Dominikus BaurData Visualization
One thing that people tend to forget in today's HTML5-ed world is how extremely fast Flash actually was and still is. Constructing complex chains of tweened animations and having them run in real-time was absolutely doable and represented a major advantage compared to other in-browser graphics frameworks such as Java. And, as wonderful as HTML5 is, we're still at least a couple of years behind in that regard. HTML5 is not the magic bullet that saves your device from high battery or CPU consumption and, yes, you can create memory leaks in Javascript and crash your browser.
I had to learn the restrictions of HTML5 with the revamp of the OECD's Better Life Index. In this blog post I will describe some of the approaches and solutions that we used to get the HTML5 version of that visualization on equal footing with its Flash ancestor.
Your Better Life Index (BLI) has been a real staple of web-based visualizations. First released in May 2011 it just entered its third year. Based on OECD data, BLI measures quality of life along 11 different dimensions like housing, income or the job market and lets you control your own preferences for these dimensions. This unique profile can then be used to find the best country out of the 36 available ones, or share and compare your profile with your friends.
Last week I had the pleasure to be a guest on the Datastori.es podcast with Enrico Bertini and Moritz Stefaner. The topic was mobile and touch-enabled visualizations - which meant that TouchWave made its inevitable appearance - but we also digressed into other, more futuristic topics such as gesture control and using your smartphone as a remote control for larger displays.
It was a lot of fun, and I hope you like it! Also, the discussion thread happening on the Datastori.es website is worth following with various links and extensions to my remarks.
A few weeks ago I had the honor of giving a talk at the first OpenVis Conf in Boston, organized by the fantastic people from Bocoup. The conference's goal was to talk about visualization on the web and how to move that field forward. In the two days there was an amazing density of content, brilliance and enthusiasm and it really was the place to be for anyone interested in vis on the web.
My talk - 'Data on Your Fingertips' - was a primer on touch-centric interaction design, as there are only few examples of touchable visualizations out there (yet). Regarding the web, I unfortunately had rather dire news - most tablets and smartphones are simply too slow to do interesting web-based visualization in real-time (don't worry - pie charts are possible). But we're getting there and I have high hopes for developments such as WebGL.
It's tough to start a new blog. You hear people wondering 'Really? Do we need another one of these?', but I guess my answer would be yes. do.minik.us has been around for a while now, but so far it's only been a place to publish more information on my (mostly scientific) projects than a regular paper template would allow me. But now that I've left my scientific career behind me and started out as a freelance data visualization and mobile interaction designer (still have to find a shorter title), I think it's only fitting to start with a relaunch of my website and the inclusion of a blog. Because we need to talk!