger tree networks.
The following are the balloon layout types:
- Balloon—Radial tree layout outward from center with substructures in a circular pattern
- Balloon Ray Like—Places nodes in a ray-like pattern out from root nodes
Radial
Radial layouts pattern data in a directed graph visualizing a tree-like network but with the root at the center of the diagram. The most prominent features appear at the center, with concentric rings outward to less-prominent features on the outer edge.
The following are the radial layout types:
- Radial—Concentric circular layout from center
- Radial Dendrogram—Concentric layers in a dendrogram-like tree layout
Layout orientations
The orientation of several of the layout types listed above have an additional orientation to the structure of the layout as follows:
- Top to Bottom—Vertical organization from the highest connected nodes at the top to the least connected at the bottom
- Bottom to Top—Vertical organization from the highest connected nodes at the bottom to the least connected at the top
- Left to Right—Horizontal organization from the highest connected nodes on the left to the least connected on the right
- Right to Left—Horizontal organization from the highest connected nodes on the right to the least connected on the left