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diff --git a/_posts/2021-06-07-css-slope-graphs.md b/_posts/2021-06-07-css-slope-graphs.md deleted file mode 100644 index b1e82b9..0000000 --- a/_posts/2021-06-07-css-slope-graphs.md +++ /dev/null @@ -1,234 +0,0 @@ ---- -layout: post -title: "CSS Slope Graphs" -date: 2021-06-07 ---- - - -*I am a huge sucker for simplistic and beautifully designed visual data on the web*. Most data tends to be graphed via line or bar systems - which is fine - but I think slope graphs are highly underrated. Let's change that, shall we? - -## The Demo - -I'm basing this demo off the design patterns found in [Edward Tufte's visualization work](https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi), specifically his slope graph designs: - -[Live CodePen Example](https://codepen.io/bradleytaunt/pen/jOBzXMe) - -## The HTML - -For this concept we will actually be building this graph out of `tables` - crazy, right? The greatest benefit of rendering all the data inside of a `table` element is the ability to easily support smaller screens and mobile devices. Larger viewports will get to see the pretty slope graph, while those below a certain threshold will view a simple table. - -(But more on that in the CSS section) - - - <p>Sales of the leading frozen pizza brands of the United States from 2011 to 2017 (in million US dollars) <br><em>Source: Statisa 2018</em></p> - <table> - <thead> - <tr> - <th>Pizza Brand</th> - <th>2011</th> - <th>2017</th> - </tr> - </thead> - <tbody> - <tr> - <td data-set="677.0">DiGiorno</td> - <td><span>677.0</span></td> - <td data-name="DiGiorno">1014.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td data-set="294.8">Private Label</td> - <td><span>294.8</span></td> - <td data-name="Private Label">524.8</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td data-set="286.1">Red Baron</td> - <td><span>286.1</span></td> - <td data-name="Red Baron">572.3</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td data-set="257.9">Tombstone</td> - <td><span>257.9</span></td> - <td data-name="Tombstone">270.6</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td data-set="164.5">Totino's Party Pizza</td> - <td><span>164.5</span></td> - <td data-name="Totino's Party Pizza">347.2</td> - </tr> - </tbody> - </table> - - -As you can see, nothing too fancy is happpening here. Pay close attention to the `data-set` and `data-name` variables though - those will be important for the CSS portion of this design, mainly the rendering of the line elements. - - - -## The CSS - -To avoid overwhelming your brain all-at-once, let's break the CSS down into bite-sized chunks, starting with the base styling: - - - @import url('https://opentype.netlify.com/et-book/index.css'); - * { - box-sizing: border-box; - } - - html { - height: 100%; - } - - body { - background: #fffff8; - font-family: "et-book", serif; - height: 100%; - margin: 0 auto; - max-width: 800px; - padding: 0 0.5rem; - } - - p { - font-size: 18px; - margin: 4rem 0 6rem; - } - - table { - border-collapse: collapse; - text-align: left; - width: 100%; - } - - -Pretty basic stuff. - -Now we need to design how our slope graph will look on larger screens / desktops. For this instance, we will target these larger devices with a `min-width` media query of `800px`. The rest of the CSS might look a little confusing but I assure you it is quite simple. - -1. On larger devices we hide the first `thead tr th` element with `display: none` -2. The first and second `td` elements inside each `tbody` row need to be set as `position: absolute` to avoid duplicate content -3. The inner `span` that we include in our HTML inside the second `tbody tr td` also needs to be `display: none` -4. Remember that `data-set` variable? We now use that for our `:before` pseudo element for `table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(1)` -5. Remember that `data-name` variable? We now use that for our `:before` pseudo element for `table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(3)` -6. After that, you can see the simple customization we include to render the angle / position of the slope lines and the corresponding labels - ---- - - - @media(min-width:800px) { - table { - display: block; - position: relative; - margin-bottom: 25rem; - } - - table thead th { - border-bottom: 1px solid lightgrey; - font-size: 24px; - position: absolute; - top: -50px; - width: 45%; - } - table thead th:nth-child(1){ display: none; } - table thead th:nth-child(2){ left: 0; } - table thead th:nth-child(3){ right: 0; text-align: right; } - - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(1), - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(2) { position: absolute;} - - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(2) span { display: none; } - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(1):before { - content: attr(data-set); - margin-right: 10px; - position: relative; - } - - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(2) { padding-left: 10px; } - - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(3) { - position: absolute; - right: 0; - } - table tbody tr td:nth-of-type(3):before { - content: attr(data-name); - margin-right: 10px; - position: relative; - } - - /* Custom individual slopes -- Left */ - tbody tr:nth-child(1) td:nth-child(1), - tbody tr:nth-child(1) td:nth-child(2) { top: 60px; } - tbody tr:nth-child(2) td:nth-child(1), - tbody tr:nth-child(2) td:nth-child(2) { top: 140px; } - tbody tr:nth-child(3) td:nth-child(1), - tbody tr:nth-child(3) td:nth-child(2) { top: 165px; } - tbody tr:nth-child(4) td:nth-child(1), - tbody tr:nth-child(4) td:nth-child(2) { top: 220px; } - tbody tr:nth-child(5) td:nth-child(1), - tbody tr:nth-child(5) td:nth-child(2) { top: 270px; } - - /* Custom individual slopes -- Right */ - [data-name="DiGiorno"] { top: 0; } - [data-name="Red Baron"] { top: 65px; } - [data-name="Private Label"] { top: 100px; } - [data-name="Tombstone"] { top: 180px; } - [data-name="Totino's Party Pizza"] { top: 150px; } - - /* The custom visual lines */ - tbody tr:after { - background: black; - content: ''; - height: 1px; - left: 14.5%; - position: absolute; - width: 70%; - } - tbody tr:nth-child(1):after { - top: 40px; - transform: rotate(-6deg); - } - tbody tr:nth-child(2):after { - left: 17.5%; - top: 130px; - transform: rotate(-4deg); - width: 65%; - } - tbody tr:nth-child(3):after { - left: 15%; - top: 125px; - transform: rotate(-10.25deg); - width: 70%; - } - tbody tr:nth-child(4):after { - left: 16%; - top: 210px; - transform: rotate(-4deg); - width: 68%; - } - tbody tr:nth-child(5):after { - left: 22%; - top: 222px; - transform: rotate(-16deg); - width: 56%; - } - } - - -All that's left are some minor styles to make everything look nice on mobile: - - - @media(max-width:800px) { - p { - margin: 2rem 0; - } - table td, table th { - border-bottom: 1px solid grey; - padding: 10px; - } - table td:last-of-type, table th:last-of-type { - text-align: right; - } - } - - -## Not the most practical -This slope graph concept is far from perfect for use in real-world situations. The fact that you need to manually render each point of data yourself makes this implementation quite annoying for more in-depth projects. - -But it was fun to mess around with and create, so who cares! |