Round corner Boxes & Buttons in Tableau
What if the requirement is to create buttons or boxes with round corners and that using Figma and MS PowerPoint is not an option?
The answer lies in annotations — a feature in Tableau — that can help to achieve this. Follow the steps as suggested.
Box with round corners
1. Create a blank calculation field with the following text: “”. And place it in the Text marks card.
2. Right click on the sheet, select ‘Annotate’ followed by ‘Area’. A small box will appear.
3. Increase the length and breadth of this box in all 4 directions to the max possible.
4. Right click on the box and select ‘Format’.
5. In the Corners drop-down, select the option desired. Normally, I opt for ‘Very rounded’.
6. For this example, set the border to a desired bright color. Set the shading and the opacity % of the annotate box as required.
7. For the rest of the options: line, line end and end size, set them as shown in pic below.
8. For convenience, let’s name this sheet as ‘Sheet Annotate’. Ensure that tooltips in this sheet are disabled.
9. Prepare a bar chart in another sheet and name the sheet as ‘Bar Chart’. Set the shading of this sheet as ‘None’.
10. On the dashboard place the ‘Sheet Annotate’ below the ‘Bar Chart’. Ensure both the sheets are of the same size and the X and Y positions of both the sheets on the dashboard, is the same.
Button with round corners
1. Follow every step needed to create a box with a round corner but ensure that the border of the annotate box is thicker. Tip: keep the width bigger than the height of the sheet on the dashboard.
Concern
However, there is a concern. Every time we add a box or button to annotate sheets, total marks on the dashboard goes up. If the dataset is huge, then we should avoid these buttons and boxes with round corners on the corporate dashboard. One or two such annotated sheets may not have a major impact on the performance but having a plethora of such sheets can impact the performance. Test and save the dashboard performance when using these annotate sheets for rounded boxes and buttons.
Now compare this performance with the one where you use background images that show all boxes with round corners. Ensure to keep the image size as minimum as possible without distorting the image. This will help you reach a conclusion, if ever a decision is needed between a background image and number of annotated sheets on Tableau dashboard.
I have tried some sample dashboards where I have used annotations for round boxes and buttons.
1. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/priya.yogendra/viz/HospitalER_16706683037670/MainDB
2. https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/priya.yogendra/viz/InvReldashboard/InvestorRelations
That’s all for now and I’ll leave with a sigh of relief that I was finally able to publish this blog, which I had written some seven months back.
Bonne Chance & Au revoir!!
