Updating plots and data can occur through several means, including making a new plot of the same data, tabbing over to a new plot type which will reveal a new plot options panel with varied settings resulting in an entirely different plot, choosing whether or not to include CRU data in a plot, or making changes in the data selection panel after a data subset has been generated.
Whether the change is superficial such as choosing a new color palette or fundamental such as altering the grouping variable, changes generally do not take effect in the graph itself until the user presses the Generate Plot button again. I say generally because there are some particular edge cases where a plot must immediately refresh in the browser on changing a plotting option without need of a button push, but it is beyond the scope of this document to describe why this can sometimes happen.
Data changes are quite simple. After the user has generated a data subset, regardless of what they have done since, whether they have made plots or not, any changes at all to any input in the data selection panel will require the user to generate a new subset. Any plot, data table, and plot options panel will vanish. This occurs immediately. The is no waiting for the user to press the Subset Data button after making changes.
There are several good reasons for this, but most are technical so I will leave them out. However, the most important one is not technical. It would be too easy to change an item in the data selection panel and neglect to regenerate the data subset if one is still staring at a plot and a data table. After all, since the data has not technically changed, there would be no reason to erase the plot or data table- which is why the I have the app force this change.
Leaving the plot options in place and the ability to plot can result in plotting old data but seeing it labeled in some ways as new data. This is bad. Also, some plot options may seem odd or inapplicable. Although, as mentioned, various elements in the browser such as plot options are dependent on the data, for technical reasons not all of these update based on the data change itself. Some also update in response to data selection inputs and cannot wait for a Subset Data button press confirmation. As you will see in your use of the app, best practice is that if you reopen the minimized data selection panel and make any change you will clear any browser elements based on the old data.