A screen snapshot of the first system (SSR) after performing three operations. (Step 1) Initially, we loaded each column with a slightly different, but related, dataset (A1=B1=C1=D1, A2=B2=C2=D2, A3=B3=C3=D3). (Step 2) We selected Row B, and then subtracted cell A3 from it (B1=B1-A3, B2=B2-A3, B3=B3-A3). Cell B3 contains the empty set as expected. (Step 3) We changed Row C and D to show different views of Row A. The views show different sets of variables using a different representation, thus increasing our ability to see other dimensions of the multivariate datasets simultaneously.

Visualization of time-series matrices. The visualization is built using the second system (SIV). The screen snapshot shows visualizations of protein residue substitution probability matrices of various evolutionary distances. The first, second, and third rows visualize matrix 40, 120, and 250 from the PAM matrix series. The fourth row visualizes matrix 62 from the BLOSUM matrix series. The first column uses a cube representation that maps positive matrix values to the volume, height, and color attributes of the cubes. The second column uses a carpet plot that maps values to the height and color of a 3D surface. The third column uses a bar representation that maps values to the length, height, and color attributes of the bars. The fourth column shows various representations in different rotational configurations.

Our spreadsheet visualization system for molecular biology uses a direct manipulation interface with menus and dialog boxes, which makes the system easy to use.