Fractal nested layout for hierarchical system

摘要

The present invention discloses a method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for displaying a visual hierarchy of nodes. A top level node in the hierarchy is displayed as a window and lower level nodes are displayed within an area of the top level node. Lower level nodes are either expanded or unexpanded. Unexpanded lower level nodes are displayed in one area and expanded lower level nodes are displayed in another area. The unexpanded nodes conceal their contents and the expanded nodes disclose their contents, so that a visual hierarchy of nodes can be displayed a single display screen. The expanded nodes can contain several layers of lower level nodes that are visually formatted like the window.