Resizing Tableau Dashboard Objects
There are a plethora of things like color, spacing, alignment, placement of objects that, if used wisely, can make a dashboard very appealing. In this blog, we will focus on alignment only.
Alignment brings symmetry and clarity on the dashboard. Clarity allows you to distinguish between sections without drawing an outline. And controlling the size of an object, brings proportion to a dashboard.
Have you ever been unable to resize an object on a Tableau dashboard — whether it is a sheet or filters or containers? Or set the width of a graph’s legend matching to the width of the graph itself, when placed in parallel. Look up the Item Hierarchy under Layout on the dashboard. You will notice that the object you want to resize is in a container labelled Tiled. This Tiled container makes it difficult to resize the objects or sheets within, as required.
If we want to resize objects, our objective should be to avoid using Tiled containers in the dashboard, as shown in the image below.
And this is where horizontal and vertical containers come in.
1. Click on the New dashboard sign. A new blank dashboard will appear.
2. Set the dashboard size say width as 1000 and height as 1000.
3. Under the Objects list, select floating.
4. Drag any container — horizontal or vertical — of your choice to the dashboard. I’ll go for a vertical container here. Rename this container as ‘Base’.
5. Go to the layout and set the position as follows: X: 0, Y: 0 and size W: 1000 and H: 1000.
6. Select Tiled again under the Objects list as shown in image below. Do ensure that this step is not skipped.
7. Now drag a text object to the dashboard and place it inside the Base container. Once the text object is on the dashboard, click on the downward triangle as shown in the image. Check that resize the height of the text field is allowed.
1. To resize the dashboard, just change the width and height of the dashboard. The Base container will adjust itself and so will the objects within the base container. Post change, very little minor adjustments will be required, if any.
2. However, if the requirement is to set the dashboard size as ‘Automatic’ then do ensure that steps 1 to 6 are followed to the letter, first. Then set the dashboard as automatic.
Quite a few times, it is noticed that when a sheet is dragged to the dashboard inside the Base container, the legend, measure value, filters or parameters used in the sheet appear in a system generated Tiled container. Select one of the above and click on the downward triangle. From the list select floating. The object becomes a floating object and is removed from the Tiled container. Repeat the same with the others. When you select the object, a hamburger sign appears on the top. Hover mouse on it and note that the mouse icon changes to a cross in Windows. Click on the hamburger sign, press Shift key and drag it to the container of your choice. When the container in question and the place within the container appears selected, drop the object inside it. To new developers, it will warrant a couple of trials.
Resizing any object on the dashboard gives the Dashboard developer a freehold on how to place the objects and control its height and width. Before publishing the workbook, check the Item Hierarchy under Layout panel for Tiled container and delete them.
Let’s see few advantages of resizing dashboard objects:
1. Thin Lines: Lines of desired width or length are possible. Introduce a blank object on the dashboard. Set the background color as black (#000000) and set the outer padding as 0 for top and bottom and 20 for left and right. Finally, edit the height of this blank object to 3. You have a clean black color thin line. These lines can help in your dashboard design segregating sections.
2. Container size: Place a horizontal container in Base container, it allows an option to edit the height or width, depending on the position and the container selected. However, if a horizontal container is placed in a Tiled container then the minimum height can be 32. It will not allow us to reduce the height further. Similarly, the minimum width of a vertical container in a Tiled container can be 32.
3. Navigation and Filter size: When plenty of filters are to be placed on a dashboard, space management becomes a problem. If the dashboard is laid out as stated above, it allows to define the width of each filter, as needed otherwise, the least size possible is 32.
4. Image and Icon size: Many use icons like Info or a download icon on dashboards. Laying the dashboard in the manner suggested, can allow defining the size of these non-floating icons say 20 by 20.
However, while trying this out, please avoid nested containers. Nested containers mean container within a container. Nested containers tend to impact performance negatively. Let’s understand this with an example. Bring a horizontal container on the top within the Base container, to place all the filters there. Label this container as Filter container. The first filter is placed successfully. But to place the second filter do not bring another horizontal container, just drag the filter and drop it next to the first filter. Thereby, avoiding nested containers. Do bear in mind that nested containers are to be used where absolutely necessary.
To conclude, resizing dashboard objects gives a lot of flexibility for good dashboard designing. The ability to define the size accurately to the last pixel can make the dashboard more appealing. Of course, not to mention that other factors like color, placement of other dashboard objects and spacing are also managed well. See you in the next blog.
