(Sparkline of US deficit over time) Sparklines: theory and practice is a thread in Edward Tufte’s Ask E.T. forum (which is a great place to follow discussions on design issues.) The thread starts with images of some pages from Tufte’s new book, Beautiful Evidence (2006) on sparklines which are defined as “intense, simple, word-sized graphics”. The sparkline at the beginning of this entry is from the Sparkline PHP Graphing Library. Another source of sparkline tools is Bissantz sparkline tools. Thanks to Shawn for this link.
So how can sparklines be woven into text anlysis environments? Small distribution graphs could be included with lists of word or KWIC displays in tools like the TAPoRware tools.
2 thoughts on “Ask E.T.: Sparklines: theory and practice”
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Glad you think it’s cool. The small bar charts seem absolutely appropriate for some KWIC type representation. There seems to be currents also trying to stretch the type of graphs being reproduced in these small bites. While there is even a pie chart type form…possibly losing in the resolution or ability to convey enough detail compactly…another chap is representing genealogies as multi-furcated lines with life events…the thinking tends to overlap with dynamic icon design.
ps. did you see the wordpress tool for constructing sparklines :
http://pietersz.co.uk/2005/07/simple-sparklines-02
Check out our sparkline implementation for Excel:
http://www.bonavistasystems.com/Products_SparkLiner_Overview.html
All kinds of sparklines and dynamic formulas for Excel and Server calculations
Have fun!
Andy