Create a Simple Chart (Bar/ Line/ Area)

Simple Bar, Line & Area charts allow you to compare data across multiple categories. Follow these steps to build a simple chart:

  1. Drag and drop measures to Summarize By
  2. Add dimensions to Segment By and Breakdown By.
    • Segment By - Summarizes measures by categories. In our example, we segmented a numeric variable, Spend, by Year & Month.
    • Breakdown By - Splits measures within each segment by other categories. In our example, for each combination of Year & Month, we break down spend into two groups - Facebook and Google.

Variable-Level Settings

There are two different setting types that you can apply to variables used in a widget: aggregate functions and appearance. 

Aggregate Functions

Aggregate functions greatly depend on the variable type: numeric, dates, categorical. To change an aggregate function, simply click on it as shown below:

Appearance Settings

Breakdown By

In Breakdown By, you can turn a simple bar, line or area chart into a stacked one, where each dimension doesn't have a separate bar anymore but rather is stacked on top of each other. It is also possible to normalize a breakdown by stacking it to 100%:

Summarize By

In Summarize By, you can find settings that are applied to or created based on measures. Below, we will describe each of them in detail.

  • Mark: bar, line, or area.
  • Stack: settings for group stacks.
  • Format: change how your numbers are displayed - rounding, separators, negative values, and currency.
  • Filter: you may apply filters based on the same variable as used in Summarize By or any other variable you have in a dataset.
  • Show percentage: display numbers in relative terms. Note that a chart will display the percentage of each breakdown value out of the total value taken as 100%. 
  • Cumulate: cumulative values based on the sort. In our case, based on dates. 
  • Show right axis: you may want to add a second axis in case your measures differ significantly in absolute terms across breakdowns: imagine that "Facebook spend" includes millions and "Google spend" - just hundreds. Adding a second axis will help to communicate data clearer.
  • Show tooltip: a tooltip is a pop-up window that appears once you place a cursor on a bar. It shows more detailed information about the data behind a chart.
  • Show label: labels are numbers that appear on bars.

Widget-Level Settings

In Settings, you can change the appearance of a widget. This includes:

  • Legend: show names of Breakdown By categories and corresponding colors.
  • Flip Axis: turn a horizontal bar chart into a vertical one and vice versa.
  • Axis Pointer: axis pointer shows numbers on the existing axes. This feature is especially helpful for large charts and charts with double axes.
  • Sorting: sort bars in descending or ascending order by measures or dimensions.
  • X- and Y-Axis: change the appearance of axes: rotate category names, change the font and its size, adjust margins, etc. You can also perform a log-transformation of values.
  • Data Zoom: choose an interval of values that you would like to analyze separately.

Filters and Underlying Data

On a widget level, users can also set particular filters by dataset variables. To do so, you can drag and drop variables from the measures and dimensions field and then apply a filter to the variable you chose.

By clicking on Data, you will get a preview of the data used to build a widget.