Status Updates From Information Visualization: ...

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finished chapter 6

G6.30: When animation is used in a visualization, aim for motion in the range of 0.5–4 degrees/second of visual angle.

G6.28: Consider using a treemap to display tree-structured data where it is only necessary to display the leaf nodes and where it is important to display a quantity associated with each leaf node.
G6.29: Consider using a node-link representation of a tree where the hierarchical structure is important, where internal (non-leaf) nodes are important, and where quantitative attributes of nodes are less important.

G6.27: Use small, closed shapes to represent point entities, such as cities, that appear small on a map. Use color, shape, and size to represent attributes of these entities.

G6.25: Use closed contours, areas of texture, or areas of color to denote geographic regions. Use color, texture, or boundary style to denote the type of region.
G6.26: Use lines to represent paths and linear geographic features. Use line color and style to represent the type of linear feature.

G6.24: As an alternative to arrows to represent directed relationships in diagrams, consider using tapered lines with the broadest end at the source node.

G6.23: Use connecting lines, enclosure, grouping, and attachment to represent relationships between entities. The shape, color, thickness of lines, and enclosures can represent the types of relationships.

G6.22: When developing glyphs, use small, closed shapes to represent data entities, and use the color, shape, and size of those shapes to represent attributes of those entities.

G6.21: In order to minimize the amount of learning needed to understand a visualization, make every effort to standardize the mapping of data to visual patterns within and across applications.

G6.20: To display discrete data with more than four dimensions, consider using a color-enhanced scatterplot matrix in combination with brushing.

G6.19: To display discrete data with many dimensions, consider using a scatter- plot matrix.

G6.18: To design textures so that quantitative values can be reliably judged, use a sequence of textures that are both visually ordered (for example, by element size or density) and designed so that each member of the sequence is distinct from the previous one in some low-level property.

G6.17: To display a bivariate scalar field, consider mapping one variable to color and a second variable to variations in texture.

G6.16: Use simple texture parameters, such as element size or element density, only when fewer than five ordinal steps must be reliably distinguished.

G6.15: When using lacy textures in combination with colors for overlapping regions, ensure luminance contrast between texture elements in the foreground and color-coded data presented in the background.

G6.13: When using overlapping textures to separate overlapping regions in a display, avoid patterns that can lead to aliasing problems when they are combined.
G6.14: When using textures in combination with background colors for overlapping regions, choose lacy textures so that other data can be perceived through the gaps.

G6.12: In order to make a set of nominal coding textures distinctive, make them differ as much as possible in terms of dominant spatial frequency and orientation components. As a secondary factor, make texture elements vary in the randomness of their spacing.

G6.11: Consider using texture to represent continuous map variables. This is likely to be most effective where the data varies smoothly and where surface shape features are substantially larger than texture element spacing.

G6.10: For vector field visualizations, use more distinct graphical elements to show greater field strength or speed. They can be wider, longer, more contrasting, or faster moving.

G6.9: To represent flow direction in a vector field visualization, use streamlets with heads that are more distinct than tails, based on luminance contrast. A streamlet is a glyph that is elongated along a streamline and which induces a strong response in neurons sensitive to orientations tangential to the flow.

G6.8: For vector field visualizations, use contours tangential to streamlines to reveal the orientation component.

G6.7: Use a combination of closure, common region, and layout to ensure that data entities are represented by graphical patterns that will be perceived as figures, not ground.