Graph & Backlinks

Forward links tell a reader where to go next. They say nothing about how the page they are on fits into everything else. Backlinks and the graph fill that in.

Every page ends with the pages that link to it — scroll to the bottom of this one to see them.

The list is built by scanning every page for references, so it covers both wiki links and ordinary Markdown links. Nothing to maintain: link to a page and it gains a backlink.

Pages nothing links to show no panel at all.

The graph

The Graph page draws the whole site: one node per page, one line per link.

  • Node size reflects how many links touch a page, so hubs stand out
  • Hover a node to dim everything it is not connected to
  • Click to open the page

The layout is computed from a fixed starting arrangement, so the graph looks the same on every visit. A graph that rearranges itself each time is impossible to build any familiarity with.

It is drawn as plain SVG with a small force-directed layout — no charting library, so nothing extra is downloaded on any other page.

The graph page lists every link that resolves to no page, with the file it was written in. The same list is available from the command line:

bash
npm run check:links

See Validation & Testing for wiring that into CI.

What is excluded

Hidden pages appear in neither the graph nor any backlink panel, and links pointing at them are not drawn. An unlisted page cannot be discovered by reading the graph.

Links to external sites, in-page anchors, and a page linking to itself are not edges either — the graph is about how your pages relate to one another.

Building a connected wiki

A graph with no lines in it is telling you something. Some habits that help:

  • End each page with a "Next" section pointing at two or three related pages
  • Link the first mention of a concept to the page that explains it
  • Check the graph occasionally for isolated nodes — pages nothing reaches are pages nobody finds

Next

  • Wiki Links — the syntax for linking by name
  • Search — the other way readers find pages

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