Creating facets
by Matt Floyd, Ashley Ohmann, Ashutosh Nandeshwar, Jen Stirrup
Tableau: Creating Interactive Data Visualizations
- Tableau: Creating Interactive Data Visualizations
- Table of Contents
- Tableau: Creating Interactive Data Visualizations
- Tableau: Creating Interactive Data Visualizations
- Credits
- Preface
- 1. Module 1
- 1. A Short Dash to Dashboarding!
- 2. Summarizing Your Data for Dashboards
- 3. Interacting with Data for Dashboards
- 4. Using Dashboards to Get Results
- 5. Putting the Dash into Dashboards
- 6. Making Dashboards Relevant
- 7. Visual Best Practices
- 2. Module 2
- 1. Connecting to Data Sources
- Introduction
- Connecting to text files
- Connecting to Excel files
- Connecting to Access databases
- Connecting to a SQL Server
- Pasting from a clipboard
- Connecting to other databases
- Connecting to Windows Azure Marketplace
- Understanding dimensions and measures
- Changing data types
- Applying filters
- Merging multiple data sources
- 2. Creating Univariate Charts
- 3. Creating Bivariate Charts
- 4. Creating Multivariate Charts
- 5. Creating Maps
- 6. Calculating User-defined Fields
- 7. Customizing and Saving
- 8. Exporting and Sharing
- 9. Exploring Advanced Features
- 1. Connecting to Data Sources
- 3. Module 3
- 1. Getting Started with Tableau Public
- 2. Tableau Public Interface Features
- 3. Connecting to Data
- 4. Visualization – Tips and Types
- 5. Calculations
- 6. Level of Detail and Table Calculations
- 7. Dashboard Design and Styling
- 8. Filters and Actions
- 9. Publishing Your Work
- A. Bibliography
- Index
Facets are one of the powerful features in Tableau. Edward Tufte, a pioneer in the field of information graphics, championed these types of charts, also called grid or panel charts; he called them small multiples. These charts show the same measure(s) across various values of one or two variables for easier comparison.
Let's use the sample file Sample – Coffee Chain (Access). Open a new worksheet and select Sample – Coffee Chain (Access) as the data source.
Once the data file is loaded on the new worksheet, perform the following steps to create a simple faceted chart:
- Drag-and-drop Market from Dimensions into the Columns shelf.
- Drag-and-drop Product Type from Dimensions into the Rows shelf.
- Drag-and-drop Profit from Measures into the Rows shelf next to Product Type.
- Optionally, you can drag-and-drop Market into the Color Marks box to give color to the four bars of different Market areas. The chart should look like the one in the following screenshot:
When there is one dimension on one of the shelves, either Columns or Rows, and one measure on the other shelf, Tableau creates a univariate bar chart, but when we drop additional dimensions along with the measure, Tableau creates small charts or facets and displays univariate charts broken down by a dimension.
A company named Juice Analytics has a great blog article on the topic of small multiples. This article lists the benefits of using small multiples as well as some examples of small multiples in practice. Find this blog at http://www.juiceanalytics.com/writing/better-know-visualization-small-multiples/.
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