Sparkline

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

A Sparkline is a type of information graphics characterized by its small size and data density. Sparklines present trends and variations associated with some measurement, such as average temperature or stock market activity, in a simple and condensed way. Several sparklines are often used together as elements of a small multiple.

The term 'Sparkline' was proposed by Edward Tufte for "small, high resolution graphics embedded in a context of words, numbers, images." Tufte describes sparklines as "data-intense, design-simple, word-sized graphics".[1]. Whereas the typical chart is designed to show as much data as possible, and is set off from the flow of text (as in the box below), sparklines are intended to be succinct, memorable, and located where they are discussed.

As an example: This sparkline of the Dow Jones Index Image:Sparkline dowjones new.svg (10765.45) for 7 February 2006 also appears in the box below. Sparklines used inline are typically made about the same height as the text around them.

Sparklines
U.S. stock market activity (7 February 2006)
Index Day Value Change
Dow Jones Image:Sparkline dowjones new.svg 10765.45 −32.82 (−0.30%)
S&P 500 Image:Sparkline sp500.svg 1256.92 −8.10 (−0.64%)
Nasdaq Image:Sparkline_dowjones.svg 2244.83 −13.97 (−0.62%)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Edward Tufte (2006). Beautiful Evidence. Graphics Press. ISBN 0961392177. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparkline"
Personal tools
Languages