Day 1 with JMP and a user wants to generate a point plot with 2 different colors for male and female:
The easy solution: use the Color Dropzone
The surprise: The Overlay does the same.
The second surprise: "Color" can do more than just "color":
For every entry in the legend, the user gets the possibility to define the Marker Style as well - as well as Size and Transparency.
A lazy user doesn't configure the colors manually - again and again for every single plot and subplot.
One alternative (which I use just very rarely): row states to specify Colors and Markers.
Another alternative (which I prefer):
define suitable colors via Column Property: Value Columns
Pros:
- meaningful legends - automatically (!)
- separate settings for every column (not via rows)
- I can control (via the Overlay and Color dropzone) where I want to use the setting - and for wich plots I DON'T want to use the setting : )
- I can overwrite the setting for individual entries via the legend right click menu
The 3rd surprise: there is no
Day 2 - the JMP user detects the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between the Color and Overlay Dropzones:
by adding a smoother:
Now, let's add Color to the plot
suprise 4: with Color via Color, there is just a single fit curve:
... this is when the user remembers surprise #1, tries Overlay, and falls in love with the Overlay dropzone:
So, for scatter plots there is no apparent difference between Color and Overlay - but for other plots it is !!!
And often Overlay is THE way to add color.
Another example:
Now let's generate another points plot - where there is a difference between Color and Overlay:
Color just adds color to the points, Overlay generates separate plots for every color, ovelays them - and hides some girls:
With the findings from surprise #2, we can now define Markers for different values ... with the help of the Color Dropzone
Day 3: The user likes the non.overlapping points, wants to add some Color (via age) .. and get the legend right.
[no Photoshop, no Excel]
