Comments on: Animating Dashboard Charts with Flash

By: Tom Sotto

Tom Sotto — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:49:36 +0000

I’ve used these charts. Both the free version and the lastest widgets. I like them. What you do with them on your dashboards and in your apps is up to you.

Choose the 2D charts if you think the 3D sizzle is just too much.

By: mr tom

mr tom — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 07:39:34 +0000

Ditto Jon’s second point. I love these as they allow an extra dimension, but the one that makes most sense is time.

I appreciate there are drawbacks (especially if you want to print them!) but even so, for interactive usage they can be great if designed to be clear and not to mislead.

By: Animated Dashboards? | PTS Blog

Animated Dashboards? | PTS Blog — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 22:25:44 +0000

[...] Dashboard Spy wrote about Animating Dashboard Charts with Flash on the Dashboards by Example blog. The examples in the Spy’s post were taken from our friends [...]

By: Ed Gardner

Ed Gardner — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:31:39 +0000

I couple of things I liked in the animations:

1) Hover over display of the actual values.
2) Movement of pie chart slices (they slide out)
3) All in all - pretty restrained and not over the top.
4) Drill down/Javascript controls

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:20:04 +0000

If the animation shows the user how conditions or performance has changed over time, and it is done cleanly, with controls that allow the user to stop and start the animation, and look at any state during the process, then it is a worthwhile animation.

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:18:27 +0000

If “animation” only means slick effects showing the graphics being constructed, then it is a waste of resources and of the user’s time. What is not needed in a good dashboard is animation. The graphics should appear in their final state when they appear.

What a good dashboard could use instead of animation is interaction. This may mean the ability to drill down on a chart to see further information, or the ability to change some inputs to see effects on predicted behavior.