Community Wishlist Survey 2021/Multimedia and Commons/Improve graphs and interactive content

Random proposal ►◄ Multimedia and Commons The survey has concluded. Here are the results!

Improve graphs and interactive content

Examples of Vega and Vega-Lite graphs we can build

Problem: Wikipedia would benefit from more animations, interactive content, and self-updating infographics

When we discuss historical changes, we should be able to view those changes interactively, e.g. side by side. Statistical data should be represented as easy to understand charts, and when the new data becomes available, those charts should update. We already have some of the tools for this (the <graph> tag, the shared data on commons, maps), but the current tools are hard to use, not maintained, and need improvements. The comprehensive vision was presented several years ago in a short I Dream of Content paper.

The Graph extension has many advantages for Wikimedia projects. In brief, it allows data to by displayed by generating graphs on-the-fly (we do not need a picture file anymore, and so we do not need to create a new picture each time the data are updated). However, the Graph extension is currently not widely used, probably partly because the code is not really user-friendly.

In addition, the current extension has not been able to display Wikidata data for more than a year, and since there is no official maintainer for this extension, the problem has remained ever since.

Who would benefit: Readers and content creators

Proposed solution: Upgrade the Vega library, add Vega-Lite support, and add multilingual support to Graphs.

Develop a GUI Visual-Editor-like tool to help contributors to create nice graphs. This tool could look a bit like those in spreadsheet software (the user selects the data to plot and the type of graph, then fine-tunes it). This tool could be integrated with the Data namespace on Wikimedia Commons (example) and with the Wikidata Query Service. The latter already offers different visualisation methods, with the ability to export results to several formats (html, json, svg). See this example. Adding customizable Vega code as an output would be nice.

Community Wishlist Survey 2016/Categories/Multimedia#Support SVG interactivity and animation in Media Viewer discussed making animation and interactivity easier for SVGs.

More comments:

Phabricator tickets: phab:T195627, phab:T195628, phab:T100444, phab:T165118...

Proposer: Pamputt (talk) 20:25, 20 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion

I would suggest to move it to the Multimedia and Commons board. — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 18:20, 24 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Draceane: ok no problem with that. Pamputt (talk) 16:23, 25 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Would suggest merging in this Community Wishlist Survey 2021/Multimedia and Commons/Improve Graph Extension proposal as we both had the same idea :-) But yours is presented in a better manner. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 17:00, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@Doc James Done! I copied over the votes, too. Best, MusikAnimal (WMF) (talk) 18:07, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I wrote w:Template:Interactive COVID-19 maps using the graph extension and one frustrating piece is that our extension still uses Vega 2. The Vega project is now on version 5 with increased support for mobile devices and simply upgrading the extension to a more modern branch would make a huge difference. Wugapodes (talk) 01:01, 29 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Voting

Support Dr747 (talk) 18:59, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support As collective tasks impulsor, I would like to be able to show more graphs with metrics and figures. Noé (talk) 19:32, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Owleksandra (talk) 19:33, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Yes. Please. Sannita - not just another it.wiki sysop 19:33, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Pi.1415926535 (talk) 21:14, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Pmau (talk) 21:36, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nw520 (talk) 23:00, 8 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support BALA. R^Talk 01:37, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Absolutely essential! --Ita140188 (talk) 04:54, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Minh Nguyễn ^💬 07:52, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Jcwang1986 (talk) 08:57, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Monirec (talk) 09:44, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support My experiences trying to add graphs and interactive content to articles give me a clear impression that there is a lot to be desired. {{u|Sdkb}} ^talk 09:56, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support RobertBlinov (talk) 10:05, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -- Triple C 85 ^|talk| 10:54, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Thomas Kinz (talk) 11:32, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Vega's interactive graphs are outstanding. It would be a powerful tool to be embedded into Wikipedia. Since the syntax can be quite complex for unexperienced users, a collection of presets and examples would be of help to start editing. Lion-hearted85 (talk) 12:09, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support NMaia (talk) 12:43, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support MarioSuperstar77 (talk) 14:16, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sgd. —Hasley 14:22, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support ForzaGreen (talk) 16:52, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — putnik 19:10, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Globbet (talk) 22:43, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support dwf² (talk) 23:04, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support - Darwin ^Ahoy! 01:23, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support We really need a more intuitive way to create graphs. H78c67c (talk) 01:33, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support JPxG (talk) 05:58, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Viferico (talk) 15:52, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sadads (talk) 16:40, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support This was our readers second most frequent request, after improved mobile, back in 2015. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 16:55, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support John Cummings (talk) 17:11, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Rodw (talk) 17:11, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Graphs are crucial and need to be properly looking and understandable OrCer (talk) 11:00, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Better than static SVGs/PNGs, more easy to update with new data. Geraki ^T_L 17:26, 9 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ciao • Bestoernesto • ✉ 03:11, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support MichaelSchoenitzer (talk) 18:51, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support JenOttawa (talk) 19:30, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Libcub (talk) 20:08, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Afernand74 (talk) 20:33, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Srđan (talk) 22:33, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Yes! More data viz would be awesome, and animations would be super beneficial and totally enrich articles. Thisisnotcam (talk) 22:36, 10 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Michaelelijahtanuwijaya (talk) 03:11, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Arnd (talk) 16:55, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support BoldLuis (talk) 17:45, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support -Xbony2 (talk) 19:32, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support 4nn1l2 (talk) 20:06, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Vega 2 is old. We need to upgrade to Vega 5. --IngenieroLoco (talk) 21:26, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tuvalkin (talk) 21:36, 11 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Oh, DrPizza! (talk) 08:20, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Strainu (talk) 10:25, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Tom Ja (talk) 11:58, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Jmmuguerza (talk) 14:14, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ad Huikeshoven (talk) 14:28, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Gnom (talk) 15:59, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Snaevar (talk) 16:11, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Amqui (talk) 17:40, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Yiyi (talk) 20:03, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Wostr (talk) 21:07, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support per my comment in discussion. Wugapodes (talk) 23:12, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Francois-Pier (talk) 23:18, 12 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support The Blinder Grunt (talk) 07:57, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support TeKaBe (talk) 08:03, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Dinock90 (talk) 09:42, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support // Lollipoplollipoplollipop :: talk 10:49, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Geagea (talk) 13:57, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Bilorv (talk) 17:27, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Izno (talk) 20:26, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Podzemnik (talk) 21:13, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Kimsey0 (talk) 22:47, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Steven Sun (talk) 11:01, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support —— Eric Liu_{（留言．百科用戶頁）} 12:02, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support As proposer Pamputt (talk) 15:23, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:46, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support CristianNX (talk) 19:48, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Vincent Simar (talk) 19:55, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:07, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support :) --Yurik (talk) 21:44, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Base (talk) 22:34, 14 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Zache (talk) 08:13, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Draceane ^talk_contrib. 13:25, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support GoEThe (talk) 14:35, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support the graph extension desperately needs some love. Currently it is causing 10% of all our JavaScript production errors partly due to a spike in usage this year. Jdlrobson (talk) 15:52, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support OPlibertad (talk) 17:05, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Utopes (talk) 19:13, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Herzi Pinki (talk) 21:08, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Bgrus22 (talk) 22:35, 15 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Content displaying would take a huge leap-forward with interactive graphs. WindowPain (talk) 02:35, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support – Teratix ₵ 06:39, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support This is a much and very long needed feature for Wikipedia. I have been quietly advocating for something like this for years now. Discott (talk) 09:46, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Will make it easier to keep articles up-to-date in terms of visuals Femkemilene (talk) 11:56, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Jurbop (talk) 18:16, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support — Épico (talk)/(contribs) 23:46, 16 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Keepcalmandchill (talk) 01:21, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Michael Childs (talk) 01:44, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Sikander (talk) 01:54, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support G.prof (talk) 15:58, 17 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support GiFontenelle (talk) 05:18, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Xhs 唯心而为 10:57, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Dey.sandip (talk) 16:03, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support more user-friendly interface needed Quedel (talk) 21:32, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ruziklan (talk) 21:37, 18 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Strong support --Joalbertine (talk) 18:33, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Carn (talk) 20:16, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support 5910 C (talk) 21:44, 19 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Mike Krüger (talk) 11:32, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Geert Van Pamel (WMBE) (talk) 16:29, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Uanfala (talk) 23:57, 20 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support He's the Billy Australia can't afford (talk) 02:19, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ahmad^talk 04:33, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 13:07, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support --Shivanarayana (talk) 15:22, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support VIGNERON * ^discut. 16:54, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Papuass (talk) 17:00, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support stjn^[ru] 17:15, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nadzik (talk) 17:21, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Nachtbold (talk) 17:38, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Support Charles Alexis Gérard (talk) 17:41, 21 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]