Handling Data - Data Points: Visualization That Means Something - page 44

create graphics for the web. You can already export excel spreadsheets as
CSV, but what if you need something other than that? Mr. Data Converter
can help you.
Mr. Data Converter is a simple and free tool created by Shan Carter, who is
a graphics editor for The New York Times . Carter spends most of his work
time creating interactive graphics for the online version of the paper. He
has to convert data often to fit the software that he uses, so it's not sur-
prising he made a tool that streamlines the process.
It's easy to use, and Figure 2-9 shows that the interface is equally as
simple. All you need to do is copy and paste data from excel in the input
section on the top and then select what output format you want in the bot-
tom half of the screen. Choose from variants of XML, JSON, and a number
of others.
FIGurE 2-9 Mr. Data Converter makes switching between data formats easy.