Fightin' the Good Fight... On Pies.

Pies make great weapons. Delicious, nutritious weapons. They make stupid charts. Evil, lame, boring charts. And we all know that pie charts kill kittens.

So, in the words of Nancy Reagan, "Just Say No". Unless you're in Colorado or Washington. Then just say, "Dave's not here, man". Take some time, put a little thought into it, and you can come up with a much better illustration of your data.

Twisting the knife in a useful pie chart

Some people think that pie charts will kill kittens and bring the downfall of western civilization. Some people (**deep breaths, be nice, serenity now, woosah**) love pie charts. Since my self control is only so strong, we won't mention 3D pie chart 'people'.

Everyone knows that I'm firmly in the first camp, but I'm nothing if not flexible and tolerant of other people's stupid viewpoints. Which brings me grudgingly to the fact that I've recently read a couple of posts that point out good uses of pie charts (Jorge Camoes & Francis Gagnon). The gist is that pie charts are good for part to whole comparisons. Please notice that 'part' is singular, not plural. Let's apply this to Qlikview.