A system and various methods for enhancing the readability of a graphical program. In one embodiment, user input specifying desired functionality for a node may be received, and input and/or output terminals for the node may be programmatically created and displayed, based on the user input received. The one or more input/output terminals that are displayed on the node may be a subset of the possible input/output terminals, i.e., a subset that facilitates configuration of the node to accomplish the desired functionality. In another embodiment, an alias may be specified for input/output terminals of a node. For each input terminal or output terminal for which an alias was specified, the aliases may be displayed in the graphical program.