Here is a charting challenge to begin your Christmas week. Recently Guardian’s Data Blog released World Education Rankings data and a sample visualization (shown below).
Kaiser at Junk Charts took this data and suggested a few alternative visualizations [part 2]. (shown below).
While Kaiser‘s charts are probably more insightful, they also appear complicated to my layman eye.
Naturally I wanted to give this data a charting-shot and see what comes up.
But before I show you how I cooked my chart, I want to throw a challenge to you.
Your Homework – Make a chart from World Education Rankings data
- Download the original data from here (or from here).
- Make a chart (or few charts) visualizing the data.
- Your objective is make it easy for us to understand the World Education Rankings Data
- Upload your workbooks to Skydrive or some other public file sharing site.
- Share the URLs, images etc with us thru comments.
- Bask in glory!
How I visualized World Education Rankings Data
When I looked at the original data, I wanted to explore 2 things.
- How are the scores in reading, math & science are distributed? [Distribution]
- How does one country compare with another? [Comparison]
To keep it simple and compact, I made one chart that meets both these objectives.
Here is what I could come up with:
How is this chart constructed (Recipe)
- The chart is a scatter plot with scores for each area plotted with a different y value (reading = 1, maths = 2 and science = 3)
- The chart is also dynamic. Visit Excel Dynamic Charts page if you are new.
- The four selected countries and average are extra series in the chart with diff. formatting.
- The messages are constructed using RANK formula and concatenate operator &
- Other tricks used – incell dropdown boxes, text boxes with formulas, symbols, and chart formatting.
Since the process of making this chart is a bit more detailed, I made a youtube video explaining it. See it below.
Download the Excel Workbook
Click here to download the workbook. The file works best in Excel 2007 or above. Try the Excel 2003 version if you prefer.
Now your turn,
Go ahead and download the original data. Make your own visualization of World Education Rankings and post it using comments. I am waiting 🙂
Learn more Excel Magic
If the above chart feels like magic, you will be wowed by these additional resources:
- Excel Dynamic Charts – Techniques & Downloads
- Visualization Principles – Making Better Charts
- Visualization Projects – Kickass Excel Magic
22 Responses to “Master Excel 2007 Ribbon with this Free Learning Guide”
Thank you, kind sir. Well done with the baby making.
I cannot get signed up for your newsletter. I tied both this email address and churchill2001@hotmail.com. never a response.
I cannot get signed up for your newsletter. I tied both this email address and churchill2001_at_hotmail_dot_com. never a response for either attempt.
@Doug, it shows that your email address is pending verification. Can you check your inbox (and may be spam folder too) for an email from me? The subject will be "Activate Subscription to Get your Free Excel Tips E-book"
[...] PPS: If you are struggling with ribbon, you should check out ribbon learning guide. [...]
Very Useful Info..Keep it up..
@Ajay.. you are welcome 🙂
how do u download microsoft excel for free?
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
Select Office
Free Trial
[...] Excel 2010 UI looks considerably better and less stressful than 2007. The colors are dull and subtle. The icons don’t call for attention unless you want to do something. The menus / ribbons feel smoother and slicker. [Learn to use Excel Ribbon with this Free e-Book] [...]
I can't open this pdf. I get the error message:
You do not have the required license to open this file.
Please request a license from the creator of the file, and add it using the license manager and they try opening it again.
What gives??
I downloaded the file again and it worked this time. Strange. (First file was 116 KB, second was 1644 KB... ???)
[...] More ribbon goodness | Free e-book to learn Excel Ribbon [...]
Hi Chandoo,
thanks for sharing your Excel 2007 learning experience with us; unfortunately the link to the pdf of the free Excel 2007 learning guide seems broken: my Acrobate Readers flags: "Unkown file type or corrupte data".
Have a nice day
Michael
well done this is great
Can somebody just provide a link the classic TAB exportedUI files for MS Office 2003 for us to use in office 2007/2010?. searching online, everybody just wnats to make a buck online with silly Classic Tab installers which do nothing more than inport exportedUI files for you.
Don't give me a ribbon how to guide, just give me free exportedUI files. I should not have to pay anyone for this, it is free XML, MS should have included this to begin with.
thanks
Dear.
There are a set of debit values and a set ot credit values in a column. I want a vba code by whcich the debit value plus a single / multiple credit value is zero that needs to be marked .
finally i will come to know out of the avaibale debits which cannot be used the with avilable credits either single or multiple values.
If multiple matching sets are available let it take the 1st or the 2nd one its not an issue.
Column A Ref
-1000 A
-5000 B
-8000 C
800 A
100 A
100 A
2000 B
3000 B
13000
15000
hi...
how to make this add-ins and display in ribbon... check this sample : http://www.cprsoft.com/GCDemo01.htm
thank you sir...
Please tell me format painter short cut key In excel ?
Thanks In Advance
thankfully.likeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I am very much happy for such a great opportunity given to excel learners to advance their skills for the betterment of the future. I am a great user of this site and feel proud to have come across this web site.
I appreciate this, because I didn't do much works in my project management studies using gantt chart. As of now are have now learned some advancement.