Navigating Results

Understand the sunburst visualization and learn how to navigate your disk space analysis results

After scanning, SquirrelDisk presents your disk space data through an interactive sunburst chart and file list. This guide explains how to navigate and understand your results.

The Sunburst Chart Visualization

The sunburst chart is a circular, hierarchical visualization that displays your disk space usage:

Chart Structure

• Center circle: The currently focused directory
• Inner rings: Immediate subdirectories and files
• Outer rings: Nested contents (up to 3 levels deep)
• Arc size: Proportional to file/folder size
• Colors: Each top-level folder gets a unique color, with darker shades for deeper levels

The chart shows up to 3 levels of depth from your current location. Folders deeper than this exist in the data but aren’t visualized until you navigate into them.

Color Coding

SquirrelDisk uses an intelligent color system:

• Top-level folders: Assigned unique rainbow colors
• Nested items: Progressively darker shades of the parent color
• Folders: 60% opacity
• Files: 40% opacity

The depth-based shading helps you understand how deep in the hierarchy each item is:

Depth 0 (root): Base color
Depth 1: 20% darker
Depth 2: 35% darker
Depth 3: 45% darker
Depth 4+: 55-60% darker

Interacting with the Chart

Zooming Into Folders

To explore a folder’s contents:

1. Identify the folder

   Find the folder you want to explore in the sunburst chart.

2. Click the arc

   Click on any arc segment in the chart.

3. View updated display

   The chart smoothly animates and refocuses on that folder, showing its contents in detail.

You can only click on folders (directories). Files don’t have children to zoom into, so clicking them has no effect on the chart.

Returning to Parent Directory

To navigate back up the folder hierarchy:

1. Click the center

   Click on the center circle of the sunburst chart.

2. View parent directory

   The chart animates back to show the parent directory.

When you’re at the root of the scan, clicking the center has no effect since there’s no parent to return to.

Hovering for Details

Move your mouse over any arc or the center circle to see detailed information:

• File/folder name
• Full path from the root
• Size in GB (displayed with 2 decimal places)

The tooltip appears as you hover:

/Users/username/Documents/Projects/large-project
45.32 GB

The File List Sidebar

The right sidebar shows a detailed list view of the currently focused directory.

Directory Header

At the top of the sidebar, you’ll see the current directory:

• Full path: Complete filesystem path
• Total size: Combined size of all contents
• Click to navigate: Click to go to parent directory (same as clicking center)
• Right-click: Opens the folder in your system file manager

File List

Below the header, all files and folders in the current directory are listed:

• Icon: File type or folder icon (using VS Code icon theme)
• Name: File or folder name
• Size: Individual item size in GB

Items in the file list are displayed with 2 decimal precision. For example: 3.45 GB or 0.12 GB.

Synchronized Navigation

The chart and file list are synchronized:

• Clicking an arc updates the file list
• Clicking a folder in the list updates the chart
• Hovering an arc highlights it in the list

Interacting with Files and Folders

You can interact with items in the file list:

• Click folder: Zooms the chart into that folder
• Click file: Opens the file’s location in your system file manager
• Right-click: Opens the item’s location in your system file manager
• Drag: Drag items to the deletion area (see Deleting Files)

When an item is selected for deletion, it displays a red border in the file list.

Understanding Depth Levels

SquirrelDisk limits visualization to 3 levels deep from your current focus:

Why Only 3 Levels?

1. Performance: Rendering too many arcs slows down the interface
2. Clarity: Too many levels make the chart cluttered and hard to read
3. Interaction: You can always navigate deeper by clicking

Small Items Grouping

To keep the visualization clean, SquirrelDisk automatically groups small items:

• Items smaller than 0.5% of the current view are grouped together
• The grouped items appear as “Smaller Items”
• This prevents tiny files from cluttering the chart

The 0.5% threshold is calculated relative to the currently focused directory’s size, not the entire disk.

Chart Animations

All navigation in the sunburst chart is animated:

• Duration: 750 milliseconds
• Effect: Smooth interpolation between states
• Arc transitions: Arcs grow, shrink, and fade as you navigate

The animations help you understand:

• Where you came from
• Where you’re going
• How items relate spatially

If you rapidly click multiple times, the animations queue up. Wait for one animation to complete before clicking again for the best experience.

Navigation Tips

Finding Large Files

1. Look for large arc segments in the outer rings
2. Click the parent folder to zoom in
3. Review the file list to see individual file sizes

Understanding Directory Structure

1. Start at the root level
2. Note the relative sizes of top-level folders by arc length
3. Drill down into the largest folders first
4. Use the path display to track your location

Quick Access to File Manager

• Right-click any item in the file list to open its location in:
  • Windows: Windows Explorer
  • macOS: Finder
  • Linux: Default file manager (xdg-open)

The parent folder display at the top of the sidebar is clickable and also supports right-click to open in your file manager.

Platform-Specific Behavior

Windows

• Sizes calculated using 1024 bytes per KB (binary)
• Paths use forward slashes in display, converted for system operations

macOS and Linux

• Sizes calculated using 1000 bytes per KB (decimal, SI units)
• Native path separators used throughout