July 30, 2008
So, I thought it would be a really good time if I were to make a chart which plotted my love of FireNES versus time. On top of that, I thought it would be a good time to use the Google Visualization API. My only stipulation was that I wanted to use strings for the labels on both the X and the Y Axes. What follows is the Cliff’s Notes version of what happened:
1st Try:
- Result: Failure
- Method: Replaced the word “number” with “string” and put strings where numbers used to be.
- Thoughts: I didn’t really expect this to work, but I thought it was worth a try. Ended up with a blank chart.
2nd Try:
- Result: Failure
- Method: Having three sets of values (string, string, number)
- Thoughts: I didn’t get any image at all. Lost Hope.
3rd Try:
- Result: Good Enough
- Method: Said, “F’ it, I’ll use Excel.” Used Excel. Couldn’t get Y-axis to have custom labels. Gave up.
- Thoughts: Excel 2007 is very confusing. Thanks for moving everything around Microsoft.
At the end of the day, I ended up using Excel and settleing for less than my dream. The new interface for Excel is so clunky and confusing, I had to go to the help just to find out how to format the Y-axis. How lame is that? Only Microsoft could make you pine for the older version of software.