ZEUS Astroprocessor Interface Overview
A detailed breakdown of the ZEUS astrological program interface.
Before diving into the features of ZEUS and how to work with them, it’s worth understanding how the interface is structured. The main program window, besides the menu bar, contains 7 workspaces — each serving its own purpose.
Scene
The Scene is the largest area of the interface. This is where all the main visual information is displayed: the astrological chart, geographical map, or celestial sphere — depending on the active mode. Around the astrological chart, calculation tables and graphical elements are additionally displayed on the scene.
Top Panel
The top panel is divided into four sections, each tied to a separate dial. Here you can quickly:
- Manage the event for that dial (the time and location for which the chart is cast).
- Set the chart type.
- Manage the number of displayed objects.
- Configure their participation in aspectation.
- Call up special calculation tables.
- Toggle the dial’s visibility on and off.
Left Panel
The left panel combines three areas.
Event Window — shows detailed information about the event selected in the Event Pool.
Event Pool — stores events created manually, loaded from the database, or generated during your workflow. Unlike the main database, events here are always close at hand. Via the pool’s context menu, you can calculate charts that use multiple events: solar equation charts, Davison relationship charts, and composites.
Session Pool — contains all saved sessions from the selected folder. Each session records:
- Current configuration settings.
- Events and chart types in each dial.
- Dial activity.
- Aspectation direction.
- Panel visibility.
- Current dial number.
💡 Tip: You can resize the left panel. Hover your cursor over the border between the panel and the scene (the cursor will change shape), click the left mouse button, and drag it to the desired width.
Right Panel
The right panel is designed for quick access to chart settings. It is fully customizable to your personal needs: you can place simple icon-links to dialog windows or full-fledged control widgets. The panel’s layout is configured separately for each configuration.
Toolbar
The toolbar is located right below the main menu. Here you can duplicate almost any menu item as an icon. If necessary, you can hide the main menu—the toolbar will replace it. The settings for this panel are global and do not depend on the configuration.
Program Header
In addition to the name and version number, the header can display dial data—if the corresponding option is activated in the settings.
Status Bar
The status bar shows information about current program modes and settings, and can also contain active links for quick access to them. Like the right panel, the status bar is customized individually and may differ for each configuration.
Hotkeys for Panel Management
You can quickly hide or show any panel using your keyboard:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
1 | Hide / show the left panel |
2 | Hide / show the dials panel (top panel) |
3 | Hide / show the right panel |
F3 | Hide / show the main menu |
F4 | Hide / show the status bar |
F6 | Hide / show the toolbar |
F2 | Show only the scene (maximum workspace) |
Customizing Panels
All three customizable panels — the right panel, toolbar, and status bar — are edited in the same way: right-click on an empty space within the desired panel to open the customization menu.
This is a basic overview of all interface areas. Subsequent articles will cover each of them in more detail.