The Interactive Hall of Fame Ballot

That is fun to tinker with. Awesome stuff. Adam raises the bar again.

This is so good, I’m not even asking for tweaks! Yet. ; )

but is there a reason the HoF median is listed instead of the mean? Is there a major difference between those numbers?

Case comes out a lot better than I would have thought.

standard deviation bullseyes bracketing our candidates, in something of a HoF-Zone for this method. I’d love to know what the boundaries look like.

Also, holy crap, John Olerud’s career was way better than I thought it was.

And maybe not Walker? Yet I fear that Tino does.

The human eye is really really bad at judging areas of different circles. We’re just not good at it. While the ability to move things around makes it a bit better, the simple fact remains that it is tough to compare sizes without cheating and looking at the numbers.

For a really really simple example. Take a look at the chart. Which is bigger? The inner circle for Brett Boone, or Larry Walker? Move them next to each other if you’d like. At first (and second, and third…) glance, Brett Boone has a bigger middle circle because we compare the size of the inner circle with the others, which makes us feel like it’s bigger. But they’re both the exact same size.

That’s the problem with any sort of circular chart — we are pretty bad at judging area, especially comparing two different areas in different contexts. If you set the median circle as an outline for each, then you’d have a better idea (equal reference for comparison for each graph), but then you run into a problem where not each ring shares the same baseline (they just pick up where the last one leaves off).

Here is an article about this phenomenon, and at least one solution:
http://www.perceptualedge.com/example18.php

If you feel really strongly about keeping the design (it does look nice), then can I suggest that you create two different color schemes for each wheel? You can use blue for each “ring” that is above the HOF median, and use a grey shade for each “ring” that is smaller than the median. That way, in a glance, you can see which areas each player excels in. If two of the rings are blue, you know they deserve a closer look for admittance into the Hall.

Can’t wait for Chris or Justin’s next graph.

Question of the day: Bret Boone or Bobby Higginson?

Props to Adam for taking interactivity to the next level. I love working with people who continually set the bar higher. Really, really great work.