Grables: Visual Displays That Combine the Best Attributes of Graphs and Tables

A grable combines the emergent features of a graph with the precise quantities of a table into a single display. Its purpose is to accommodate a wider variety of visual tasks and a possibly wider audience, than either a graph or a table can address alone. The best principles of visual perception from both graph and table design and construction should be considered when designing and constructing grables. We present some proposed visual and cognitive strengths and weaknesses of graphs and tables, the visual tasks that each is best suited for, and some specific guidelines for their design and construction. We use these guidelines and principles of perception to design and construct a variety of grables. We also provide some general guidelines for software selection.

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