Add the Datawrapper blog to the canon

Its chart-type "what to consider" posts and four-part color-scale series
cover ground nothing else in the canon does. Adds a backlog entry it is
the leading authority on (stacked columns, where only the bottom series
shares a baseline), and closes the citation gap on the rainbow-color-scale
sin — that one now waits only on our own sequential-ramp validation.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01ULE5RRxdQE1ebwefEd2eCM
This commit is contained in:
Claude
2026-08-05 16:42:51 +00:00
parent 1606b1edc3
commit 41149328bf
2 changed files with 40 additions and 7 deletions
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@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ Which references are already doing work, after the first three sins:
| **`huff`** | — | | **`huff`** | — |
| **`schwabish`** | — | | **`schwabish`** | — |
| **`ftvisvocab`** | — | | **`ftvisvocab`** | — |
| **`datawrapper`** | — |
Six idle references. Each is an authority we've already endorsed on the canon Seven idle references. Each is an authority we've already endorsed on the canon
page, so a sin that leans on one is cheap to justify and strengthens the page it page, so a sin that leans on one is cheap to justify and strengthens the page it
sits on. The backlog is ordered to bring them all in. sits on. The backlog is ordered to bring them all in.
@@ -95,7 +96,28 @@ sorted by value.
**Citations:** `schwabish`, `ftvisvocab`, `swd`, `fewpies`. **Citations:** `schwabish`, `ftvisvocab`, `swd`, `fewpies`.
### 5. The Reversed Axis — *Misleading Scales*, severity 5 ### 5. Everything Above the Bottom Floats — *Perceptual Traps*, severity 3
**Poke:** "Only the bottom band of a stacked chart has a straight edge to
measure against. The rest are guesses."
In a stacked column chart, every segment except the bottom one starts at a
baseline that moves from column to column, so readers can compare the total and
the bottom series — and nothing else. The series you actually care about is
usually floating somewhere in the middle. Datawrapper's guidance is blunt about
it: bring the most important value to the bottom, because readers can only
compare values that share a baseline.
Ubiquitous in business dashboards and highly sendable, which is why it outranks
the two below despite a milder severity.
**Charts:** bad = stacked columns with the interesting series stranded in the
middle. Fixed = the same numbers as small multiples (or the key series pulled
out to its own zero baseline), totals preserved.
**Citations:** `datawrapper`, `wilke`, `munzner`, `ftvisvocab`.
### 6. The Reversed Axis — *Misleading Scales*, severity 5
**Poke:** "Down means up. You flipped the axis and the trend flipped with it." **Poke:** "Down means up. You flipped the axis and the trend flipped with it."
@@ -105,7 +127,7 @@ support overlaps almost entirely with sins we've already published.
**Citations:** `callingbullshit`, `howchartslie`, `junkcharts`. **Citations:** `callingbullshit`, `howchartslie`, `junkcharts`.
### 6. Squashed and Stretched — *Misleading Scales*, severity 3 ### 7. Squashed and Stretched — *Misleading Scales*, severity 3
**Poke:** "Same data, twice as tall. Aspect ratio is not a styling choice." **Poke:** "Same data, twice as tall. Aspect ratio is not a styling choice."
@@ -127,10 +149,12 @@ rediscovering them:
- **Counts on a choropleth instead of rates** (Cairo's set-piece) — needs - **Counts on a choropleth instead of rates** (Cairo's set-piece) — needs
TopoJSON geometry and a build-time data dependency we don't have yet. Strong TopoJSON geometry and a build-time data dependency we don't have yet. Strong
candidate the moment we take that on. candidate the moment we take that on.
- **Rainbow color scales for continuous data** (Wilke, Munzner) — buildable, but - **Rainbow color scales for continuous data** (Wilke, Munzner, and now
the fixed chart needs a sequential ramp validated on `--chart-canvas` in both Datawrapper's four-part color-scale series — the best free treatment of this
themes. Do the palette work first (`dataviz` skill + its validator), then anywhere) — the canon backing is no longer the constraint. What still blocks
write it. it is ours: the fixed chart needs a sequential ramp validated on
`--chart-canvas` in both themes. Do the palette work first (`dataviz` skill +
its validator), then this is ready to write.
## Conventions reminder ## Conventions reminder
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@@ -135,6 +135,15 @@ export const REFERENCES = {
blurb: 'A browsable catalogue of common dataviz mistakes, each with a fix.', blurb: 'A browsable catalogue of common dataviz mistakes, each with a fix.',
free: true, free: true,
}, },
datawrapper: {
authors: 'Lisa Charlotte Muth & the Datawrapper team',
title: 'Datawrapper Blog — Data Vis Dos & Donts',
work: 'blog.datawrapper.de',
url: 'https://blog.datawrapper.de/category/datavis-dos-and-donts/',
kind: 'site',
blurb: 'Chart-type-by-chart-type “what to consider” posts, and the clearest free writing anywhere on choosing color scales.',
free: true,
},
junkcharts: { junkcharts: {
authors: 'Kaiser Fung', authors: 'Kaiser Fung',
title: 'Junk Charts', title: 'Junk Charts',