61
votes
Are there any cons in using rounded corners for bar graphs?
There is a paper by Skau et al. (2015) that investigates in how far the effectiveness of bar charts is affected by different types of visual alternations. The authors tesed whether these alternations ...
- 786
41
votes
Accepted
Are there any cons in using rounded corners for bar graphs?
If the users' goal is to read a specific or accurate value from the bar's length, then @Schmuddi's answer describes the importance of having a flat end. An example of this would be a traditional glass ...
- 19.6k
27
votes
Showing a large amount of trend-lines on a single graph
For a quick look, rendering all the lines with low opacity allows seeing the most common values and any outliers quickly:
Then you can provide a way to select groups or specific measurements to ...
- 528
20
votes
What's a better way to show number of staff at a location on a bar graph?
If you need to show correlation (or lack of it) between two sets of data like this, a dual-axis chart can do that. Here, the blobs are shown on the right-hand axis
(What I can't do easily is put the ...
- 4,370
18
votes
What's a better way to show number of staff at a location on a bar graph?
Maybe simply show it close to but separate from the graph? So both pieces of information are clear to see and understand:
- 398
13
votes
Accepted
Visualize asset age
Bars with individual years will be a better choice than age ranges because the ranged representation may hide fine details like the trend of new road constructions over the years.
I would draw a bar ...
- 511
10
votes
Showing a large amount of trend-lines on a single graph
What's the use case here, what are you users looking for?
I would try to focus on the insights that need to be derived from this graph, and see if there's a way to isolate them. E.g. just the outliers,...
- 31.5k
9
votes
Displaying bar graph with large data point names on mobile screen
A couple of things you might want to be aware of, that if you stick to as a rule of thumb, generally guide mobile information flow in the right direction:
Try to keep font sizes around 14pt for ...
- 300
9
votes
What's a better way to show number of staff at a location on a bar graph?
I assume that the boundaries of your temperature categories are significant, and related to the purpose of collecting and analysing the data: maybe you have a target to minimise the number of staff ...
- 524
9
votes
Showing a large amount of trend-lines on a single graph
One nice approach can be to use a shaded area which covers the entire range of your data, with all of the lines overlaid. This can give an impression of trends without showing too much clutter.
Adding ...
- 274
8
votes
Data visualisation: Pie charts with really small values
Maybe pie charts are not the proper solution.
But if you insist on them then perhaps "pulling out" a section onClick would be the answer.
Have it so your rollovers highlight which pie section the ...
- 6,641
7
votes
Plotting a comparison graph where less is better
Simple plain table does the job reasonably good:
Your plot is not perfect tool for comparison: it requires too much cognitive efforts to process.
You need to get numbers from the plot. It's hard ...
- 22.7k
6
votes
Visualize asset age
Is there any particular significance of the age in relation to a road (e.g. maybe they need to be resurfaced every five years)? I would make this decision based on the needs and relevance of your data ...
- 27.7k
6
votes
Accepted
How to visualize parts in parts?
A double bar graph sounds like the best chart type given your specifications that the chart must display the male/female split of each pet, and that the total number of each pet does not matter.
...
- 271
6
votes
Are there any cons in using rounded corners for bar graphs?
Regarding the particular claim you mention, imagine the limit as the width (height in your horizontal arrangement) of bars approaches their length, and where (like in your example image) the rounding ...
5
votes
What's the best chart layout for displaying profit/cost/revenue/turnover
Another take at this challenge…
The breakthrough? Rather than clinging to the resolute belief that all costs must be shown all the time, we realised that our users really wanted a quick glance at ...
- 151
5
votes
What's a better way to show number of staff at a location on a bar graph?
I actually like your representation, it is clear and easy to perceive and parse. It lacks only a visual reminder of what the number buble represents.
This can be solved by adding an icon to the ...
- 479
4
votes
Why are chart x-axis values slanted bottom up for long labels?
In the west languages are often read left to right.
Let's look at the alternative first. If the chart labels were top-down and left-right, you would be read the label and the last letter of the label ...
- 7,423
4
votes
Why are chart x-axis values slanted bottom up for long labels?
TL;DR
Reading comprehension is probably not the key factor. What matters is whether "expected use" of the chart (or table) goes from the label to the chart/table or vice versa:
If going ...
- 2,665
4
votes
What kind of graphic is the MacOS storage breakdown?
Indeed, it's a stacked bar chart. https://datavizproject.com/data-type/stacked-bar-chart/
The whole Dataviz Project site is a great resource on various data visualisation tools for future reference ...
- 41
4
votes
What's a better way to show number of staff at a location on a bar graph?
I would prefer this way of showing temperature & staff together. Though both are different scales, it gives a relative size estimate . High temperature regions are highlighted to grab the viewer's ...
- 41
4
votes
What's a better way to show number of staff at a location on a bar graph?
As some comments already said, your own representation already does most things right and doesn't seem to need much change.
My only suggestion would be visually convey the staff amount, rather than ...
- 6,847
3
votes
Displaying bar graph with large data point names on mobile screen
What about scale tooltips? This allows you to display abbreviated scale labels (e.g., Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, etc.), saving valuable mobile screen space. The longer names can appear when the user hovers ...
- 336
3
votes
How to visualize parts in parts?
You could use ZingChart for interactive charts. Since the main functionality you wanted was interactivity here is a pretty standard chart.
live demo
You also mentioned the ability to click and get ...
- 131
3
votes
Accepted
Alternate chart to performance v/s time for a portal
First ask: What is the story you want the data to tell?
If you're asking:
out of the total events that occurred, what is the ratio of good, bad and medium for each time slice?
If that is the ...
- 25k
3
votes
Accepted
How to Create Timeline with Dynamic Start/End Dates
If you want to zoom on a particular range, but still see underlying trends you can use a timeline scrubber below the x-axis.
Highcharts is a well known library that has this component. You can zoom ...
- 25k
3
votes
Which is the best graph to display sales value and target in a small space?
Any reason not to just use text? "89%" says what you need to say without readers having to interpret a graph. Fancy it up if you want to:
- 9,054
3
votes
Plotting a comparison graph where less is better
If you MUST use a bar chart to convey this information, horizontal bar charts tend to do a better job of minimizing the "taller is better" interpretation. I would also use thinner bars, no wider than ...
- 141
3
votes
Plotting a comparison graph where less is better
Flip it upside down. Make the top of the graph the goal (zero error) and hang the bars underneath. This way you can still have the general idea of higher is better, and you can then chart going from ...
- 8,379
3
votes
Data visualisation: Pie charts with really small values
Use callouts, this allows you more space to put a description, as in this example:
- 6,324
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible