Style, Simple mode, and Square mode
Style a single table or the whole model in the Format tab. Two switches in the top bar change how the model is drawn: Simple mode and Square mode.
The Format tab
With nothing selected, the tab is titled Format all and sets the model style: the background color and the look of every visible table and foreign key. Hidden ones keep their current look. With a selection, only the selected items change, and Reset to model style removes the styling you've given them. Table names are the exception: a name looks the same everywhere it appears. Choose it from the Table name dropdown, and its background and border change everywhere.
- For foreign keys, you can set the line color and width, the arrow size, and the name's size and background, or make the line dashed.
- For tables drawn as circles, Auto adjust is on by default: each circle grows until its caption fits inside on two lines or fewer, and never shrinks below the default size. To pick a size yourself, drag the Radius slider. That clears the Auto adjust checkbox next to it.
Dragging a slider or the color picker is one undo step, however far you drag.
Reset to default style, the last button under Format all, returns the model style to Maowl's defaults and gives every visible table, foreign key, note, and link the default look, all in one undo step. It's handy after an import.
Copy format
Like the look of one table? Select it and click Copy format at the top of the Format tab, then select other tables and click Paste format to give them the same look. It works the same way for foreign keys, notes, and a note's link, always between items of the same kind. Copy format appears when the items you've selected are all of one kind and share the same look.
Theme
Maowl opens in light mode, even if your system is set to dark mode. Switch to dark mode with the theme button in the top bar, and Maowl stays dark the next time you open it in this browser. In dark mode, a white or default light gray canvas shows as a darker gray, and any other background color shows as it is. Only the display changes: the model, the Background color field, and exports keep the actual color.
Square mode
Square mode is on in every new model: each table is a card, with its name in a bold row at the top, the caption in a band in the table's fill color, and the columns below it in Column, Data type, and Example columns. Hide the Columns layer, and each card shrinks to its name and caption. Turn Square mode off to draw each table as a circle instead, with its name above it and its columns listed below. Settings that only circles use, such as Radius and Auto adjust, appear in the Format tab only then. Square mode is saved with the model.
Simple mode
Simple mode is made for presenting. Each table is drawn as a circle with only its name and caption, and each foreign key shows only its name: no columns or notes. The side panel steps aside to give the canvas the full width, and Add table moves to the top bar. A blue SIMPLE MODE banner at the top of the canvas reminds you the mode is on. Double-click a table to change its caption, or a foreign key to change its name. Your cards come back when you turn it off.
Simple mode changes only what you see: it isn't saved in the model, and it doesn't change what SQL and JSON exports contain. While it's on, SVG and PNG exports show the simplified view.