In the 34th session of Chandoo.org podcast, Let’s hear from Jordan Goldmeier – my friend, fellow blogger, Excel blogger & author. After many years of interaction thru email, blogs, Skype calls, finally I met him at PASS BA conference at Santa Clara this week. He gave me a copy of his new book – Advanced Excel Essentials and I immediately asked him to do a podcast. So here we go.
What is in this session?
In this podcast,
- Introduction
- What is this book all about
- Sample chapter review – User forms
- Design principles for creating advanced user interactions
- How to become advanced Excel user – pathway recommended by Jordan
- More info about Jordan
- A secret for you
Listen to this session
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Click here to download the MP3 file.
Links & Resources mentioned in this podcast
Books recommended / mentioned in this podcast
- Advanced Excel Essentials by Jordan Goldmeier
- Data Smart by John Foreman
- Professional XL Development by Rob, Dennis & Stephen
- Predictive Analytics by Conrad Carlberg
- Data Science for Business by Foster & Tom
User form examples:
Resources on learning VBA & Advanced Excel
About Jordan & his work:
- Option Explicit VBA – Jordan’s blog
- Excel TV – where Jordan along with Rick & Oz share tips & interviews
Transcript of this session:
Download this podcast transcript [PDF]
Have you read Advanced Excel Essentials book?
I will be honest, I only thumbed thru a few chapters. But I plan to read the book on my flight back to India (I am typing this from my hotel room in Santa Clara).
What about you? Have you read Jordan’s book? If so how do you like it? Please share your feedback & book recommendations in the comments area.
Note: All the links to books mentioned in this page use my Amazon affiliate code. This means, when you buy the book from Amazon thru these links, I get a few cents commission. My motivation for recommending these books is very simple. They make you awesome, so I recommend them. I would have recommended them even when there is no commission involved. Thanks for supporting Chandoo.org & happy reading.
9 Responses to “Show forecast values in a different color with this simple trick [charting]”
While this works in a pinch, it clearly "lightens" the colors of the entire chart. Depending on where you use this, it will be blatantly obvious that you don't know what you are doing and present a poor looking graph.
Why not separate the data into different segments when charting and have as many colors as you have data points? You might have to create a new legend and/or repeat the chart in "invisible ink", but it would be cleaner and more consistent when new or updated data becomes available.
While I think I agree that doing it "properly" via a second series is preferable, I don't necessarily agree that making the entirety of the "future" (data, gridlines, and even the axis) semi-transparent is "poor looking". I think it could be seen as adding more emphasis to the "future-ness" of the forecast data.
In short, it's another tool for the toolbox, even if it's never needed.
Simply and clever 🙂
Quick & effective, cool. thanks.
I always use the dummy series.
Nice little trick, thanks very much!
Two sets of data better. Control is much better.
You can use the same chart next month to see what is actual and what is forecast.
To use this trick, I think grid lines has to be removed, that will make the graphic much more sharp.
to be honest, i dont understand why there is needed to do this way... in this case horizontal lines will be pale as well. then why a just can't change the color of the line partly???
Great tutorial. Thanks for the tutorial!