FR: allow the child nodes in canvas to be hidden or displayed; allow users to set hotkeys for different functions

Basement
1

In my case, the mindmap function is very much needed to organize and visualize things, and the canvas is almost perfect for this except that it misses some very convenient functions offered by other mindmap software:

  1. allowing the users to hide/display the child nodes of a given node by clicking on a certain “icon” on its edge, by right-clicking and selecting the option, or by hitting a hotkey.

  2. allowing the users to set the default width of the node, and whether one wants it to automatically fit the content. These are to be included in settings. Currently, the settings for Canvas seem rather limited.

  3. It would also be good if one can use hotkey to trigger the color pane so that one can choose a certain color.

2

As far as I know, Obsidian has no concept of parent/child relationships. That’s something you or a plugin bring to it.

That said, I think you’ll be asked to stick to one clear feature request per topic, and include the FR template for each post.

3

It’s a bit surprising to hear this because the canvas does has arrows between different nodes.

This is the first time I make some FR; Thanks for your reminder regarding each FR for each post and I’ll take this into account later.

4

Arrows are just a conceptual tool. And they can be bidirectional. There is no explicit hierarchy, as far as I know.

I’m going to close this thread for being duplicates. And yes, please follow the template and make sure you search first before posting in FR.

This is a somewhat related FR regarding hiding “children”. Collapsing groups. Canvas: collapsable groups

This is a duplicate regarding color hotkeys. [With demo] Canvas: Hotkeys for adding items, navigating and changing color

Thanks

5

I agree that one can make bidirectional links between two nodes, but tree structure is definitely quite useful for humans to understand and organize things. Even though this function can be achieved in Canvas, it is not as convenient due to the lack of the functionalities I mentioned, which are widely used in mind-map tools. Such functions, though seems trivial, can significantly improve the process of creating a tree-structure. So I’m kind of confused why Canvas wouldn’t consider offering the users the choice to establish part of the network in the form of mind-map.

6

For sure. No one said it wouldn’t be considered. Just saying how it is right now. (I’m not on the development team, so I can only look at the Roadmap like everyone else.)

If you’d like to request that kind of structure, please follow the template and search the forum first to make sure it hasn’t already been requested. Search thoroughly, including “mind map”, “hierarchy” and other such terms. I’m sure there have been somewhat similar threads. If they exist, you can reply there.

WhiteNoise was once said “There will be an api for canvas”. I don’t know the progress of that. It might already exist, or it might be improving. If so, that would mean it could be something that can be enhanced as a plugin and metadata.

7

I see, thanks for your information, I’ll look into them.

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