An exemplary method receives user actions to (i) associate a first field with a first shelf and (ii) associate second and third fields with a second shelf. The second field is positioned at an outer-most position on the second shelf and the third field is positioned at an inner-most position on the second shelf. The method receives an additional user action to specify a nested sort according to data for the first and third fields. The method generates and displays a data visualization in accordance with the received actions, including: (i) partitioning retrieved data into groups of tuples, each tuple including data for the fields, and each group of tuples corresponding to a distinct value of the second field, (ii) forming panes, each pane corresponding to a respective group of tuples, and (iii) within each pane, displaying data marks, each data mark corresponding to a respective tuple.