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>Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? No, because as can be seen in all

>Has there been any good application of "periodic table" as a visualization method for anything other than chemical elements? No, because as can be seen in all of them the structure of the table maps to the structure of the chemical elements. The visualization of chemical elements is successful because it is an accurate representation of how chemical elements work, it does not just represent data but also is mapped to a model of how that data can conceivably change in the future. Every periodic table of X that is not chemical elements is stupid and does not work because 1. come on - what are the odds that some other subject in the universe has a similar model to chemical elements. 2. the visualization is not done to best represent the data but the data is bent as best as it can be to fit into the periodic table structure. And what is meant by periodic structure here - it is meant a selection of cells laid out in a very specific way with a color scheme so that if you saw it far enough away you would instantly think - hey, it's a periodic table! The periodic table used this way is not a data visualization method, it is a visualization parody method. on edit: also pisses me off because in my world a parody should at least be funny, darn it. sorry for the rant, this stuff really pisses me off.

0thgen 3y ago
I wonder if a "tree" would be a better visualization methods for visualization methods
- kevindamm 3y ago
  Even a Venn diagram would be better than a periodic table.
- bryanrasmussen 3y ago
  maybe some sort of directed graph. for example one thing I might want to have to describe visualization methods would be what graphical elements would be important to it. In the case of the periodic table an important graphical element would be color (the color used carries date), an unimportant one would be typography. this is obviously just thinking aloud here. perhaps also some visualization methods would benefit by reference to their creators. sparklines for example. So it seems to me a graph of some sort would be useful.
  - 0thgen 3y ago
    well I think there's a natural hierarchy that emerges from the examples given in the periodic table link. Spatial: line graphs, scatterplots, and even barplots and pie charts(1-dimensional space). Id throw spectogram and anything with time in there as well. Geographic: maps (this could be a subset of spatial) Graphical: graphs, mind-maps, flow charts, all the other graphs-like charts from the examples Visual Metaphors: those weird examples of they give of steps and a bridge, a slide, etc Those 4 categories alone capture all the examples from the webpage, and there are plenty of subcategories within them. So to me a hierarchy / tree seems like a good choice, which is essentially a directed graph (like you suggested)

0thgen 3y ago

I wonder if a "tree" would be a better visualization methods for visualization methods

kevindamm 3y ago
Even a Venn diagram would be better than a periodic table.
bryanrasmussen 3y ago
maybe some sort of directed graph. for example one thing I might want to have to describe visualization methods would be what graphical elements would be important to it. In the case of the periodic table an important graphical element would be color (the color used carries date), an unimportant one would be typography. this is obviously just thinking aloud here. perhaps also some visualization methods would benefit by reference to their creators. sparklines for example. So it seems to me a graph of some sort would be useful.
- 0thgen 3y ago
  well I think there's a natural hierarchy that emerges from the examples given in the periodic table link. Spatial: line graphs, scatterplots, and even barplots and pie charts(1-dimensional space). Id throw spectogram and anything with time in there as well. Geographic: maps (this could be a subset of spatial) Graphical: graphs, mind-maps, flow charts, all the other graphs-like charts from the examples Visual Metaphors: those weird examples of they give of steps and a bridge, a slide, etc Those 4 categories alone capture all the examples from the webpage, and there are plenty of subcategories within them. So to me a hierarchy / tree seems like a good choice, which is essentially a directed graph (like you suggested)