Sparkline

Sparklines are a format developed by Edward Tufte for small graphic charts which can be inserted within text on a page.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tufte describes sparklines as "data-intense, design-simple, word-sized graphics". Whereas the typical chart is designed to show as much data as possible, and is set off from the flow of text, sparklines are intended to be succinct, memorable, and located precisely where appropriate.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Edward Tufte's explanation of sparklines
• Sparkline PHP library, software for making sparklines
• http://bitworking.org/projects/sparklines/, Sparkline Generator Web Application.