Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Annotations
In the process of telling a data story, you may refer to specific items such as
“the large purple node” or “the node at the bottom of the screen.” This can
be somewhat ambiguous because there may be multiple nodes close to the
stated criteria.
You can clearly identify nodes or edges of interest by changing the color or
adding a label. You can add labels selectively to only a few items by adding
an extra column of data to the nodes data and then entering notes on only
the items that you want to be labeled, as shown in
Figure 6-15
.
Figure 6-15:
Graph with particular nodes highlighted and labeled.
In some software, other enhancements include shifting the label (so as not
to obscure the node), changing the shape, changing/adding other visual
attributes, or adding direct annotations.
Often, you may want to add other annotations (such as arrows, circles
around particular items, or outlines around a particular cluster). Because
most graph software doesn't provide general drawing tools, you must add
these types of annotations in other software, such as Adobe Acrobat, Adobe
Illustrator, or Microsoft PowerPoint. Cytoscape does have some text and
drawing annotation tools available via the right-click context menu.
