the bar

Bar length is the value, so it only means anything measured from zero. Start the axis anywhere else and the lengths stop matching the numbers.

What it leaves outOrder is a choice. Sorted by size it is a ranking; sorted by name it is a lookup; and the same bars say different things in each.

1 · basics · cartesian · rung 1 · what’s there

shipped on the platform · BarChart · bar

Three worked examples

Which part of this city complains the most?

Before you lookWrite down which council district you think files the most service requests, and one sentence on why.

civicbar_la_311_by_council_district.csv · 15 rows · 2 columns

every service request Los Angeles logged in a year, counted by council district

What to look atThe districts are not close. Read the lengths against the zero line at the bottom, not against each other's tops.

This example draws itself with a small script. With scripting off you can still read every word on this page, and the file itself is at data/bar_la_311_by_council_district.csv.

earth and spacebar_quakes_by_magnitude_band.csv · 5 rows · 2 columns

ten years of southern California earthquakes, counted by how strong they were

What to look atSmall quakes outnumber large ones so heavily that the big ones almost disappear. That is real, and it is why the bar for M5+ is worth a second look.

This example draws itself with a small script. With scripting off you can still read every word on this page, and the file itself is at data/bar_quakes_by_magnitude_band.csv.

teen healthnhis_teen_by_sex.csv · 10 rows · 3 columns

how many girls in the United States report each of ten things, out of every hundred

What to look atRead the lengths against the zero line. Then look up the same bars for boys and ask which differences are big enough to matter.

This example draws itself with a small script. With scripting off you can still read every word on this page, and the file itself is at data/nhis_teen_by_sex.csv.

the pool

Now build one yourself.

The pool opens with this file and this shape already drawn, so your first move is to change something rather than to start from nothing. Bring your own CSV if you have one. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — the chart is drawn in your browser, your work saves there, and it downloads as a picture or as a project file you can open again.

Open the pool → the bar · bar_la_311_by_council_district.csv