Both animate rather than jumping. When you zoom to a single generation node, the generation panel below it is included in the framing so you can read it.
The background is a dot grid in world coordinates — 20 px spacing, scaling with zoom. It is always on.
There are no snap or alignment guides while dragging. Alignment in WJI is a deliberate action you apply afterwards from the multi-select toolbar, not something that happens as you move a node.
The lightning icon switches between standard and fast rendering. Fast mode hides connection lines and label chrome, and stops drawing connection handles below 20% zoom. On a heavy canvas it is the difference between smooth panning and not.The setting is remembered.