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What software can be used to create an ideology scale like this?

enter image description here

I tried to use Excel, but it seems impossible, the only way was timeline with dates (0 - 10), but even that didn't place names automatically and it seems it is not meant for stuff like this. Option like -2 -1 0 1 2 wasn't possible in excel.

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  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it looks like a Software Recommendation but I can't migrate it. However, I think R or Processing would be some software you might want to take a look at for something like this.
    – curious ♦
    Jun 22, 2017 at 1:59
  • @Emilie, so why is there a "software-recommendation" tag allowed on the site then? It seems a perfectly reasonable question. Based on the existence of this video course, I'm almost entirely certain this CAN be done in Adobe Illustrator. I think it's totally on topic.
    – Wildcard
    Jun 22, 2017 at 3:35
  • @Wildcard the presence of a tag does not mean that the subject is acceptable. Anybody can make a tag for any purpose.
    – joojaa
    Jun 22, 2017 at 15:21
  • @joojaa aren't there rep requirements? New users can't make new tags. And moderators usually keep them cleaned up.
    – Wildcard
    Jun 22, 2017 at 15:29
  • @Wildcard Wheels of moderation move at slow speeds
    – joojaa
    Jun 22, 2017 at 16:42

1 Answer 1

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For reasons that shall become apparent, the list of software that can do this is absolutely staggering. The reason for this is that you do not list any border constraints for the application.

Let us start by stating that you can indeed do this chart in Excel, it might not be an ideal application for it but it can be done. And indeed if you already have the suitable data analysis in excel then you might as well do it in excel. After all even if it takes and hour to do in excel its still lot less time than learning a new application. (Now I wouldn't do this in excel, in fact I feel that doing anything in excel is just a waste of resources.)

In excel

Image 1: Quick test in excel doing all the elements now all you need is styling and real data

For similar reasons you can do this in software like LibreOffice Calc and SPSS (which may be better than excel).

Another option is to use a statistical/scientific/mathematical package like, R (free) , Matlab, Mathematica, Maple or scipy (free) and so on. Mainly because they have MUCH more powerful graphing options than excel.

Using a graphics application. Yes you can do this all in illustrator without much effort. Even automatically form live data if you wish but that's not really beginner easy. But beyond this the number of applications possible is staggering since you can in fact do this in notepad, or command line or even your browser.

I would choose an application based on what my data sources are, what analysis i need to do one the data and what my end use is going to be (web print).

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  • Thanks for the answer (can't upvote, because of reputation), I will try out some of these.
    – Rudolph
    Jun 22, 2017 at 16:40

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