Here are some ways we can display data on Computerworld.com, along with links to tools or external services for creating tables, graphs and other visualizations.
(Not sure when to use a line graph, bar graph or area graph? While this site is for kids, the National Center for Education Statistics' "How to Choose Which Type of Graph to Use" is actually pretty helpful.)
Options
Internal tools
Cut and paste Excel data into one of these tools and it will generate the code you need to embed in an article for any of the following:
Interactive bar, column or line graphs
Viz options without a CW-coded tool
More visualizations with Highcharts
Maps with Fusion Tables (also does line, bar and pie charts)
Detailed data slicing with Tableau Public
Searching massive database with Caspio
Static bar graph
This graph can plot a single series of data. Link to tool
Example static bar graph:
Interactive bar, column or line graph
This option can visualize more than one series -- profits and revenues over time, for example. Readers can mouse over the graph to view underlying data and click items in the chart key to turn them off and on. The tool can produce bar charts (horizontal), column charts (vertical) or line graphs. Link to tool
Example interactive column graph:
Mouse over a bar to see data details; click on items in graph key to turn them off and on. Source: Apple earnings statements
Sortable chart
This displays the data in numerical, not graphical form. Columns are sortable. Link to tool
Example chart:
Worldwide Smartphone Market Share and Growth Rates
| Operating System | 2011 Market Share | 2015 Market Share | 2011-2015 Unit Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Android | 38.9% | 43.8% | 23.7% |
| BlackBerry OS | 14.2% | 13.4% | 18.3% |
| Symbian | 20.6% | 0.1% | -68.8% |
| iOS | 18.2% | 16.9% | 17.9% |
| Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile | 3.8% | 20.3% | 82.3% |
| Others | 4.3% | 5.5% | 27.6% |
| Total | 100.0% | 100.0% | 20.1% |
Growth is calculated as compound annual growth rate in units.
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, June 9, 2011.Pie chart
Here is an example of an interactive pie chart. Link to tool
Source: My imagination
More visualizations with Highcharts
In addition to interactive bar, column and line charts where I've created a tool, Highcharts has a number of other visualization options. I'm happy to help create a one-off viz using those, or develop a tool for other types of visualizations. See the Highcharts gallery.
One potentially useful viz: A column chart that includes the option to click a column and get drilldown information. See drilldown chart.
Maps with Fusion Tables
This Google tool is easy to use to create maps from data, such as the one below. I'm happy to help set these up. Fusion Tables can also create line, bar and pie charts. Link to Fusion Tables
Detailed data slicing with Tableau Public
This free software (Windows only) can do very detailed dataviz, including filtering, searching and sorting. It's got a learning curve, but I can help create visualizations for your stories -- and I've got contacts at Tableau who are willing to help journalists use the tool.
The main drawback for the free version is that the data resides on Tableau's site as well as ours, it's not crawlable by search engines and other Tableau users can download the data and Tableau structure. That said, though, you can do some complex things with Tableau: See example
Searching massive database with Caspio
We have a very limited number of Caspio databases we can use to allow readers to search through very large amounts of data. This should be used for high value topics where readers would likely want to find specific information in data that's too large to display in a table. We used this for the cell phone radiation database:
JavaScript required to use search form.
Embedded tables with Zoho
This is a good option for tables that will be updated regularly, maintained by more than one editor and especially if they'll be used in more than one article. That's because Zoho tables are easier to update than raw html tables, and you just need to update them once in order for the changes to be displayed everywhere. Zoho tables can be searched, sorted and filtered.
The disadvantages? The Zoho UI isn't very intuitive, and the data doesn't live on our Web site so it's not search-engine crawlable. However, if you think this would be a useful tool for your data, I'd be happy to help you create one like the sample below:
More tablet info
The table below shows the most recently announced tablets as reported by Computerworld. Click a tablet's name in the leftmost column to read a news story or review with more information about the device, or view a larger table with more details about each product.
Table created by Computerworld staff using Zoho Creator.