Plotly’s latest invention? Something akin to “invisible ink.” That’s right – Plotly users can harness our new animation functionality to create charts, code-free (!), with secret messages.
One of the earliest writers to mention invisible ink was Aeneas Tacticus over 2400 years ago. Since then, several others applied varying techniques to craft secret messages: Pliny the Elder and the Roman poet Ovid gave advice on the use of plant juices and milk to write secret messages, similar to what George Washington used during the American Revolution.
But this is not George Washington’s invisible ink– this is the 21st century edition:
1. Keep your hands clean: no sticky substances like plant juice and milk needed to create it.
2. No ultraviolet light needed to read it.
3. All digital! Super flash.
From this:
To this:
Plotly’s animated graphs can take your stories to the next level. And you don’t have to be a programming mastermind to do it. Though animations are supported in R and Python, you can also make them in Plotly’s GUI.
In this post, we’ll demonstrate how to use Plotly’s GUI to create code-free chart animations with secret messages and show you a few of our favorites. We’d love to see what you come up with! Tweet us @PlotlyGraphs.
To learn how to create a secret message chart of your own, scroll toward the bottom of this post.
1. Perfect for the person who wants to keep their birthday a bit of a secret. 😉
2. Friday is beer-o'clock. Here’s your invite to the pub!
3. Do you ♥️ secret message graphs as much as us?
4. X Wins!
5. Revolutionary love notes ;)
6. A Phrase to Plot by
Now that you’ve de-coded our messages, you’re just 8 steps away from creating a “secret message chart” of your own. Follow along below to see how it is done.
1. Load up Plotly.
2. Number your columns. Column “A” should have as many numbers as the letters of your message. For instance, the message “hello” would be numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Column “B” is responsible for the placement of your letters. If you’d like them to all be on the same line, label “B” all 1. If you’d like to start up higher with some letters (like we did in this example), label your first word all 3, second word all 2, and third word all 1.
3. Choose your chart type: animation and create.
4. In the style dropdown, select axes and select a custom range that fits your message. For instance, our message has 11 letters so our x axis extends past 11. It is also on 3 separate lines, so our y axis extends to 4.
5. Also in the style dropdown, select traces and you’ll find a variety of symbols that you can use to cover up the letters in your secret message. Pick your favorite, but be sure that it is a solid color so it hides the letter(s) properly!
6. Pay attention to this part - it is critical in order to construct your message! Within the style dropdown, select “notes.” In notes, hit “+annotation” in the upper right. Next, pick “automatically positioned labels.” After that, click on the symbol that you are currently on and watch as an annotation appears. This is where you’ll now insert the first letter of your phrase. Keep doing this for as many letters as your word has.
7. Finally, within “style” –> axes, remember to turn off your grid lines (for a cleaner look) and turn off the tick labels too! Use the slider to ensure that the animation is to your liking.
8. The last step is to admire your graph. And make a GIF out of it. Here’s ours: https://plot.ly/~Dreamshot/8550/.
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