Circle Takes the Square

Did you ever think to yourself, "Why was Paul Lynde always the center square? What's wrong with Soupy Sales? And for hell's sake, shouldn't Charo be the center of everyone's game show universe?"

If you did, then you were also alive the last time I posted a tip. So, quicker than you can say 'cuchi cuchi', here's your Tip:

Make a Round Text Object

Good vs Evil (or "How to confuse with a poor bar chart")

There's good and there's bad. And then there's BAD:

And since the Muscles from Brussels knows no bounds, he played both good and bad in his Oscar-worthy masterpiece, Double Impact.

And since we sometimes refuse to channel our inner van Damme, we create bad bar charts:

We've all done it. Sales by Year by Month. Lots of colors. Lots of data. Almost no insight. This is your Double Team where you make Dennis Rodman look like a real actor. We can fix it, just like they fixed Jean-Claude in Universal Soldier.

Hey FontFace!

It's 1977. I'm fourteen. At a church dance. With girls.

They've played Dream On by Aerosmith (oddly appropriate) and I was too scared to move. Frampton Shows Me The Way, but who to ask? Then it happened. Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven spins up and a girl asks me to dance! An older girl. To a slow song. 14 year old nirvana! Then, disaster! The darn song speeds up in the middle and we have to let go and fast dance! What do I do with my arms? And my legs? Oh my gosh, my legs!

And now you know how I feel when you use a mishmash of fonts. Confused. Just pick one and use it.

Scenario: One Bar Chart, One Tab

Question: How many places can you change the font?

Answer: Only counting the buttons that say 'Font', I count ELEVEN! Even more if you consider things like Expression Attributes.

Result: A plethora of ways to crap-up* your interface on even the simplest dashboard.

Let's go through them one by one.

Map It!

My youthful wrinkles and gray hair have not spared me from the horrible anguish of ageism perpetrated against me. So, to prove you youngsters wrong and that I'm hip to that jive, let me quote from the philosopher of your generation,  Selena Gomez:

"The trips we dreamed of takin', the tags left on the map, what happened to that? What happened to that?"

While I refuse to listen to it, I'm sure that it's a national treasure. So, Carpe Diem Baby, hug the curve, lose the time, tear the map, and shoot the sign.

My segue skills are almost exhausted, so here it is. Add a map to your dashboard. Just do it.

Share It!

I'm as guilty, maybe more guilty, as anyone. I love to build the most clever analytical wingding to ever grace the presence of the lowly sales manager's desktop. Witness 'Color Me Crazy' or 'Perfect Probability Pipeline'. That stuff is genius!

But, believe it or not, your users suffer through your creativity in order to get something done. Like selling something that pays your exorbitant salary. It's time to help them.

Expression Attributes

We all have endearing attributes. Even me. My most endearing attribute is my humbleness. And my calves. You're most endearing attribute? You're willingness to obey my every command. That's nice.

Qlikview allows you to apply custom formatting to expressions. Maybe you want a dashed line instead of a solid line. Done. Your line is too skinny? Don't be stupid. Make it fat. Black text is so boring. How about grey? Speaking of grey, if you can guess the number of grey hairs that I have, you win a prize. Not a good prize.

I'm pretty sure that I'm up for the Congressional Medal of Honor because of FortuneCookieBI. Now, that's a prize!

Give your rows breathing space

This tip is about as easy as it gets, but it’s a great way to improve the look, feel and usability of your tables, especially if they only have a few rows. When you create a table, the default is to get something like:

The rows are mashed up and everything looks dense. To add some space, open the Chart Properties and go to the Presentation tab. At the bottom right, check the box ‘Wrap Cell Text’.

Bam! You have a table that feels much lighter: