Plot
Line charts drawn as light on glass, or as ink on a panel: gridlines faint, two traces at most, a red line for now.
Kit parts
Scatter
Points on two labelled scales, with a crosshair that reads the nearest point wherever the pointer is. Neither axis is forced to start at zero. Give each point a size and the circles take an area in proportion to it. With more than one series the series differ in shape as well as lamp: circle, square, triangle. Left and Right step through the points from the lowest on the horizontal axis to the highest, and the readout names each point with both values.
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Anatomy
The same display well and grid as the other charts, with the lamps as marks and a crosshair drawn in the display’s light. The nearest point is found by distance, so the whole plot is the target. The radius follows the square root of the value, so area reads true.
Variants
- One series
- Sized by a third value
- Three series · shapes differ
- The table shown · table
States
- At rest
- Nearest point read
- Plot focused
Props and options
| Name | Kind | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Home · End | keyboard | Go to the first and the last point. |
| Escape | keyboard | Lets go of the point: the readout goes back to its sentence about the whole chart. |
| scatterModel() · scatterDraw() · scatterRadius() · scatterHTML() | function | The figures to a model with both scales, the drawing at a width, the radius for a size, and the static markup. |
Usage notes
Move the pointer anywhere over the plot: the crosshair snaps to the nearest point and tags both values on the axes. Tab onto the plot and use Left and Right to step from the lowest to the highest. Turn on size to see the circles take an area in proportion to the nights booked.
Accessibility
- The plot is one tab stop; the arrow keys step through the points in the order of the horizontal axis and each step is said in a polite live region with the point’s name and both values. A real table lists every point, so nothing depends on the picture.
- The crosshair reads the nearest point wherever the pointer is, so a small circle is never a small target; on a touch screen a press reads the nearest point and the page still scrolls up and down.
- Both axes are labelled with their unit and run on whole steps. Neither is forced to zero, because a scatter shows where points sit against each other.
- A series is a shape as well as a lamp (circle, square, triangle), and the key repeats the shapes. Size is area, not width: a value twice as large takes twice the area, and a note under the plot says what the size means.
- Circles keep a solid edge and a part-filled middle, so a dense cluster still shows each point. Nothing animates.
Related parts
Stacked bars
Columns split by series on a display well. Stacked mode reads totals from zero, with each total printed above its column. The series are the lamps (blue, amber, green) and the display’s own light, and from the third on they have a pattern too, so no series is only a colour. Move the pointer across the columns, or use the arrow keys, and the readout says the series, its value, its share and the total. The legend keys turn a series off and on, and the scale follows.
Radar
One value on each of several spokes, joined into a shape on straight-sided rings of one shared scale that starts at zero in the middle. The ring values are printed along the first spoke so a value can be read, not only compared. One or two series, lightly filled; the second has a dashed edge and square markers. Left and Right step round the spokes, Up and Down switch series. There is nothing sweeping or turning.
Data table
The kit’s table with the tools a working one needs: headers that sort, a filter well, a check key on every row with one in the header that selects them all and sinks half way when only some are chosen, and a header that stays at the top while the rows scroll under it. While rows are chosen a plate slides out of a slot under the tools, its lamp lit, carrying what can be done to them. Without the script it is the plain table.