Hormuz-o-meter is a deliberately reductionist tool that attempts to answer a single question: is the Strait of Hormuz open? The strait is one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints and carrying a significant fraction of shipping traffic through the region. Its status has real-world consequences for energy markets and international trade and countless other factors.
The dial you see on the front page represents a single number between 0 and 1. Where 0 means the strait is effectively closed and 1 means it is fully open. Values in between reflect partial disruption, heightened tension, or uncertainty. This number is a human judgment call, and should be treated accordingly.
I am fully aware that boiling the geopolitical complexity that involves multiple nations, international law, military postures, economic incentives, and humanitarian considerations into a single sliding scale is an absurd simplification. That is the point.