HTML5 for Data Visualisation Alan Smith obe data visualisation centre Office for National Statistics United Kingdom

Visualisations on the web Many great web visualisations have been authored using Adobe Flash – a single software plug-in for “rich content” But most of the web is now moving to ‘open standards’ And Adobe has discontinued ‘mobile flash’…just as the web is going mobile

The dominance of mobile platforms Apple has sold over 300 million ‘iOS’ devices (iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch) In 2011, 45% of all UK internet users went online via mobile devices (in 2010, it was 31%) 71% of 16-24 year olds online via mobile devices A clear need to support mobile devices with visualisation – particularly tablets – in addition to continuing desktop support

Mobile devices and the internet 2 principal content routes ‘Apps’ – proprietary applications, authored for each type of device: Apple app store Android marketplace Windows, Blackberry etc… In the UK, strong guidance for central government NOT to enter this environment… Web apps – open applications, for the web browser, based on HTML5 technology…

HTML5 A loose term for a family of technologies: HTML ( for text and document structure) CSS (for document appearance) SVG (for vector graphics) Canvas (for bitmap graphics) Javascript (for interactivity) XML (for structured data) Crucially, many javascript libraries (jQuery, modernizr,d3) making development easier

Migration Map project Is HTML5 ready for demanding data visualisation? Demo…

Supported Platforms All current versions of major desktop browsers: Internet Explorer (9+) Firefox Google Chrome Safari Opera All current versions of major mobile browsers: Mobile Safari (iOS5+) Android Browser (v.3+) Back in September 2011, when project started, only 45% of ONS visits had supported browser. Six months later (March 2012) nearly 60% Main problem is IE7/8 – Google Chrome plugin available…

The road ahead A mixture of Flash/HTML over next 18-24 months Moving towards visualisations based purely on open standards

ALAN SMITH OBE Data Visualisation Centre Office for National Statistics United Kingdom alan.smith@ons.gsi.gov.uk bit.ly/onsdvc | @theboysmithy