Vertical lines to make it easier to identify branches. (Optional toggle.)

[CurvyLinesEverywhere]

I just feel like this would make spotting specific branches easier when you're scrolling through a long vertical branching narrative.

I can see how it would turn some stories into line soup, though, so it should be toggleable. At the per-account level, if not at the per-story-per-account level.

If you wanted maximum usability, you could even make the lines different colors so they're easier to distinguish. That would mess with the soothing, unified, on-brand aesthetic, though. So maybe line coloring could be toggleable, too. At most, that's two new checkboxes under Settings:

☐ Draw lines linking same-depth branches
☐ Color lines linking same-depth branches

 

[CurvyLinesEverywhere]

Shout outs to JohnTitor45 for traveling back in time just to like the OP. It's a shame you couldn't have warned us about covid and such back in 2000 when you were looking for that IBM 5100, but I'm sure that's just because everything bad that's happened since then was an unintended side-effect of your own time travel. Keep trying, John! If Re:ZERO has taught us anything, I'm sure you'll get it right one of these times.

 

[insertnamehere]

They could be faint, like nested posts on Reddit.

 

[RejectTed]

They could be faint, like nested posts on Reddit.

I think this would be the perfect balance between helpful but not in the way.

 

[CurvyLinesEverywhere]

I think this would be the perfect balance between helpful but not in the way.

I like the idea of making them fainter.

I still think colored lines would be useful for particularly "wide" stories that end up looking like |||| | | ||| || || ||||| || halfway down the map.

I also still think colored lines would detract from the designed aesthetic, though. So I still think the ultimate version of this idea would include at least the color toggle.