Learning Neo4j 3.x - Second Edition

The basic principles of graph visualization

In order to visualize a graph structure, we need to take into account a number of aspects. As with any visualization, it is very easy to let the trees disappear into the forest--in graphs, we often talk about the hairball effect. Connected structures such as graphs can easily become very unclear and intransparent to the user; it takes a couple of very well-defined mechanisms to lay out the graph to the user in an intelligible way. More specifically, we tend to find three main mechanisms that are used by different technology solutions, which we will treat later on. Let's go through these mechanisms.

Graphs can quickly look like hairballs

Before doing so, we want to specifically thank Alistair Jones ...