Data visualization is a powerful tool for exploring and explaining data. Visualizations typically leverage scale, position, shape, and color to convey meaning and understanding. While these facets represent the core of a visualization, the web offers an opportunity to incorporate interactivity, transitions, and movement.



When used effectively, these additional dimensions help users better understand a dataset by showcasing individual elements or key groups, demonstrating change over time, or communicating changes in scale. The examples and best practices shared below represent a sample of the myriad ways interactivity and animation can add value and clarity to data visualizations.

Showcase Elements and Sets

Perhaps the most immediate application of interactivity within data visualizations is the ability for users to drill deeper into datasets with a hover or click. This pattern is common across most interactive dashboards and charts and is built-in to tools such as Google Charts and Tableau.

This type of interaction is valuable because it provides additional context, allowing users to understand the details of a specific data point or group as it exists within a larger dataset.

Tooltips

As with images and text elsewhere on the web, hover effects can provide an opportunity to provide context and information