ABSTRACT
Ratios are different than ordered data. Ratios support perceptual comparisons such as relative sizes; one bar can be twice as long as another bar, but not twice as blue. Lengths can be embedded into text by applying a format across a subset of a string. PROPORTIONAL ENCODING APPLIES the format to a portion of text forming a length, such as the proportion of uppercase in this sentence. Positional encoding indicates a quantitative value by adding a format at a position relative to the portion represented, such as a single uppercase letter in this sentence. Using this approach, the effect of a bar chart, range bars, or a distribution can be superimposed over related lines of text. The approach can be further extended using expressive text, encoding multivariate data, and so on. Examples include opinion analysis, topic analysis, and article characteristics.
