Hello there! This is going to be the last blog in the Tableau charts series. If you haven't already checked out the previous blogs do check them out, they are listed at the end of this blog.
We have touched almost all the charts offered in tableau so far. If you feel something is left out please mention it in the comments. Moreover, there can be a lot of variations to a single type of chart and not everything can be covered via these blogs so it is recommended that you explore functionalities offered in Tableau yourself.
Trust me, you will learn much more and much faster.
Before we start exploring lets do the drill. We will be using the Superstore dataset. Although it is already available in Tableau please download it from below here since some changes have been made to it for the purpose of this tutorial.
Now, just load the data and get to the workspace so that we can begin. In case you don't know how to please refer to this blog.
Dual axis charts
A dual axis chart (also called a multiple axes chart) uses two axes to easily illustrate the relationships between two variables with different magnitudes and scales of measurement.
We have already come across a dual axis chart in the third blog while making a doughnut chart. Do you remember? Don't worry, we are going to make one here as well.
To begin with, we will first make a monthly sales chart as we did in the first blog of this series. The graph is shown below.
Then drag the 'Profit' field from the data pane to the rows shelf next to the sales. The plot would look something like this.
In order to make the above chart to be a dual axis chart all you need to do is select the 'Dual Axis' option from the dropdown menu of the profit field in the rows shelf.
You have your dual axis chart.
The above chart has two y-axes one corresponding to the sales and the other to the profit. The common axis i.e. the x- axis lies in the middle.
Word Clouds
A word cloud is a visual representation of word data.
The more a measure corresponding to a specific word, the bigger and bolder that word appears.
When you don't want to get more specific and just want to show which fields are dominating in certain criteria you can use word clouds (just like tree maps and bubble charts, remember?). We will make a word cloud showing sales made by each subcategory.
Follow the steps listed below:
Drag the 'Subcategory' field from the data pane onto the 'Text' option on the marks card.
Again drag the 'Subcategory' field from the data pane onto the 'Color' option on the marks card.
Drag the 'Sales' field from the data pane onto the 'Size' option on the marks card. Doing this would result in a tree map.
From the dropdown menu on the marks card select 'Text' option.
In just 4 easy steps we have made a word cloud. Yay!
Cross Tables
A cross table is an arrangement of data in rows and columns, or possibly in a more complex structure.
They are also known as a pivot table or a multi-dimensional table.
They can display subtotals and grand totals for columns and rows.
To create a table we need one or more dimensions and measures. Let's make a table showing the categories, subcategories and their corresponding sales.
There are literally just two steps to make a cross-table:
Step 1: Drag the field 'Category' from data pane to the rows shelf and then do the same with the 'Subcategory' filed. This will produce a table-like structure in the view area.
Step 2: Either drag the 'Sales' field from the data pane to the third column of the table in the view area that has 'Abc' written in it or drag and drop it on the 'Text' option on the marks card. Both ways would produce the same result which is shown below.
That's pretty much it. You also add color scheme to it based on the desired measure or dimension. You can also sort the table (as well as charts). Let's discuss sorting before we end this blog.
If you want to sort your table in ascending/descending order you can do so by selecting the sort options on the tool bar as shown below.
As you can see, we first sorted the table in ascending order and then in descending order according to the sales.
Alternatively you can also sort by specific field. For example, to sort the above table on the basis of 'Subcategory' field in alphabetically ascending order. We will use the dropdown menu of 'Subcategory' field in the rows shelf and select the 'Sort' option. The following dialogue box will appear.
In the 'Sort By' dropdown menu select the 'Alphabetic' option and then select the desired sort order (in this case we are using the ascending order) and then click 'OK'.
The table is now sorted alphabetically in ascending order based on the 'Subcategory' field.
There are many option to sort as you can see in the sort dialogue box above. Please check it out. You can set the sort order manually as well and you can also sort by a field which is not present in the table.
So, this is the end of the Tableau chart series. But there will be more blogs in which we will learn to create dashboards and stories. So be on the lookout.
You maybe interested to check out the following blogs:
If you need implementation for any of the topics mentioned above or assignment help on any of its variants, feel free to contact us.
