But if you really want to hide things, you can hide both the connections and the ordinary objects by using the Graph-on-Parent (GOP) feature of subpatches and abstractions.
or use sends/receives to your gui in paralell. Sometimes it's also not
easy to adjust gop into the original patch, as one atom might be in the
left corner, and the next atom relating to it in the opposing corner of
the screen.
careful with feedback, it might be better to always use [set $1( when
sending values to the gui.