Why Does Your Dashboard Deserve a Makeover?
Within the realm of information visualization, there is a well-known saying {that a} image is price a thousand phrases, and so is information. However what if these thousand phrases could possibly be distilled into a number of rigorously chosen ones to amplify the story your information is aiming to inform?
On the earth of dashboards, the place each pixel is valuable actual property, the search to condense the essence of huge datasets right into a single display screen typically leaves us with dense layouts stuffed with nothing however charts and numbers. It is easy to overlook that typically, inserting a splash of wealthy context can remodel this advanced mosaic right into a compelling narrative, enhancing not simply the readability however the very understanding of the dashboard for its customers.
The Fundamentals of Markdown: A Fast and Enjoyable Primer
Enter the unassuming hero of our story: markdown. With its easy syntax and highly effective capabilities, markdown is about to show your dashboard from a mere assortment of graphs into an attractive, informative storybook. Let’s embark on a journey to discover how having enjoyable with markdown in your dashboard can elevate your information storytelling to new heights.
All that is obtainable as a Wealthy Textual content widget, which supplies you management over the place in your dashboard the content material must be displayed.
What are you able to do with this new function?
GoodData at present helps the fundamental markdown syntax, also called CommonMark. Sooner or later, we are going to increase the supported syntax to provide our dashboard builders much more management, however even with this core performance, you may introduce a number of important enhancements to your dashboards.
You may add extra textual content to your dashboards with paragraphs and headings (a number of ranges). This was already obtainable in GoodData earlier than the introduction of the Wealthy Textual content widget, however inserting your textual content right into a widget can provide you extra flexibility in its placement.
You too can format elements of textual content utilizing daring, italic, or underscore. That is an intuitive solution to spotlight data that helps customers shortly discover the main points they want. You may even format whole paragraphs utilizing block quotes or code blocks. Code blocks can describe any MAQL question that calculates an necessary metric that you simply wish to talk again to dashboard customers.
One other helpful function is to make use of the horizontal line as a divider. This may be particularly helpful when you could have an extended dashboard or a dashboard that makes use of a extra advanced structure.
Final however not least, you need to use markdown syntax to embed pictures, flip textual content into hyperlinks, or embody lists or bullet factors, supplying you with plenty of choices to construction your data in a method that’s helpful to your general storytelling strategy.
You may learn the main points about every of the syntax choices within the public documentation.
Remodeling Knowledge into Tales: The Energy of Wealthy Textual content
Now, let us take a look at a sensible instance.
I’ll try to enhance the readability of the next dashboard. Utilizing this dataset, we have constructed some insights wanting into what books are normally rated among the many prime 100 books over the previous 40 years. Already at first look, you’ll discover that it is inconceivable to derive some key findings with out actually zooming into the main points.
So let’s have a look at what we are able to do to enhance it.
Step 1: Begin with context
It is good follow to supply visible clues to assist customers perceive the info instantly. We are able to add the Goodreads brand along with a brief description all the way in which to the highest. With out shedding an excessive amount of house, we are able to present fast context for the remainder of the dashboard.
Since fundamental markdown language would not enable many formatting choices, I’ve entered two textual content widgets subsequent to one another: one with the brand and one with a brief description and a hyperlink to the Goodreads web site.
Step 2: Spotlight key findings
There are lots of methods to strategy this. We may add a textual widget and describe key findings in bullet factors. In my instance, I opted for a unique technique. There are plenty of charts on the dashboard, so I needed to interrupt the stream by rigorously inserting a visualization representing the important thing findings. With this strategy, I would not have to drive the customers to check the chart to see the highest merchandise shortly.
I used the same strategy for the «Genres» part, however this time, I additionally included a second widget to explain the findings. I selected this strategy as a result of the completely different charts offered completely different outcomes, and I needed to verify the illustration helped not simply visually but in addition with understanding.
Within the case of particular books, the picture of the guide is sort of self-explanatory. Right here, I felt like extra context is required. Particularly since comedian books and fantasy have the same visualization, I felt a quick description may assist make clear the context.
Admittedly, this strategy has some limits with the present implementation. The wealthy textual content widget, in its present kind, would not will let you use dynamic values. This isn’t wanted for this dashboard, which is not more likely to obtain new information fairly often. In different real-world use circumstances, nonetheless, this is probably not the case.
With picture URLs saved within the database, changing the values dynamically primarily based on the present execution outcomes would additional cut back the necessity to preserve the wealthy content material whereas nonetheless having the ability to present related data. We’ll certainly add this feature in future releases.
Step 3: Abstract or helpful data
It is potential that you simply wish to add some details about your dashboard. I imagine it is best to try this on the finish. In my instance, I needed so as to add details about the dataset, an outline of wealthy textual content options I used for this explicit dashboard, and lastly, an evidence for the metric I used for choosing the top-scoring genres, because it features a situation that’s not communicated wherever else.
A Wealthy Textual content widget can also be useful right here in order that I can construction all this data in a really concise method.
Suggestions and Methods: Markdown Mastery for Dashboard Wizards
On this part, I want to point out a number of suggestions to make sure your wealthy content material is built-in nicely into your dashboard.
Tip 1: Keep simplicity and consistency
Including wealthy textual content can introduce extra colours and design components (fonts, pictures, or iconography). It is best to all the time attempt to align these visible components with the remainder of the dashboard and hold them to an inexpensive minimal. You also needs to use pictures sparingly and ensure they don’t overpower the dear data that’s included within the information visualizations. Remember that the purpose of wealthy content material is to counterpoint the consumer expertise, to not overpower it.
In case your dashboard is embedded in a father or mother utility, that is one other design context it is best to consider when including wealthy content material to your dashboards.
Tip 2: Optimize picture sizes and codecs
Dashboard efficiency is one other rigorously maintained end result. When inserting wealthy content material and visuals, it is necessary to maintain this side in thoughts, particularly in case your dashboard is meant for sensible units or distributed to areas with usually poorer community connections.
Tip 3: Much less is extra
If what’s written above will not be clear, it is best to use pictures and wealthy textual content formatting solely after they ship the specified worth to the reader. It’s totally simple to go overboard, and the result’s the precise reverse of the supposed state—a extra chaotic dashboard that makes it tougher to discover.
Conclusion: Your Dashboard, Your Story
All in all, the wealthy textual content widget is a good addition to your information storytelling toolbox. Along with theming/styling and responsive design, you may construct and construction highly effective dashboards which are simple to learn and fast to scan by to get helpful insights as shortly as potential.
Beneath, you may evaluate the before-and-after states of the pattern dashboard. Whereas I needed to compromise a bit on the actual property, the improved readability and further context for the dashboard readers greater than make up for it.
Markdown, being an simply approachable syntax, presents a simple studying curve whereas offering numerous alternatives for what you may obtain with a single widget.
Please additionally be aware that this text must be the primary in a brief sequence describing some new storytelling options we’re introducing to the GoodData Cloud platform to provide dashboard builders extra flexibility. If you’re desirous about studying extra, be sure that to observe our weblog or the GoodData Developer medium channel.
Final however not least, we’d be very comfortable to find out about your expertise with this function. Please share your improved dashboard or your classes discovered with the remainder of the neighborhood in our Slack channel.
