One useful feature of Tableau that would be worth replicating is the capacity to create an array of plots (or sheets) rather than a single sheet. The sample shown here isn't great--this is from a sample database--but I can imagine producing an array of charts with (say a 7x7 layout of debt to GDP levels for the 49 countries in the BIS database.
Currently if I attach a Ravel with debt to GDP ratios by country, the program plots the first 16(?) series on one chart. We could have three options for display:
Single chart
Array chart
Dimension chart (this is more speculative)
Single chart would do what we do now; Array chart would produce an array of mini-charts within the overall plot; Dimension (or a better word, if you can think of it) would generate an array of charts with one data series per chart, and the one displayed controlled by the selector dot on that axis.
Printing or exporting would have a different result depending on the chosen option. Single chart would do what happens now. Array chart could produce an SVG/etc export of the array. Dimension could produce a multitude of SCG files, one per graph, all following the same formatting and with numbering to indicate the different plots.
Ticket moved from /p/minsky/ravel/289/
A suggestion: add a multi-plot widget. Options would include how many series to plot per chart (default 1). The output could be a frame which can be resized containing the number of generated charts, which the user could resize. Or an option could be layout 2x5, 3x3, etc.
This would be a useful feature to add for the first commercial release if we get seed funding.