Teaching:TUW - UE InfoVis WS 2008/09 - Gruppe 02 - Aufgabe 2: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:47, 14 November 2008

Aufgabenstellung

Zu beurteilende Tabelle

Critics on the table

distracting grid

The grid make the table difficult to read, because it distract the eyes. Less rulers and grid would increase the table's effectiveness[FEW, 2004]. So more white space around the data and the table would be better.

missing labels = missing information

The table's information isn't clear defined, because of the missing Title/Header.

In addition there should be a title AND subheader because of the multiple variables. So the column should be titled with the name following by the units of :measurement[NSF, 2004].

bad ordering of the data
- column Sequence
The categorical subdivision should be arranged down the rows of a single column to the left of the quantitative values associated with them[FEW, 2004]. So the information of the table would be shown better by placing the data of the columns in the rows an the data of the rows in the columns.
- data sequence
The ordering of the data in the first row isn't logic, so I would prefer to place the products in an ascending or descending order of the first column values. It is also impossible to have a conventional order based on alphabetical sequence, which is useful for look-up purposes but isn't meaningful otherwise[FEW, 2004].

centered alignment of the values and the text

-make it difficult to read the table.

Numbers that represent quantitative values should always be aligned to the right and text to the right[FEW, 2004]. All the numbers in the columns should line up with each other and with their headings[NSF, 2004], each using same number of decimal digits.

number precision

Some numbers in the table should and could be reduced without the loss of meaningful information to line up with each other in the column.

To make the reading of the table easily, it is also preferred to truncate the display of whole numbers by sets of three decimal digits, and declare it in the title or header[FEW, 2004] and not in the table body like in the "total bytes transferred"-row.

Correction on the table

grafic of new table

Which changes have been made and why is the changed one better than the original table?

The table gets a title and a subtitle, because of the multiple variables, which made the understanding of the data in the table easier.
Only one rule is used to separate the headers of the columns and rows and push the data in the columns together, but it's leaved enough white space between the data in the rows and the headers to see a clearly separation.
The quantitative values of the cateogirical subdivision: "WWW", "Gator", "Cydoor", "SaveNow" and "eZula" have been sequenced from left to right, so the data of the rows have been moved to the columns and vice versa.

?

The place of the "SaveNow"-data has been changed with the place of the "eZula"-data to get an hierachical order in the first column of the quantitative values, which looks more logical.
The Numbers have been aligned to the left and the text to the right.

?

The "number of clients"-value has been reduced to an integer and the other values has also been truncated to line up with each other in the column to make the reading down the columns easier than the centered numbers in the table before.

References

[FEW, 2004]:Stephen Few, Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten, Analytics Press, 2004, Chapter 8 - Table Design.

??? http://ieg.ifs.tuwien.ac.at/~gschwand/teaching/infovis_ue_ws08/download/ShowMetheNumbers-Chapter8_ue.pdf ???

[NSF, 2004]: Rosa Wallace, Designing Tables, NC State University LabWrite Resources, 2004.

http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/res/gh/gh-tables.html

Links

InfoVis:Wiki UE Homepage

UE InfoVis

Gruppe 02

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 ===Critics on the table===
 * distracting grid
-:The grid make the table difficult to read, because it distract the eyes. Less rulers and grid would increase the table's effectivness[FEW, 2004].
+:The grid make the table difficult to read, because it distract the eyes. Less rulers and grid would increase the table's effectiveness[FEW, 2004]. So more white space around the data and the table would be better.
 * missing labels = missing information
@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 * bad ordering of the data
 **column Sequence
-*:Sets of categorial subdivision like the different products: "WWW", "Gator", "Cydoor", "SaveNow" and "eZula" should be sequenced from left to right and the categorial subdivision should be arranged down the rows of a single column to the left of the quantitative values associated with them[FEW, 2004]. So the information of the table would be shown better by placing the data of the columns in the rows an the data of the rows in the columns.
+*:The categorical subdivision should be arranged down the rows of a single column to the left of the quantitative values associated with them[FEW, 2004]. So the information of the table would be shown better by placing the data of the columns in the rows an the data of the rows in the columns.
 **data sequence
 *:The ordering of the data in the first row isn't logic, so I would prefer to place the products in an ascending or descending order of the first column values. It is also impossible to have a conventional order based on alphabetical sequence, which is useful for look-up purposes but isn't meaningful otherwise[FEW, 2004].
@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 * centered alignment of the values and the text
 :-make it difficult to read the table.
-:Numbers that represent quantitative values should always be aligned to the right and text to the right[FEW, 2004]. All the numbers in the columns should line up with each other and with their headings[NSF, 2004], each using same number of decimal digits. So some values
+:Numbers that represent quantitative values should always be aligned to the right and text to the right[FEW, 2004]. All the numbers in the columns should line up with each other and with their headings[NSF, 2004], each using same number of decimal digits.
 * number precision
 :Some numbers in the table should and could be reduced without the loss of meaningful information to line up with each other in the column.
-:To make the reading of the table easily, it is also prefered to truncate the display of whole numbers by sets of three decimal digits, and declare it in the title or header[FEW, 2004] and not in the table body like in the "total bytes transferred"-row.
+:To make the reading of the table easily, it is also preferred to truncate the display of whole numbers by sets of three decimal digits, and declare it in the title or header[FEW, 2004] and not in the table body like in the "total bytes transferred"-row.
 ===Correction on the table ===
@@ Line 34: / Line 34: @@
 ===Which changes have been made and why is the changed one better than the original table?===
+*The table gets a title and a subtitle, because of the multiple variables, which made the understanding of the data in the table easier.
+*Only one rule is used to separate the headers of the columns and rows and push the data in the columns together, but it's leaved enough white space between the data in the rows and the headers to see a clearly separation.
+*The quantitative values of the cateogirical subdivision: "WWW", "Gator", "Cydoor", "SaveNow" and "eZula" have been sequenced from left to right, so the data of the rows have been moved to the columns and vice versa.
+?
+*The place of the "SaveNow"-data has been changed with the place of the "eZula"-data to get an hierachical order in the first column of the quantitative values, which looks more logical.
+*The Numbers have been aligned to the left and the text to the right.
+?
+*The "number of clients"-value has been reduced to an integer and the other values has also been truncated to line up with each other in the column to make the reading down the columns easier than the centered numbers in the table before.