Show visualization chooser when no visualization type is selected

[thinkh]

Description

Currently, users can only open the general visualization with a predefined visualization type (e.g., bar chart). It should be possible to start without a specified visualization type. In this case, a visualization chooser should be displayed. This chooser will include:

• Visual representation of available visualization types.
• The visualization title and a brief description.
• A small example or guidelines indicating when to use or avoid each type.

Once the user selects a visualization type, the chart will render as before.

User story

As a research scientist, I want to choose a visualization type from a chooser interface so that I can better align the chart type with my specific data analysis needs.

Acceptance criteria

• The visualization chooser is displayed when no default visualization type is selected.
• The chooser includes:
  • A visual representation of each available chart type.
  • A title and brief description for each visualization type.
  • A small example or guidance on when to use or avoid each type.
• After selecting a visualization type, the chosen chart renders correctly with the existing functionality.
• The chooser supports keyboard and mouse navigation for accessibility.
• Error handling is implemented for scenarios where no visualization types are available or selection fails.

We might need to change or update the visualization dropdown in the sidebar based on the solution that is implemented here. However, that can be addressed in a follow-up issue.

Additional notes / attachments

Similar to the Aevidence app chooser we can use a card approach that renders the different visualization types.

[dvdanielamoitzi]

Hi @thinkh , I created two sketches visualizing two proposals of how this could work. Let me know what you think!

Option A:

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Option B:

I'm happy to implement some feedback or create a more sophisticated de# case you'd like to go with one of those option. Option 3 I guess would be just listing cards with the different visualization types, where on hover we provide some more details like in the sketches. Personally, I like option B most, as it supports users in chosing the correct visualization and using our vis component properly. And maybe they even learn something new about when to use what kind of visualization 😄

Here's the excalidraw file in case you need it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/11QVM_wqua8RK3TohdOqqxnAd07UCdkgK/view?usp=drive_link

[thinkh]

@dvdanielamoitzi Thank you for the mockups and the fresh ideas! We discussed this internally and with our customers will implement this feature in a 2-step approach:

1. Plain cards: Implement the cards as I sketched them out and let users choose the visualization
2. Recommendation: Add a column dropdown and recommend visualizations based on their selection (e.g., 2 categorical + 1 numerical column). Visualizations that are not useful will be grayed out. Users can jump into the preconfigured visualization (based on the selected columns) or start with an empty one.

The recommendation feature can be enhanced by LLM to make it more sophisticated in a follow-up step.