Where to Go from Here - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 627

Note: Although you can write code and create
graphics with the base distribution of R, many
find the RStudio IDE to be helpful to keep code
organized ( http://www.rstudio.com/).

R's main strength is that it's open source and many packages
expand on the base distribution, which makes statistical
graphics (and analysis) more straightforward, such as:

u ggplot2: A plotting system based on the Leland
Wilkinson's grammar of graphics, which is a
framework for statistical visualization.
u network: Create network graphs with nodes and edges.
u ggmaps: Visualization of spatial data on top of maps from Google
Maps, OpenStreetMap, and others. It uses ggplot2.
u animation : Build a gallery of images and string them together for
an animation.
u portfolio: Visualize hierarchical data with a treemap.

These are just a small sample. You can view and install packages easily via
the package manager.

Most of the graphics for this topic were produced in R and then reined in
illustration software, discussed later in this chapter. In any case, if you're new
to code, and you want to make static graphics programmatically, R is a great
place to start. See more at: http://r-project.org/.

JAVASCRIPT, HTML, SVG, AND CSS

Not long ago, you couldn't do much visualization-wise that was native in the
browser. You had to use Flash and ActionScript. But when Apple mobile devices
didn't have Flash on them, there was a quick rush forward toward JavaScript
and HTML. The former is used to manipulate the latter, in addition to Scalable
Vector Graphics (SVG). Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to specify color,
size, and other aesthetic features.

Figure 7-6 shows a few examples of visualization in JavaScript, but there's a ton
of flexibility to make what you want. You're limited by your own imagination
more than you are by the technology.

Note: Things get even more interesting when
you introduce interaction and animation to the
mix. R was intended for static graphics, but it's
a different story in the browser with JavaScript.

Whereas support in various browsers was inconsistent
before, functionality is available now in modern browsers,
such as Firefox, Safari, and Google Chrome (Internet Explorer
is getting there) to make interactive visualization online.