12/24/2016
Tableau Tips - Volume 8 "10 Tips for a Rainy Day Viz"
This installment of Tableau Tips focuses on tips used in creating a Rainy Day Viz.
Below is the finished viz as an animated GIF. You can view and download on Tableau Public
here
#10 - Using Animated GIFs
This is a tip showed in the very first installment of Tableau Tips here. In that tip I showed animated GIFs to show play control actions. However, in this viz I am using the animated GIF as a background image. To do this, I created an HTML page and used the animated GIF as the background image. Below is some code you can use to do this. Host this code and then place a Web Page object on your dashboard and use the address to your hosted page. In my case the URL in the Web Object is www.dataplusscience.com/animated4.html.
#9 - Text Boxes Can be Transparent
The chart background and map backgrounds can't be transparent on a dashboard, but text objects can be transparent. This allows the test to show up on top of animated GIF but without a background color. Right-click and select Format text object and set the Shading to None.
#8 - Use Unicode Characters in Text Boxes with Transparent Background
Tableau Tips Volume 4 here was all about using Unicode characters. One of the benefits of using Unicode characters is that it's in a text box, which means it can have a transparent background. In this viz I am using the umbrella character with shading of the text object to None.
#7 - Use a Blank Text Box with Shading
The light background box on top of the animated GIF is a blank text box. Simply add a text box with a blank space to the dashboard (floating) and set the shading to 50% or to the desired level. Make sure to place it behind the other floating objects by setting the float order to the back.
#6 - Use PNG Files with Transparent Backgrounds
The map is a PNG file that is an image with a transparent background. When placed on a dashboard, this has the same effect as transparent text.
#5 - Use Text Box for Chart with Unicode Characters
This isn't ideal, but since a text box can be transparent, it can be used to show data without the background color of a chart area. Unicode characters can be used to make a bar chart, as show here. In this viz I mocked up a small dot plot.
#4 - Create Calculated Field for City and State to Plot Map
The first map I created was in Tableau, but I didn't have any geographic data. I just want to plot a map of Ohio with a dot on Cincinnati. I created two calculated fields. One for State which had "Ohio" in the formula and one for "City" which had "Cincinnati" in the formula. Then I set the geographic field to City and State respectively so that Tableau would generate a Longitude and Latitude. The rest was just map formatting which I showed in Tableau Tips Volume 6 here.. It's a dual axis map with a shaded map for the state and a dot map for the city.
#3 - Use Tool to Create Animated Text GIF
There are a number of tools online for creating animated text GIFs. What I used is textanim.com. This tool has a box to enter your own custom text and then various settings for color, size and animation options. Once you have the animated text designed then you can download as an animated GIF file.
#2 - Use Container for Chart Title and Chart
When placing a chart on a dashboard using a floating tile, the title of the chart has a small break from the chart area. The two areas can be shaded separated, but if the same color then there is a small break in between. If you want the chart title to appear in the chart area as s single clean box then simply place them in a floating container. Then you can format the background of the container and the title and chart area will appear in the container.
Without a container:
With a container:
#1 - Use Unicode Characters to Created Textured Charts
Tableau doesn't offer a marks card for the preattentive attribute of texture. In this viz I used a text box with Unicode characters and placed it over top of the bar charts. Because of the gridlines, I ended up using 4 text boxes so that the dots didn't show over the lines, but if the lines weren't there then it could be one text box. Note, one downside is that the tooltip from the bar chart won't work if it's covered with text boxes.
And for those of you who celebrate Christmas:
I hope you find these tips helpful. If you have any questions feel free to email me at Jeff@DataPlusScience.com
Jeffrey A. Shaffer
Follow on Twitter @HighVizAbility
