CS 235: User Interface Design December 8 Class Meeting Department of Computer Science San Jose State...

CS 235: User Interface DesignDecember 8 Class Meeting

Department of Computer ScienceSan Jose State University

Fall 2014Instructor: Ron Mak

www.cs.sjsu.edu/~mak

http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/~mak

Computer Science Dept.Fall 2014: December 8

CS 235: User Interface Design© R. Mak

2

How to Display a Data Value

Consider a single simple display:

We can add more information:

We need to pay attention to this value!

Show the reason to pay attention: the target.

YTD Expenses $487,321

YTD Expenses $487,321

Actual Target

YTD Expenses $487,321 $450,000



3

How to Display a Data Value, cont’d

Show more information: the variance.

Actual Target Variance

YTD Expenses $487,321 $450,000 +$37,321

Actual Target Variance %

YTD Expenses $487,321 $450,000 +8%



4

Table vs. Graph

Tables are good for looking up information:

Information Dashboard Design, 2nd ed.by Stephen FewAnalytics Press, 2013



5

Table vs. Graph, cont’d

Graphs are good for revealing the shape of the data:




6

Table Format

Beware the fancy table format that obscures information!




7

Table Format, cont’d

A simpler format can be easier to read:




8

Fancy Gauges and Meters

Beware of fancy gauges and meters provided by dashboard creation tools.

Examples of poor quality gaugesfrom Microsoft Visual Studio that are hard to read.




9

Fancy Gauges and Meters, cont’d

More fancy dashboard gauges to avoid.




10

Pie Charts vs. Bar Graphs

Bar graphs are generally better then pie chartsat representing part-to-whole.




11

Nominal, Ordinal, Interval Scales

Nominal

Items don’t relate to each other. No particular order. Don’t represent quantitative values. Example: Sales, Marketing, Engineering, HR, etc.

Ordinal

Have an intrinsic order. Don’t represent quantitative values. Example: poor, below average, average, excellent



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Nominal, Ordinal, Interval Scales, cont’d

Interval

Have an intrinsic order. Represent quantitative values. Subdivide a range of values

into sequential subranges of values. Each subrange the same size. Example: 0-99, 100-199, 200-299, 300-399 Example: January, February, March

(subranges of time)



13

Nominal, Ordinal, Interval Scales, cont’d

Use line graphs only with interval scales.




14

Time Series: Bar vs. Line Graph

Line graphs are better than bar graphsat showing the shape of time series data.




15

Bubble Plots

Show how items relate to one another in terms of common variables that fall into categories.




16

Geographic Maps

Don’t use geographic maps unnecessarily:




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Geographic Maps, cont’d

A geographic map is useful if location is an important part of data being tracked.




18

Stacked Bar Graphs

A stacked bar graph is not much of an improvement over a pie chart.




19

Stacked Bar Graphs, cont’d

A stacked bar graph is useful only if the whole is more important to see than the parts.




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Stacked Bar Graphs, cont’d

These bar graphs are better at showing the proportions of the four sales channels.




21

Multiple Area Graphs

What is the problem here?

Occlusion




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Stacked Area Graphs

Misleading:

How well is the West region doing?

East

Central

West

South




23

Stacked Area Graphs, cont’d

An area of a single region is more revealing:

West




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Stacked Area Graphs, cont’d

Line graphs can be even better:




25

Radar Graphs vs. Bar Graphs

Radar graphs can be more difficult to readand to compare values than a bar graph:




26

Funnel Charts

Funnel charts are often absurd:

Use a bar graph instead!




27

Bullet Graphs

A bullet graph shows three items at a glance:

a primary measure a target value qualitative ranges of performance (poor, good, etc.)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

primary measure

target value

range 1 range 2 range 3 range 4




28

Bullet Graphs are Space Efficient



29

Multiple Bullet Graphs in a Series




30

Bullet Graphs: Alternatives to Bars


CS 235: User Interface Design December 8 Class Meeting Department of Computer Science San Jose State...

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