Does Tufte do any online training or have a CD? Asked "bro" in my comments (or maybe it was my brother Steve...)
I don't think so and having attended a seminar of his, I can guess why. Tufte treasures "density of information" in representation. One thing he passes around at his seminars is what looks like an X-Ray transparency but is, in fact, an image of the universe from some astronomical survey. The resolution on it is microscopic -- I don't remember the numbers, but it's the finest film humanity can make -- and he extolls the wonder of holding the universe in your hand and goes through and comes up with whatever it is -- 10 megabits per square inch, say. Then he says, "And now, I'd like to show you the least dense information display imaginable" -- and he projects a VGA PowerPoint image on the wall. It's a big laugh, but then he goes through the numbers again and it comes out to something pathetic, like a bit every 4 square inches. (And, of course, he's very critical of the PowerPoint "cognitive style.") But a major theme in his class is his disdain for current display technologies and the wastefulness of most user interface design.