What makes a TreeLine feel balanced

Balance in a family chart is not simply symmetry. It is the sense that every part of the chart carries its visual weight naturally — that no branch feels isolated, no area feels crowded, and the eye can move through the chart without confusion.

TreeLine's optimiser scores candidate layouts on several dimensions: crossing count (fewer is better), connector length (shorter is better), generation alignment (people of the same generation should read at the same level), and compactness (avoid unnecessary empty rows).

When all of these are in balance, the chart has a settled, legible quality that is difficult to achieve by manual arrangement in large families. Pruning, foldbacks, and generation alignment all contribute to this result — each is a tool in service of the same goal.