the donut

Slices add up to the whole thing. Good for parts of one total, bad for ranking.

What it leaves outSlices close to the same size cannot be told apart, and one large slice flattens every other into a sliver you cannot read.

1 · basics · rung 1 · what’s there

GAISE II · shipped on the platform · donut · AreaChart (stacked)

Two worked examples

If you had to rank these slices by eye, could you?

Before you lookLook at the donut for ten seconds. Write down the three biggest slices in order, then put your pen down.

civicdonut_la_311_by_request_type.csv · 12 rows · 2 columns

the same year of Los Angeles service requests, split by what was asked for

What to look atEvery slice is a share of one total. Try to rank the middle few by eye, then check the numbers — that gap is the shape's whole problem.

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/donut_la_311_by_request_type.csv.

earth and spacedonut_quakes_by_depth_band.csv · 3 rows · 2 columns

the same earthquakes, split by how deep below the surface they started

What to look atThree slices, and one of them is almost everything. When one share is that dominant a donut works; with twelve slices it does not.

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/donut_quakes_by_depth_band.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 donut · donut_la_311_by_request_type.csv