| Here are some handy instructions on how to use Rhizosphere from within a Google Spreadsheet. If you prefer a video tutorial, check the Rhizosphere Ultimate video ( 14 Mb .mov file ) First, login to docs.google.com and create a new spreadsheet. Start entering some data or import them from an external source, until you're satisfied with the contents. For example, here is the spreadsheet I created to decided which mobile phone is the right one for me. You can access it live, and copy it for your experiments. Rhizosphere will display data according to these rules :
 Select a range of cells. Then from the toolbar, choose Insert > Gadget. Click the Custom... link on the left, and type in this URL: http://rhizosphere.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/src/ig.xml Click the Add button. This will add the Rhizosphere gadget on your spreadsheet and open its configuration page, as shown here:  Verify that the Range option matches the cells you want to analyze, or adjust it accordingly. For the moment, do not bother about specifying any of the other options (apart, maybe, checking the Fancy Animations option if you a richer user experience), and just click Apply And Close. That's it! Rhizosphere will analyze your data and prepare its display for interactive navigation.  Try using the menus in the bottom bar to change the items layout and filter them. You can also drag them around, select them (use the mouse to draw a box around the items you want to select, or just double click them) and restrict your work on the selected items only. Do you want more colors and informations? Click the Edit button in the top-left corner and choose Autoanalyze Data. Rhizosphere will do its best to extract new dimensions out of your data. Here, for example it's using colors and sizes to display differences in prices and weights of the phones. Use the legend if you feel confused.  Are you ready for more? |
How-To: Use in a Google Spreadsheet |