KaleidaGraph 3.08 from Synergy Software is a well-designed graphing and analysis tool for research scientists, as well as for those in business and engineering fields. It enables production of publication-quality graphs, and easily converts the most complicated data into a functional display. Multifunctional KaleidaGraph allows one to import, manipulate, and analyze data, as well as create customized plots. Statistics, linear and nonlinear curve fitting, a built-in scripting language to automate tasks, and the ability to produce precise graphic visualization of data all make KaleidaGraph powerful and flexible. One rarely finds excellent functionality combined with a great price ($155) and low hardware requirements (only 2 Mb RAM and 2 Mb hard disk space!), making KaleidaGraph a rare software package.

Figure 1

When KaleidaGraph is first launched, it is easy to start entering, manipulating, and plotting data immediately. A blank data window is displayed along with the formula entry window. The data window is made up of a spreadsheet, a cell selection cursor, a title bar, a home icon for quickly returning to the start window, and a posted note to enter information about the data. Data analysis command tools are found in the formula entry window, enabling one to execute and create equations and formulas as well as calculate statistics. Users may also fit their data to linear or nonlinear equations. Double-clicking on any column title opens a dialog box for column formatting. The menu shortcuts dialog, which is selected from the windows menu, allows assigning or reassigning functions to the keyboard, just one of KaleidaGraph's many automation features.

The powerful, built-in macro calculator allows one to write customized programs to automate importation, manipulation, plotting, and analysis of data. The relatively easy-to-learn commands are entered in the program editor, which is displayed by clicking on the macro calculator's Edit Program button. This feature allows automating many KaleidaGraph analysis functions, making it easy to transform, analyze and plot data.

Many data handling features makes KaleidaGraph convenient to use. A KaleidaGraph worksheet permits a total of 256 columns of data in 32,000 rows (subject to memory limitations), enabling users to plot more than eight million data points! Microsoft Excel files can be opened directly in KaleidaGraph, and the data import facility allows importing ASCII delimited files. Users can even specify the data structure from this dialog box, making data import error-free. Data entry and manipulation is intuitive and surprisingly fast. Columns of data may also be created or filled by using the creating series feature, which applies formulas to generate data. The formula entry feature also enables one to manipulate data with a variety of mathematical and statistical functions. These operations may be applied to an entire column or a single cell of the worksheet. Finally, commonly used formulas may be assigned to function keys or scripts.

Even though KaleidaGraph only requires a minimum of 2 Mb of RAM to run, it is surprisingly fast when handling up to 32,000 data points. Visualization of these complex data sets only took a few seconds when used in that minimum configuration. Considering the hardware requirements, KaleidaGraph is an astonishingly powerful program that makes is easy to accomplish difficult tasks.

Figure 2

KaleidaGraph's 2-D plotting gallery is a rich collection of many plot styles such as line, scatter, double Y, probability, box, histogram, percentile, bar, column, polar, pie, and text. KaleidaGraph allows a maximum of 20 independent x and 20 dependent y variables per plot. The axis options dialog permits manipulation of limits, ticks, grids, and labels of axes, enabling the creation of customized plots. These options may be accessed from the plot menu or by simply clicking on an axis. Modifying plot style is easy from the plot style dialog, which allows amelioration of pattern, marker size and form, and plot style and width, in addition to color. Flexible use of text labels allows rotatation of text to 90, 180, or 270 degrees. Numerous drawing tools are accessible from the tool palette, which appears on the left side of the desktop when a plot or layout window is active. Another advanced plotting feature uses the table tool to create tables of up to 16 columns and 64 rows to be pasted into the plot window. Double-clicking the table tool button doesn't open the dialog box, though, requiring clicking on the plot while the button is highlighted. X and Y error bars can be added to KaleidaGraph plots by choosing error bars from the plot menu. In addition, KaleidaGraph exports plot or layout windows as PICT or bitmap files. One limitation of KaleidaGraph is that it does not include 3-D plot support. This is not too surprising, considering the program's low hardware requirements.

Figure 3

A number of statistical functions can be easily accessed for the active data window by selecting Statistics from the functions menu. Figure 3 shows the results of one analysis, which included the following parameters: minimum, maximum, mean, median, sum, points, root mean square, standard deviation, variance, standard error, skewness, and kurtosis. In addition, this reviewer was able to copy the results from this analysis to the clipboard, where it could be saved for further use.

Figure 4

KaleidaGraph includes a curve fitter that enables fitting of data to built-in or user-provided equations. Both linear and nonlinear curve fitting is supported with built-in equations for polynomial, linear, exponential, logarithmic, and power functions. In addition, presentation of data can be improved with the smoothing, cubic spline, and interpolation functions.

Figure 5

Defining your own equation is made possible by the general curve fit function and the results of a nonlinear curve fit to the data easily displayed on a plot. Figure 2 is an example of a dose-response curve that was fit with the nonlinear curve fitter in KaleidaGraph. The logistic equation used to obtain this fit is shown in figure 4, and the results of this fit are displayed in figure 5. KaleidaGraph uses the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for nonlinear curve fitting.

The printed manual is a detailed teaching guide, an invaluable resource. In addition, Synergy Software offers great technical support by phone, fax, or by e-mail at tech@synergy.com (for the Macintosh) or kgwin@synergy.com (for Windows). Interestingly, the Macintosh version of KaleidaGraph evaluated for this review did not include an online help file accessible from within the program. Instead, a PDF file of the printed manual was obtained from the demo CD included with the package.

KaleidaGraph is a fascinating and powerful graphics program that offers much sophistication yet is incredibly easy to use. It seamlessly transforms your most complicated data into customized plots that can be saved or exported. Data can be easily analyzed and publication-quality graphs prepared. Statistics, linear, and nonlinear curve fitting, in addition to the built-in macro language to automate tasks, makes KaleidaGraph an incredibly flexible software package. In addition, the low hardware requirements for the Macintosh version makes KaleidaGraph a rare find among its often bloated competitors.

KaleidaGraph is available for Macintosh and Windows. The Macintosh version requires System 6.05 or later, with a minimum of 2 Mb of RAM and 2 Mb of hard disk space. The Windows version requires Win 3.1x with Win32s extensions, or Windows 95 or Windows NT, and a minimum of 8 Mb RAM (16 Mb for Windows NT) and 3 Mb of hard disk space.

KaleidaGraph is available from Synergy Software, 2457 Perkiomen Ave., Reading, PA 19606. They can be reached by phone at (610) 779-0522, by fax at (610) 370-0548, or by e-mail at sales@synergy.com. You can download a demo version or find more information about KaleidaGraph from the Synergy Software Web site by taking the KaleidaGraph interactive quick tour (requires the Shockwave plug-in).