Frequently Asked Questions

What is a ternary plot and how do I read it?

See the "What is a ternary plot?" explanation page.

How does TernaryPlot.com make money?

It doesn't, it's provided by me at your convenience for free. I am just a single developer who developed and maintains all this in my spare time. Amazing right? Thats why you should donate to support me and keep it going!

Can I use it offline?

Yes! You can install TernaryPlot.com as a browser app. On load in the Chrome or Microsoft Edge browser, an icon will appear in the search bar, click this icon and confirm the installation. Now you can use TernaryPlot.com without an internet connection.

Screenshot of installation prompt in Chrome

Why can't I plot anything?

Maybe a bug caused a crash. In that case, try reloading and please fill in the feedback form to notify me about what caused the bug.

What is that floating red dot on top the plot and how do I get rid of it?

The floating red dot marks the ternary value of the current mouse position on the plot. You can turn it off by clicking on the toggle button labeled "Interactive" below the plot.

Click on the plot to fix the position of the dot to read or copy the values, click again to unfix the dot.

How do I add a legend?

Add text in the "Legend Title" column in the table of the element (point, line, or area) that you want to include in the legend. Each data item (i.e. a point, line, or area) with a legend title is added to the legend which will automatically appear on the plot. See the 'Legend' section on the Help page for more details.

How do I change the dimensions of the plot?

If you want a fixed width, there is a config option called "Responsive dimensions" that you can toggle on.

How do I add text or points outside the plot?

You can plot outside of the plot by entering negative values in the table cell and disabling clipping. A negative table cell will become red, this is just a warning that can be ignored.

Clipping can be disabled by clicking the "Configure Plot" button below the ternary plot and disabling the "Clip to plot bounds" toggle in the "Background" section of the configuration sidebar.

I need more rows in the table, how do I add rows?

Currently adding rows is not supported. The number of rows varies per table type.

Points: 200 rows
Text: 20 rows
Lines: 80 rows
Areas: 80 rows

I want certain things of the plot to look differently, how do I change that?

Click the "Configure Plot" button below the ternary plot, a sidebar with configuration options will appear on the right side. See the Plot Configuration section on the help page for a detailed explanation on the options.

How do I quickly enter data?

Copy-pasting

You can paste values directly into multiple data cells at once from Excel or Google Sheets.
First, select and copy multiple cells in Excel/Google sheets. In a table on TernaryPlot.com, select the first cell you want to copy to. Now paste, multiple cells will be set at once.

Using a CSV file

See the section on uploading a CSV file and the sample CSV files section on the Help page.

Click the download button () and click "CSV" above the table you want to enter data into or download one of the sample CSV files on the help page .
Open the saved CSV file in Excel (or something else) and add your data in the a, b, c columns. Do not edit the column names, so do NOT replace a,b,c with labels for your data. Just leave the first row as it is.
Check your data
- Use a dot as a decimal separator.
- Make sure the first three column names are "a, b, c"
- Make sure your values are valid. For example, a symbol of a point can be only one of the 13 symbol types and point sizes can't be negative.
When you're done editing your data, save it as a CSV file.
On TernaryPlot.com, go to the table you want to enter data into, say the points table, and click the upload button () above the table
Select your edited CSV file and confirm
An alert message appears stating which columns are read, and which columns are ignored. You should now see the data in the table and on the plot, hooray!

How do I save data?

See the 'Saving Data' section on the Help page

Data is saved locally in your browser each time you finish editing a table. The data is reloaded automatically when you revisit.

You can also click the green download button () above a table to download the table data and reupload it later.

You can also store table data by name. See the 'Saving Data' section on the "Help" page.

How do I make a USDA Soil Triangle, Folk QFR Diagram or Dickinson QFL chart?

See the 'Templates' section on the Help page.

You can add templates for common ternary plots such as the USDA Soil Triangle or a QFR Diagram by clicking on the "Templates" button below the plot and selecting a template. If you would like to add a template, let me know using the feedback form that appears after downloading a ternary plot.

The plot is inverted, how do I reverse the axes?

The plot is most likely not inverted, perhaps you are reading the axes in reverse. If you do actually want the axes reversed, click the "Plot Configuration" button below the plot, then click the "Reverse" button in the "Plot Configuration" panel in the right sidebar.

If you have set custom domains and are seeing strange plot results, then you have likely entered incorrect values for the domains.

I need more advanced features like binning and contouring, what should I do?

If TernaryPlot.com does not satisfy your demands for ternary plots, check out one of the following software libraries.