1. Manifest Usage Guide
This is an overview of the Manifest web app interface, describing the parts and associated functionality of various interface elements.
- Manifest Bar - Clicking on this allows you to access links to the collection of Manifests, information on creating Manifests, and other useful pages. It also allows you to browse (and load) a collection of sample Manifests, and to load your own Manifest by pasting a URL or uploading a Manifest Document file.
- Document Panel - The document panel is the main information browser for Manifest Documents. Loaded documents appear here, along with all of their nodes, allowing you to scroll through them.
- Document Header - Clicking on the colored header at the top of a loaded Manifest selects that Manifest, scrolling to the top of the page, setting available visualizations to use that Manifest, and changing your browser's address bar to the url for that individual Manifest.
- Document Details - This is where you can see the overall description for a loaded Manifest.
- Node List - This is a list of all of the nodes for a given Manifest. It includes details like that nodes name, description, the hashtags for any categories (clicking on those category hashtags will filter your view to only nodes with that category) and any quantitative measures for that node. The numbered circle indicates the nodes index, and visualizations like the map will show circles that correspond to these numbers (unless they are clustered with other nodes).
- Visualization Panel - The visualization panel shows a visualization of the loaded Manifest documents. By default this is a map visualization that shows the locations of nodes throughout the world, but other visualizations might allow you to view this information as a graph, a chart, or in a spreadsheet. Generally speaking, interacting with nodes in the visualization produces a corresponding action in the Document Panel. For example, clicking on a node on the map scrolls the visualization panel to that node in the Document Panel, and clicking on it from the document panel opens a popup on the map.
- Visualization Controls - Some visualizations have specialized controls. The map visualization, for example, shows zoom controls that allow you to move around the map.
- Search Box - The search box allows you to find nodes that match a search term. Clicking on category hashtags also uses the search, populating the search box with the hashtag. Items that don't match the search will be hidden from the Document Panel and in visualizations. For the map visualization, they are temporarily removed from the map. For other visualizations, they may become transparent to indicate they don't match the search terms. Searches are performed across all loaded Manifest Documents. Clicking the close button clears the search and returns the interface to its previous state.
- Visualization Controls - The visualization control has multiple components. The first one allows you to switch visualizations, selecting to view your Manifest document on the map visualization, the graph visualization, and so on. The other options allow you to "scale" the nodes on the visualization according to one of their quantitative variables (if they have them). For example, scaling a map (or graph, etc.) of distribution facilities by size would make the facilities that have square-footage recorded size proportionally to that value--the facility with the most square-footage the biggest, all the way down to the smallest facility, with the least square-footage. Facilities that didn't have a square-footage measure recorded would not be sized.
- Map Capture Control - The map capture control creates a static image of the currently shown map and saves it to your local computer.
- Full Screen Control - This control hides the Document Panel, allowing you to focus entirely on the visualization. Any actions you make (selecting nodes, etc.) will still be shown in the Document Panel when you toggle it back into view. For example, selecting a new map node will scroll the Document Panel to that node when you return from the full screen view.
- Map Options - This control features additional options mostly applicable to the map visualization. For example, it allows you to change the map tile imagery (to a black and white image, a satellite image, and so on), it allows you to load additional spatial data, and it allows you to turn off particular layers from the map (hiding lines on the map, and so on).
- Visualization Elements - Each visualization has its own user interface elements. The map visualization, for example, shows popups on the nodes you select that include some of the information available in the Document Panel.
Manifest currently supports a number of different visualizations for Manifest Documents, described below.
- Map Visualization - The default Manifest visualization shows nodes positioned on the Earth according to their geographic coordinates.
- Graph Visualization - Shows a graph visualization of the active Manifest document, showing how individual nodes are connected to each other. Because this requires a graph structure, Manifests with entirely unconnected nodes cannot be visualized this way.
- Flow Visualization - Shows a flow (Sankey) visualization of the active Manifest document. Sankey diagrams emphasize flow or movement from one node to another. It also can allow users to visualize the proportional flow rate of a quantitative variable. Because this requires a graph structure, Manifests with entirely unconnected nodes cannot be visualized this way.
- Chord Visualization - Shows a chord visualization of the active Manifest document. Chord diagrams allow users to visualize weighted relationships between Manifest nodes. Because this requires a graph structure, Manifests with entirely unconnected nodes cannot be visualized this way.
- Spreadsheet View - Shows a basic spreadsheet visualization of all loaded Manifests.
- Data View - Allows users to see (and download) the Manifest document JSON file, export a simple textual (Markdown formatted) summary of the document, etc.