Generating customized layouts

Abstract

A good layout tool should be able to generate customized layouts according to different requirements given by the user or applications. To achieve this goal, existing layout techniques should be enhanced and integrated to take their advantages while compensating their disadvantages. This paper presents three layout techniques based on the force-directed placement approach, including a revised force-directed placement to draw graphs with vertices of nontrivial sizes, a divide-andconquer approach to generate structured layouts, and an integrated approach to support constraints. The combination of the three techniques significantly improves the layout ability of the force-directed placement. They can be used to generate customized layouts that reflect semantics, preference, or principles of perceptual psychology.