What is "sparkline"

n. A small graph of data presented as a line without axis.

Example sparklines in small multiple

Index

Day

Value

Change

Dow Jones

Sparkline dowjones new.svg

10765.45

−32.82 (−0.30%)

S&P 500

Sparkline sp500.svg

1256.92

−8.10 (−0.64%)

colspan=4 | Sparklines showing the movement of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 during February 7, 2006

A sparkline is a very small line chart, typically drawn without axes or coordinates. It presents the general shape of the variation (typically over time) in some measurement, such as temperature or stock market price, in a simple and highly condensed way. Sparklines are small enough to be embedded in text, or several sparklines may be grouped together as elements of a small multiple. Whereas the typical chart is designed to show as much data as possible, and is set off from the flow of text, sparklines are intended to be succinct, memorable, and located where they are discussed.