benfry.com

benfry.com features several data visualization projects by Ben Fry, including Salary vs. Performance, Zipdecode, Anemone, and All Streets, plus DNA comparison illustrations and sketches of the Enron email data set. The site is primarily an archive of work from 1998–2010; the page itself notes it has not received regular updates for a long time and that new work is at Fathom.

Projects Named on the Site

Where to See the Work in Context

The site's writing section points to Visualizing Data (O'Reilly, 2007) as the place where the data visualization process is explained, with Salary vs. Performance, Zipdecode, and Anemone used as worked examples across chapters. If you want to understand the method behind the projects rather than just view them, that book is the site's own recommended route.

A Note on the Archive

The news entries on the page run from 2008 to 2010, and the site describes its content as "primarily an archive from 1998–2010." For newer work, the site directs visitors to Fathom, which launched on 23 July 2010.

Ben Fry has written or co-written three books: Getting Started with Processing (with Casey Reas), Visualizing Data (O'Reilly, 2007), and Processing (MIT Press). The site presents them as an archive of his work from 1998–2010, so the descriptions below reflect what benfry.com says about each book rather than current editions or availability.

The three books and what each is for

How to choose between them

• If you are new to code and want a short, example-driven entry point, start with Getting Started with Processing.
• If you already write code and want to learn the visualization workflow through concrete projects, Visualizing Data is the match—its chapters map directly to projects you can inspect on the site.
• If you want a reference to the Processing language and environment itself, the MIT Press Processing book is the one described for that purpose.

Where to find more

The site points to its writing section for more about Visualizing Data. Note that benfry.com states it has not received regular updates for a long time; it was designed in 2008 and is primarily an archive from 1998–2010, with new work at Fathom. For current editions or purchasing details, check the publisher or retailer pages rather than relying on this archive.

benfry.com is Ben Fry's personal site: a portfolio and archive covering his projects, writing, and news, primarily from 1998–2010. It is the place to look for his books on Processing and data visualization, selected project write-ups, and older news entries. The site itself states that it has not been updated regularly for a long time and that new work is now at Fathom, so treat benfry.com as a historical archive rather than a current feed.

What you'll find on the site

The homepage is organized around a few simple sections: projects, writing, genetics, and about, plus a books section and a news list.

Books

The site describes three books associated with Fry:

Projects and writing

The projects and writing sections document visualization and design work, including pieces such as All Streets (a compilation of 26 million road segments), Salary vs. Performance, Zipdecode, and Anemone. Several of these double as case studies in Visualizing Data, so the site and the book reinforce each other.

News archive

The news list runs from roughly 2008 to 2010 and includes the launch of Fathom (23 July 2010), an interview at Rhizome on the Processing 1.0 release, and Fry's appointment as director of Seed Visualization and its Phyllotaxis Lab. These entries are dated and should be read as a record of that period.

Who it's for

• Beginners learning Processing who want background on the book and its authors.
• Designers and researchers looking for early examples of data visualization practice.
• Readers tracing the history of Processing and of Fry's studio work before Fathom.

Practical caveats

The site explicitly says it was designed in 2008 and that content is "primarily an archive from 1998–2010." For current work, projects, and updates, the site points to Fathom. If you need the latest material, start there; use benfry.com when you specifically want the earlier record, the book descriptions, or the archived project pages.

benfry.com is outdated because it is a personal archive rather than an actively maintained site: the site was designed in 2008 and has not received regular updates for a long time, and its content is primarily an archive from 1998–2010. Newer work is at Fathom, which officially launched on 23 July 2010, and the site states that most future updates happen there rather than on benfry.com.

What the site is

benfry.com is Ben Fry's personal site, organized around projects, writing, genetics, and about sections. It functions as a record of his work from the late 1990s through 2010 rather than as a current portfolio or blog.

The site's own news note explains the design context directly: it was designed in 2008, described as "a milder time with smaller screen sizes and no mobile devices." That is why the layout can feel dated compared with current sites — it was built for the web of that period and then left largely as-is.

Where the newer work lives

The 23 July 2010 news entry announces "the official launch of Fathom, and a new site to go with it," and notes that most future updates will happen there rather than on benfry.com. In practice, that means benfry.com is the right place for historical material and Fathom is the right place for current activity.

What you can still find on the archive

The archived content is not empty — it documents a substantial body of work, including:

• Books: Getting Started with Processing (with Casey Reas), Visualizing Data (O'Reilly, 2007), and the second edition of Processing (MIT Press).
• Data visualization projects: Salary vs. Performance, Zipdecode, Anemone, All Streets (a compilation of 26 million road segments), and sketches of the Enron email data set.
• Genetics and editorial illustrations: DNA comparisons of humans versus chimps and a dozen mammals, a Nature cover for the HapMap project, and an illustration for William Safire's On Language column.
• News entries: interviews (Rhizome on the Processing 1.0 release, waferbaby), and the announcement of his post as director of Seed Visualization and its Phyllotaxis Lab.

How to decide which site to use

• If you want to understand Ben Fry's earlier projects, read about his books, or see the 1998–2010 record, start at benfry.com.
• If you want to know what he is doing now, go to Fathom first; the archive itself points there.
• If a page on benfry.com looks frozen in time, that is expected — treat it as a snapshot, not a broken site.