GRAPH VIEWS TO IMPROVE USER INTERFACE RESPONSIVENESS

The described technology is directed towards evaluating client-specific information and possibly other information to determine whether to return less data than is available for a data item in response to a request for graph node data to a data service, and/or return expanded graph node data. When a request for graph data is received, client-specific information is used at least in part by a data service in determining whether to return a virtual graph node comprising a relatively lightweight set of information relative to the full set of information maintained in a main (graph) node. The client-specific information is also used in determining whether to return expanded data beyond that requested, e.g., for caching at the client in anticipation of it likely being needed by the client.