Bar chart or Line? Scatter plot or box plot? These are the questions we ask ourselves when we set out to make a chart. In this article let me tell you how to pick a chart type so you can make best charts for every situation.
Why is it important to pick right chart?
Because right charts lead to right decisions. We use charts to tell stories, evaluate alternatives, understand trends or find-out if everything is normal. So, an incorrect charting choice can lead to poor judgment of the messages where as a correct chart can lead to right and faster decisions.
How to pick a chart type:
Chart making process can be divided in to 4 steps
- Find-out what you want to say?
- (Re)arrange the data
- Prepare the chart
- Format the chart
1. What is the purpose of this chart?
This is the first and most important step in chart preparation. You must ask yourself, “what is the purpose of this chart?”. Once we know the clear reason why the chart should exist, we will naturally be able to select the correct chart type for that reason.
But I realize that finding the reason itself can be a bit tedious. So I have listed down 6 common reasons that we often have to make a chart:
- to Compare
- to show the Distribution
- to explain Parts of the Whole
- to tell the Trend over time
- to findout the Deviations
- to understand the Relationship
Let us understand these reasons along with the type of charts that go well with these.
1. To Compare:
What it means? You want to compare one set of value(s) with another.
Examples:
- Performance of Product A vs. Product B in 5 regions
- Interview performance of various candidates
Charts that can be used for this reason:
- Bar Charts,
- Column Charts
- Scatter Plots
- Pie Charts
- Line Charts
- Data Tables
2. To Show the Distribution
What it means? You want to show the distribution of a set of values (to understand the outliers, normal ranges etc.)
Examples:
- Distribution of Call waiting times in a call center
- Distribution of bugs found in 10 week software testing phase
Charts that can be used to show distribution:
- Column Charts
- Scatter Plots
- Line charts
- Box Plots
3. Parts of Whole
What it means? You want to show how various parts comprise the whole
Examples:
- Individual product sales as a percentage of whole revenue
- Browser types of customers visiting our website
Charts that can be used to show Parts of Whole:
- Column Charts
- Bar Charts
- Pie Charts
- Data Table
4. Trend over time
What it means? You want to understand the trend over time of some variable(s).
Examples:
- Customer footfalls on the last 365 days
- Share price of MSFT in the last 100 trading sessions
Charts that can be used to show Trend Over Time:
- Column Charts
- Line Charts
- Data Table
5. Deviations
What it means? You want to see which values deviate from the norm.
Examples:
- Failures (or bugs) in the context of Quality Control
- Sales in Various Stores
Charts that can be used to show Deviations:
- Column Charts
- Bar Charts
- Line Charts
- Data Table
6. Relationship
What it means? You want to establish (or show) relationship between 2 (or more) variables
Examples:
- Relationship between Search Phrases and Product Purchases in your website
- Relationship between in-store sales and holidays
Charts that can be used to show Relationship:
- Scatter Plot
- Line Chart
- Data Table
How to pick a chart type when you have more than one reason for the chart?
Simple, use common sense. If I were you, I would either cut down the messages to one or make 2 charts (each conveying one message). If that is not possible, I would consider using dynamic charts or combination charts.
2. (Re)arranging the Data
Even when we know the message and corresponding chart, sometimes, our data may not support us. We then have to rearrange the data. Using excel formulas, pivot tables, tables and data cleaning tools we can easily massage the data.
Once we have the data in required format, we proceed to step 3.
3. Prepare the chart
Since you have already picked the chart type in Step 1, this is very straight forward. Most of the regular charts are available in MS Excel as default charts. You can insert them with few clicks.
But for some special chart types, you may have to prepare the chart by helper series, formatting etc.
4. Format the chart
While most formatting is done as per individual taste, there are some ground rules that apply on almost all charts. Here they are,
- No non-zero axis scale on bar charts [reasons and discussions]
- Make subtle grid-lines (or remove them) [how to remove grid lines]
- Add labels to important points [labeling techniques]
- Add descriptive, bold titles
- Position axis, scales at the right places (for eg. y-axis to the right on a large time series chart)
- Use simple, easy colors
A final word:
The ideas in this post are meant to be guide lines, not final words in the world of visualization. While these rules can help you make a good chart, a great chart take so much more. Knowledge of your data, Passion for what you do and Genuine focus on your audience’ needs can make your chart truly outstanding. All the best.
References:
Communicating Numbers – White Paper by Stephen Few [PDF]
Resources & Further Help:
- Chart chooser – Juice Analytics
- Data vis 101 – How to choose a chart – Hubspot
- Selecting right char type – KD Nuggets
- Charting Principles
- Charting Tutorials from Peltier Tech
- More articles from Stephen Few
- Charting Wisdom from Jorge Camoes
What is the process you use for Chart Selection?
I would love to know the process you use when selecting a chart type. Please share using comments.
28 Responses to “Pimp your comment boxes [because it is Friday]”
This borders on Excel soft-cell...er, soft-core...porn. My favorite kind.
Wow, that is pimp-TASTIC! I have a question, as a VBA n00b: additional comment boxes stay plain unless I "run" the macro. Is there a way to change all comments, going-forward?
hi Chandoo, well, I like the macro approach. For those who don't like it, there is another way: just add the "draw" toolbar to the shapes toolbar (via Custom etc), click on "edit comment", click on the auto-shape and then choose "draw" drop-down, --> modify auto-shape --> then you even can have a heart or a banner (I like the horizontal banner in in purple :-)) . in excel 2007, you have to add this custom menu that you choose via Excel Options --> Custom --> it is called "change/ modify auto-shape"!!!
best,
@Chandoo. Great Post 🙂
@Tim : the way the macro is coded, it must be run very time.
@Community: If someone has an idea to perform it when opening an existing excel, it should be nice.
@Community: if someone has some code to revamp the commentboxes on all sheets, please share it. 🙂
@Microsoft Excel-progammers: some pimpoptions for the commentboxes should be great.
Cheerio
Tom
For the auto run, please add the codes in workbook:
Private Sub Workbook_SheetActivate(ByVal Sh As Object)
Call Comments_Tom
End Sub
Wow, that was a lot of fun... Thanks Tom!
@Jeff... Now, 5000 people know about your favorite porn... 😛
@Tim ... you can write an event to handle the new comments. I wouldnt recommend it as it is really painful. another option is to use the macro suggested by Yukikomi. It will update comments everytime you activate the sheet.
@laguerriere: very cool 🙂
@Chandoo ... Thanks! This is good stuff. I combined your tip with a tip from Mark O'Brien, then assigned it to a button on Excel 2010's Quick Access Toolbar, to format comments AS I add them. I also like how Mark's code saves me the trouble of backspacing my name out of new comments:
Sub AppendToExistingComment()
'Source: Mark O'Brien at http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57296
Dim oRange As Range
Dim oComment As Comment
Dim sText As String
'Use object variable to hold range.
Set oRange = ActiveCell
'Use object variable for comment
Set oComment = oRange.Comment
'text to be added to the comment box
sText = InputBox("Type text to be added:", "APPEND TO COMMENT TEXT")
If Len(sText) = 0 Then End
'If Active Cell has a comment then append new text to the end of the comment text
If Not oComment Is Nothing Then
sText = oComment.Text & vbNewLine & sText
oRange.Comment.Delete
End If
'Add a comment with the contents of sText
oRange.AddComment sText
DoEvents
Comments_Tom
End Sub
Thank you very much for the code, it seems to be working for the most part; I am having a problem however. Once the routine makes the corrections to the comment, the comment becomes invisible. By invisible, I mean that when I highlight my mouse over it, nothing appears. However, when I right click the cell and click 'edit comment' then the comment becomes visible and I enter edit mode. Upon clicking out of the comment, it simply vanishes again. I've tried to fix this problem by adding a .shape.visible = msoTrue but then every comment is always visible. o_O please advise...
Thank you,
Nick
@Nick- That is because the font color of the comment is white and when you select the color of selection is also white hence you can not see anything. Try to change the color code in the routine to something else. would work
Thanks for that! The code works perfectly!
[...] look at Format Excel Comment Boxes using VBA Macros | Chandoo.org - Learn Microsoft Excel Online [...]
@ Chandoo - code works great and the comments look super cool. But I have ran into a small issue. In the comments, I am inserting pictures. When I run the macro, for all comments which already have pictures; pictures are deleted. Pls help me retain the pics in comments.
[…] posted some code one of his readers submitted, it "pimps" your comment boxes from those boring black-text-on-yellow rectangles to something more professional and eye-pleasing. […]
love in it
Hi Tom,
This looks really excellent. I am however relatively new to macros / VBA codes so having copy pasted your code in the Developer mode of an Excel file, what are the next steps to use them? Can you please help? Just to recap, I opened a blank Excel workbook, clicked on Developer, copy pasted the comments code and saved the file to the desktop.
Now how do I go about using it to add comments to an existing file? My apologies for asking a question which may be basic to you great geniuses, but I am not there yet and aspire to get there.
Many thanks for helping me with next steps that I need to take so that I can now use the code.
Best Wishes
Deepak Dave, CMA, MBA, PMP
Senior Management Consultant
Dear Dave,
The best thing to do is to copy the macro in the personal.xls(x) file. The personal excel file will always be launched when you open excel so you can use it with every excelworkbook.
Read all about it on the page of Microsoft.
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Copy-your-macros-to-a-Personal-Macro-Workbook-aa439b90-f836-4381-97f0-6e4c3f5ee566
Once you have the macro in the personal, you can 'call' the macro by the keyboardcombination 'alt+f8' and klik on the macroname.
Hope this clarifies the 'how to'. Good luck with your first steps in the wonderfull world of macro's.
Tom
Hi Tom,
Many thanks. I will try that out. Learning is fun and learning this stuff is even more amazing.
Best Wishes
Deepak Dave
There is a line 'Dim LArea As Long' which does not appear to be used. Have I missed something?
Dear Gary,
Correct the 'Dim LArea As Long' is indeed not relevant and can be deleted.
Tom
Excellent hack!
For some reason when I opened my file after using LibreOffice Calc, all comment boxes had changed to some arrow shape.
So this macro helped me from manually changing more than 5000 comments in a worksheet, or having to install some Excel extension.
I used it with the following attributes to get back old style comments:
It helped me from manually changing more than 5000 comments in a worksheet, or having to install some Excel extension.
.Shape.AutoShapeType = msoShapeRectangle
.Shape.TextFrame.Characters.Font.Name = "Calibri"
.Shape.TextFrame.Characters.Font.Size = 10
.Shape.TextFrame.AutoMargins = True
.Shape.TextFrame.AutoSize = True
Thanks a lot!
This was helpful, thank you
I think this is among the most significant
information for me. And i am glad reading your article.
But wanna remark on some general things, The site style is great,
the articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers
Is there code to add to this that will format a particular part of the comment (i.e. make the last sentence in the comment bold and in italics)?
This is fantastic!
How would I add auto-sizing to it?
I tried adding this:
.Shape.AutoSize = True but it gives me an error and as a novice at VBA I can't figure it out.
.Shape.TextFrame.AutoSize = True
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This is GREAT!
How should the code be changed in order to tun once for all worksheets in a workbook?