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A comment on What UI density means and how to design for it. Parent comment

Re:What UI density means and how to design for it by roenxi on Tuesday May 21, 2024 @08:14PM (#40435884)
I was sad about the Tufte example because it looks really interesting and didn't get the much treatment about the trade offs to density (I'm sure Tufte went in to all of it extensively even if he came down on one side). I suppose the author didn't consider it relevant.

Those little + make the left graph much more expert user friendly. A chemist isn't looking at the graph to see that there are peaks (they know that, they're chemists), they want to find actual points on the line and the + are enabling a level of eyeballing on the low-density graph that isn't possible on the right.

If I'm a heavy graph user, I want the low density one. The high density one isn't for daily use - it is for appreciating as a one-off or learning about periodicity of elements.

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Re:What UI density means and how to design for it by flobosg on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @08:20AM (#40440079)
If a chemist wants to look at the actual point values, wouldn't a reference table be more useful and precise?
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Re:What UI density means and how to design for it by roenxi on Wednesday May 22, 2024 @11:56PM (#40450305)
Dunno, I'm no chemist. But it is easier to eyeball min/max/derivative from a graph and compare regions. Maybe one of those properties is important.
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Re:What UI density means and how to design for it by flobosg on Thursday May 23, 2024 @04:03AM (#40451883)
Sure but, in my opinion, you can tell all of those in both plots. The crossmarks are not even needed.
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Re:What UI density means and how to design for it by roenxi on Thursday May 23, 2024 @07:36PM (#40461193)
Is your opinion an opinion of the "that's just like, my opinion man" or of the lawyer's style? Because I've yet to read a book on typography or see statistical data presentation that suggested going in without horizontal guides for the eye.

Tufte's minimalist graph is much better if it is meant to tell a story or be shown to an unsophisticated audience. But if someone wants to actually refer to the data on a regular basis some guides are a much better approach that will cut down on stupid mistakes. Eyes aren't very good at scanning over blank space without drifting.

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