Tag Archives: layout

The Joy of QlikView Grid Layouts

While most QlikView Designers are familiar with the works and principles of data visualization gurus such as Stephen Few and Edward Tufte, when it comes to dashboard layout many (including myself) are more likely to follow the design principles of that other visualization expert: Bob Ross.

Dashboard Design - The Bob Ross way

I plot different objects on the sheet, basing their location on my experience, sound judgement and the overall aesthetic appeal. “Maybe in our world there lives a happy little treemap over there.” Apply a little horizontal and vertical alignment and I’ve finished another ‘masterpiece’. It’s much more of an art than a science, or at least that’s what I like to think.

While this approach is a lot of fun, it’s not a very fast way to get things done. Not every layout works immediately, and reshuffling objects after “happy little accidents” can take a lot of time.

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Consistent Dimension Colors

Consistent colorsA short tip today on how to ensure that dimensions in different charts get assigned the same color, regardless of how the data is sorted or if dimensions are missing.

The image on the right shows an example in which revenue per beverage is visualized in a number of different charts and tables. Each beverage is assigned its trademark color (Coca-Cola Red, Heineken Green, Pepsi Blue etc.)  and this color is used consistently in each of the charts. Read on to see how you can accomplish this effect.

(Please note that using lots of very bright/saturated colors in your dashboard or report is generally not a good idea, I am only using these colors because they are recognizable to many. Do not try this at work!)

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Moving an object, one pixel at a time

The alignment toolbar offers some excellent options to lay out the QlikView objects on your sheet.

Alignment toolbar

However, sometimes you may want to position your objects in a manner that cannot be done with the standard alignment options. Positioning the objects just right with the mouse is very hard, so consider this alternative: when you select an object and hold down the Control button,  you can use the arrow keys to move the object one pixel at a time. Using Control + Shift lets you move the object ten pixels at a time.