Comments for Complex Diagrams

Comment on Great visualization: Pro-football game charts by Noah Z

Noah Z — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:47:50 +0000

This is very cool. One interesting thing that comes naturally out of this representation is a clear view of time of possession using the area of the shaded regions. It’s very clearly that the Giants had long scoring and maintained possession, while the Patriots had much quicker drives. I happened to watch this game and time of possession was a critical factor in the outcome.

Comment on Pixel rulers in Visio by Rob

Rob — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:10:34 +0000

Exactly what I needed. Amazing, four years later and this post is still helping people. Thanks man!

Comment on A quick redesign of useless graphs by Noah

Noah — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 18:04:04 +0000

@Sara: Excellent question.

Yes, I kept the original colors, because the colors are meaningful, as they map back to the key from the first graph, the division between desktop, mobile, and web-based email clients. Some of that meaning is lost because I split the graphics into two images, thereby removing the proximity and correspondence. (Position & grouping matters. )

In terms of your exec, and people perceiving different colors to be meaningful you’re exactly right. Go get a copy of Kosslyn’s Graph Design for the Eye and Mind, and read aloud from page 17:
The Principle of Informative Changes
People expect changes to carry information.
The reader will interpret any change in the appearance of a display (changing the color or texture…) as conveying information.

It’s a great book, packed full of applied guidance for this sort of thing.
Good luck!

Comment on A quick redesign of useless graphs by Sara

Sara — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:51:52 +0000

I have a question about the use of color in the second diagram (the bar graph). I’m assuming you made the bars different colors to keep consistent with the original color scheme. However, I’m curious if you would have used this kind of color variation if you had been creating this graph from scratch. Unless I’m missing something, the colors in this particular graph have no meaning in terms of interpreting the data. I ask because I have an exec who always wants me to add colors to graphs like these (again, with no meaning behind them, but rather to add what he calls “visual interest”), and my bias is not to do so, with the assumption being that when people see color differences, they assume there’s some meaning behind them. Your thoughts?

Comment on Pixel rulers in Visio by Mark Sze

Mark Sze — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:34:16 +0000

Thanks, that’s great… used your template in Visio 2010 for a web screen design and worked perfectly for managing size of final parts of the page

Comment on Properties and Best Uses of Visual Encodings by Noah

Noah — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:11:29 +0000

… and the new version is posted, both the gif and pdf.

Comment on Properties and Best Uses of Visual Encodings by Noah

Noah — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:31:30 +0000

Peter, yes agreed. We can get at least 12 different quantitative values quite easily (such as on the face of a clock). Beyond that, increments are likely more ordinal than accurate. I’ll update the next version.

Comment on Properties and Best Uses of Visual Encodings by Peter Wang

Peter Wang — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:45:39 +0000

Angle is tricky because past a certain angular resolution, it is less immediately (or accurately) grasped by the subconscious, so while they can technically be used for interval and ratio values, they are most useful for small ordinal (i.e. almost categorical) datasets. Coupled with the innate human inability to accurately perceive relative angles, they are not that great even if the viewer does commit to serious conscious processing of the graphic.

So, while I think “medium” is probably an accurate rating for it, it might warrant an asterisk or a footnote…

Comment on Configuring IMAP for Gmail, Apple Mail.app, and iPhone (and iPod touch) (and probably iPad) by Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 18:43:54 +0000

Update – I still had the firewall on the Motorolla SBG900. Confirmed the firewall on the AE was on and allowing all incoming connections via Mail then turned the firewall off on the SBG900. Presto, gmail started synching to the Apple Mail. The rest of the directions should work now. Updated for anyone else having the same issue.

Comment on Configuring IMAP for Gmail, Apple Mail.app, and iPhone (and iPod touch) (and probably iPad) by Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:56:43 +0000

Hello,
I followed the instructions and am able to send e-mails but not receive. I have an error saying “The connection to the server “imap.gmail.com” on port 993 timed out. I have Suddenlink Cable as my ISP and am using a Motorolla sbg900 modem with an apple Airport Extreme Router. I have researched this problem as it appears to be a pretty prevalent problem but have yet to find an answer. Thanks for your time.