JavaScript is great for creating interactive Web graphics, but not everyone wants to become a JavaScript (or jQuery) expert to get a quick look at the data. With R and the rCharts package, just a few lines of code let you turn a data file into interactive graphics. If you don't know R, no worries: We assume no prior knowledge. (To get up to speed on the basics, though, head to our Beginner's Guide to R.)

Slides 2 through 6 demonstrate how to format data for visualizing; slides 7 through 9 are the actual graphing steps.

Step one: If you haven't already, download and install R and the RStudio IDE. (RStudio isn't required but is a nice R environment.)