Scrolling in repo insights network graph

[matthewruzzi]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

Body

Is there a reason that the repository insights network graph view doesn't support scrolling with a mouse scroll wheel and must be dragged to move around?

[SaadShyhan]

Nothing official documents the reason, but this is the standard trade-off for a canvas visualisation embedded in a normally-scrolling page: if the wheel panned the graph, it would stop scrolling the page whenever the pointer was over it. That is scroll-jacking, and it is why most embedded canvas views reserve the wheel for the document and use drag for panning instead.

In the meantime:

• shift + wheel scrolls the container horizontally in most browsers, which is the axis you probably want on that graph
• click-drag pans both axes
• the date/commit range control moves you along history much faster than dragging does

If you would rather have wheel panning, the usual compromise other tools land on is wheel = pan, ctrl/cmd + wheel = zoom, which keeps the page scrollable. That is a reasonable feature request and this is the right place for it — it may get more traction if you reframe the post as a request rather than a question, since as written it reads as asking for a rationale.

[davidwarner234]

It’s likely a limitation of the graph viewer. Dragging is currently used for panning, while the mouse wheel controls page scrolling/zooming behavior. Wheel-based panning would definitely be a useful UX improvement.

[geekysaksham]

I've noticed that the Insights → Network graph can only be navigated by clicking and dragging, whereas the mouse scroll wheel doesn't allow scrolling through the graph (and Shift + Scroll doesn't seem to work either).

On repositories with a large number of branches or commits, dragging around the graph feels less convenient and less intuitive than using the mouse wheel. Many graph-based interfaces support scroll-wheel navigation or zooming, so I was wondering if there's a specific technical or design reason why the GitHub Network graph behaves differently.

Is this an intentional design choice, a technical limitation, or simply a feature that hasn't been implemented yet? If it's the latter, are there any plans to improve the navigation experience by adding mouse wheel scrolling and/or zoom support?

I'd be interested to know the reasoning behind the current implementation.

[codexanjan]

It’s likely a design choice rather than a limitation. The Network graph is an interactive visualization, so GitHub uses click-and-drag for panning and may reserve mouse-wheel input for zooming or browser/page behavior. GitHub hasn’t publicly given a detailed explanation for this specific behavior.

For large repositories, supporting mouse-wheel panning and smoother zoom controls would make navigation more convenient.