6 Data visualization
Earlier chapters drew plots in the course of answering particular questions. This chapter is about the plots themselves: which kind of plot suits which kind of question, how several plots can be arranged so that they can be compared, and how a chart can be made interactive so that a reader explores it rather than only looking at it.
The first half of the chapter works with static images of the kind we have been drawing since Chapter 3. The second half introduces charts that respond to hovering, zooming and playing over time, which are useful while exploring a dataset even when the version that ends up in a printed report is static.