Techniques
Spacing hints — tight to expanded
The same diagram at four declared spacings: tight, normal, loose, expanded.
ddn@1New DDN source
Why use it?
Density is a reading-speed choice: tight for overview posters, expanded for step-by-step walkthroughs.
When it helps
Fitting a diagram to its medium — slide, A4 page, or wall chart.
How to read it
- Switch variants: nothing moves semantically; the corridors widen or narrow.
- Text size does not shrink with spacing — below the minimum the publication rule complains.
What you need
- The model
- The spacing declaration
Things to check
- Do not fix crowding with spacing when the real problem is too many elements per view.
- Tight spacing plus long labels is a collision you declared.
Scope of this diagram
Declared spacing hints within the engine's minimum clearances; it will not overlap elements to satisfy a hint.
Work with the converted example
- Open the viewer and select
normal. Inspect the rendered view and its source. - Open the designer. Keep the selected profile and inspect its legal palette and property controls.
- Change one displayed title or an appropriate data value. Apply the edit and check the resulting diagram.
- Run the verifier and review its diagnostics before moving complete content into review.
- Download your edited DDN source to retain the change.
The example uses the indentation-based ddn-next-1 dialect. The language guide explains reusable definitions, dotted data rows and explicit property blocks.