Domain 3: Create Content (26%)

Question 1

What would you be trying to show if you used an area chart?

Answer 1

An area chart is a line chart where the area between the line and the axis are shaded with a color.

These charts are typically used to represent accumulated totals over time and are the conventional way to display stacked lines.

Question 2

What do you need to do to make an area chart?

Answer 2

1) From the Data pane, drag a date field to the Columns shelf. Choose the level of detail (year, quarter, month, etc.)

2) From the Data pane, drag a Measure to the Rows shelf.

3) From the Date pane, drag a Dimension to Color on the Marks card.

4) On the Marks card, click the Mark Type drop-down and select Area.

Question 3

How do you read box plots (aka box and whiskers)?

Answer 3

Use box plots, also known as box-and-whisker plots, to show the distribution of values along an axis.

Boxes indicate the middle 50 percent of the data (that is, the middle two quartiles of the data’s distribution).

The configured lines, called whiskers, display all points within 1.5 times the interquartile range (in other words, all points within 1.5 times the width of the adjoining box), or all points at the maximum extent of the data.

Question 4

What do you need in a viz to make a box plot/box and whiskers viz?

Answer 4

Mark type: Circle

Columns shelf: Dimension

Rows shelf: Measure

Detail: Dimension

Reference Line: Box Plot

Question 5

What is a bullet graph useful?

Answer 5

A bullet graph is useful for comparing the performance of a primary measure to one or more other measures.

Question 6

When would you use a Gantt chart?

Answer 6

Use Gantt charts to show the duration of events or activities.

Question 7

What are the primary components needed to visualize a pie chart?

Answer 7

Mark type: Pie

Color: Dimension

Angle: Measure

Question 8

What are the primary components needed to visualize a tree map?

Answer 8

Mark type: Automatic or Square

Color: Dimension or Measure

Size: Measure

Label or Detail: Dimension(s)

Question 9

For what reasons might there not be a Sort option in a viz?

Answer 9

If the sort icons don’t appear, this functionality may have been turned off or it might not be possible to sort the view. Sort icons aren’t available on the axes in scatterplots or for table calculations.

Question 10

How do you perform a nested Sort?

Answer 10

1) Right-click (Windows) or control-click (Mac) the field you want to sort, and select Sort.

2) Select the Sort By option “Nested.” This lets you select the field value used to determine the sort order. The field doesn’t need to be used in the visualization. You can also select an aggregation for the sorting field. The aggregation options available depend on the field type.

Question 11

How do you turn off Sorts for consumers of a viz?

Answer 11

Navigate to the Worksheet menu and uncheck the option to Show Sort Controls.

This will prevent the sort icons from appearing when a consumer of the view hovers over an axis, header, or field label.

Question 12

If you are using floating objects, which dashboard size format is best?

Answer 12

Fixed.

Fixed-size dashboards let you specify the exact location and position of the content on the dashboard, which can be useful if there are floating objects.

Question 13

When using a fixed dashboard size and you view it on a small screen, how do users see the whole image?

Answer 13

They will have to use scroll bars that appear.

Question 14

What does it mean to use a dashboard size format called “Range”

Answer 14

The dashboard scales between the minimum and maximum sizes that you specify. If the window used to display the dashboard is smaller than the minimum size, scroll bars are displayed. If it’s larger than the maximum size, white space is displayed.

Use this setting when you’re designing for two different display sizes that need the same content and have similar shapes—such as small- and medium-sized browser windows. Range also works well for mobile dashboards with vertical layouts. (The width is allowed to change for different mobile device widths, but the height is fixed for vertical scrolling.)

Question 15

When would you use the Automatic dashboard size format?

Answer 15

Use this setting if you want Tableau to take care of any resizing.

For best results, use a tiled (rather than floating) dashboard layout.

Automatic sizing can lead to unpredictable results on different screens, so use this setting with caution if you don’t know where the dashboard will be consumed.

Question 16

In dashboard creation, how are layout containers useful?

Answer 16

Layout containers let you group related dashboard items together so you can quickly position them. As you change the size and placement of items inside a container, other container items automatically adjust.

Layout containers can also be used for formatting.

A horizontal layout container resizes the width of the views and objects it contains; a vertical layout container adjusts height.

Question 17

How do you evenly distribute visualizations within a dashboard container?

Answer 17

Select the layout container. If you have trouble making the selection, select an individual item within the container and choose “Select Container” from its shortcut menu.

With the layout container selected, choose “Distribute Evenly: from its shortcut menu.

Question 18

How can you use containers to use Dashboard Actions to automatically resize/filter out other visualizations inside the container?

Answer 18

1) Add multiple sheets with related data to a layout container.

2) From the drop-down menu of the sheet you want to expand, choose Use as Filter.

3) Choose Dashboard > Actions, and double-click the generated filter you created.

4) In the Target Sheets section of the Edit Filter Action dialog box, select the other sheets in the layout container.

5) To control how target sheets resize when no marks are selected in the source sheet, select one of the following:
* Show all values returns target sheets to their original size, showing all data.
* Exclude all values collapses target sheets under their titles, hiding all data.

Question 19

How do you pull up a grid when designing a dashboard?

Answer 19

Choose Dashboard > Show Grid.

To change the grid size, choose Dashboard > Grid Options.

Tip: To quickly switch the grid on and off, press the G key.

Question 20

When you use a custom image as the background of a dashboard, which dashboard formats should you use?

Answer 20

To create a background image that shows through floating transparent elements, add an image object as the only tiled item.

Fixed-size dashboards ensure that the floating elements maintain a consistent visual relationship with the image, regardless of screen size.

Question 21

For what is a Blank dashboard object useful?

Answer 21

Blank objects help you adjust spacing between dashboard items.

Question 22

For what is a Navigation dashboard object useful?

Answer 22

Navigation objects let your audience navigate from one dashboard to another, or other sheets or stories. You can display text or an image to indicate the button’s destination to your users, specify custom border and background colors, and provide informational tooltips.

Question 23

For what is a Download dashboard object useful?

Answer 23

Download objects let your audience quickly create a PDF file, PowerPoint slide, or PNG image of an entire dashboard, or a crosstab of selected sheets. Formatting options are similar to Navigation objects.

Question 24

For what is an Extension dashboard object useful?

Answer 24

Extension objects let you add unique features to dashboards or integrate them with applications outside Tableau.

Question 25

If you have an animated GIF, can you upload an image to be used in a dashboard?

Answer 25

Inserted images don’t support animated GIFs. These types of images only work with images referenced on the web.

Question 26

What do Show/Hide dashboard objects let users do?

Answer 26

Show/Hide buttons let dashboard viewers toggle the visibility of dashboard objects, revealing them only when necessary.

Question 27

When would you choose to make a Story?

Answer 27

You can create stories to:
* Tell a data narrative
* Provide context
* Demonstrate how decisions relate to outcomes, or
* To simply make a compelling case.

A story is also a collection of sheets and/or dashboards, arranged in a sequence. Each individual sheet in a story is called a story point.

Question 28

How can you go directly from a sheet to related dashboards and stories?

Answer 28

To quickly go to dashboards and stories a sheet appears in, right-click the sheet tab and open the “Used in” menu.

Question 29

What are the three ways to navigate and view the sheets in a workbook?

Answer 29

Tabs at the bottom of the workbook

In the filmstrip view

In the sheet sorter view

Question 30

How do you open the Filmstrip view (for navigating a workbook’s sheets)?

Answer 30

Open the filmstrip by clicking the Filmstrip button on the status bar ( bottom right corner) of the workbook.

Just like with the tabs, select the thumbnail image for the sheet you want to open. You can right-click the images to specify commands that apply to each sheet.

Similar to the sheet tabs, the filmstrip displays along the bottom of the workbook. However, instead of just sheet names, the filmstrip also shows a thumbnail image of each sheet. The filmstrip is useful when you are using Tableau to present your analysis and works well when you are working in Presentation mode.

Question 31

Why would you use Sheet Sorter (for navigating a workbook’s sheets)?

Answer 31

The sheet sorter is useful when you have a large number of sheets in a workbook. The sheet sorter shows all sheets in a workbook as thumbnail images on a single page.

Open the sheet sorter by clicking the sheet sorter button on the status bar (bottom right corner of the workbook).

Question 32

What do filter actions do, within dashboards?

Answer 32

Filter actions send information between worksheets. Typically, a filter action sends information from a selected mark to another sheet showing related information.

Behind the scenes, filter actions send data values from the relevant source fields as filters to the target sheet.

Question 33

How do you add a Filter Action on a dashboard?

Answer 33

In the Actions dialog box, click Add Action, and then select Filter. Or select an existing action, and choose Edit.

Specify how the action runs:
* Hover - Runs when you mouse over marks in the view.
* Select - Runs when you click marks in the view. If you want to avoid running the action when multiple marks are selected, also select Single-select only.
* Menu - Runs when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (macOS) a mark in the view, and then click an option in the tooltip menu.

Question 34

What is a URL Action, within dashboards?

Answer 34

A URL action is a hyperlink that points to a web page, file, or other web-based resource outside of Tableau. You can use URL actions to create an email or link to additional information about your data.

URL actions can also open in a web page object in a dashboard.

To customize links based on your data, you can automatically enter field values as parameters in URLs.

Question 35

What is a Highlight Action, within dashboards?

Answer 35

Highlight actions allow you to call attention to marks of interest by coloring specific marks and dimming all others.

You can highlight marks in the view using a variety of tools. For example, you can manually select the marks you want to highlight, use the legend to select related marks, use the highlighter to search for marks in context or create an advanced highlight action.

Question 36

What is a sheet selection menu for a dashboard?

Answer 36

Using a combination of a parameter and a calculated field, you can create a drop-down menu that lets users select an individual view that automatically expands to fill a dashboard.

Note: To show sheets using separate buttons rather than a single menu, instead use Show/Hide buttons. This is a much simpler approach, though each button will reveal a separate object. To leave a dashboard and open a completely different sheet, use Navigation objects.

Question 37

How do you create a sheet selection menu for a dashboard?

Answer 37

1) Create a parameter in one of your workbook’s sheets. In the Create Parameter dialog box, do the following:
* Enter a name that will appear appear above the menu, like Select a View.
* For Data type, select String.
* For Allowable values, select List.
* Under List of values, type All for the first value, and then add values with the name of each view in the dashboard.

2) Create a calculated field and simply enter the name of the parameter “[parameterName].”

3) Open a sheet you plan to add to your dashboard, and drag the new calculation to the Filters shelf. Then do the following in the Filter dialog box:
* Select Custom Value List.
* Type All in the text box, and click the Add Item button.
* Type the current view’s name (like “Map”) in the text box, and click the Add Item button.

4) Create a dashboard, add a container, add the relevant sheets to the container

5) To display the sheet selector, from the drop-down menu at the top of a view, choose Parameters > [new parameter name], and then add the filter.

Question 38

How do you add custom shapes for your workbooks?

Answer 38

You can add custom shapes to a workbook by copying shape image files to the Shapes folder in your Tableau Repository, which is located in your Documents folder. When you use custom shapes, they are saved with the workbook. That way the workbook can be shared with others.

1) Create your shape image files. Each shape should be saved as its own file and can be in any of several image formats including bitmap (.bmp), portable network graphic (.png), .jpg, and graphics interchange format (.gif).

2) Copy the shape files to a new folder in the My Tableau Repository\Shapes folder in your Documents folder.

3) In Tableau, click the drop-down arrow on the shape legend, and select Edit Shape.

4) Select the new custom palette in the drop-down list. If you modified the shapes while Tableau was running, you may need to click Reload Shapes.

5) You can either assign members shapes one at a time, or click Assign Palette to automatically assign the shapes to the members.

Question 39

Can you add annotations to worksheets?

Answer 39

Yes. To add an annotation to your viz: In a worksheet, right-click (control-click on Mac) a data point or a spot on the viz where you want to add an annotation and select Annotate, and then select the type of annotation you want to add.

There are three types of annotations in Tableau:
* Mark - select this option to add an annotation that is associated with the selected mark. This option is only available if a data point (mark) is selected.
* Point - select this option to annotate a specific point in the view.
* Area - select this option to annotate an area in the viz, such as a cluster of outliers or a targeted region.

Question 40

How do you configure a Viz in a Tooltip?

Answer 40

1) Create a visualization in the source worksheet in Tableau.

2) Create a visualization in a target worksheet view to serve as the Viz in Tooltip. Give the worksheet a name that helps you identify it as a Viz in Tooltip.

3) In the source worksheet, click Tooltip in the Marks card. In the Tooltip Editor, click “Insert” and reference the Viz in Tooltip target worksheet.

By default, Viz in Tooltip is filtered on All Fields. This means the view is filtered on all dimensions in the current view (not including fields on the Filters shelf), at the most specific level of detail.

You can change the level of detail for Viz in Tooltip by defining a filter on selected fields, similar to filtering on Selected Fields in Filter Actions.

Question 41

What should I do if I need a dashboard to show up well for a laptop and a mobile phone?

Answer 41

Dashboards can include layouts for different types of devices that span a wide range of screen sizes. When you publish these layouts to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, people viewing your dashboard experience a design optimized for their phone, tablet, or desktop. As the author, you only have to create a single dashboard and deliver a single URL.

To save time with a unique Phone layout option that automatically reflects changes to the Default dashboard, either click the open lock icon, or choose Auto-Generate Layout from the pop-up menu.

Unlike Phone layouts, you need to manually add Desktop and Tablet layouts to a dashboard. Desktop and Tablet layouts are always fully independent from the Default dashboard, so each device layout can contain a unique arrangement of objects.

Question 42

Can a user switch between dashboard layouts? I.e. switch to a Desktop layout when on a tablet or phone?

Answer 42

If Tableau Cloud and Tableau Server users find a Phone or Tablet layout too limiting, they can use the display settings button in the toolbar to view the Desktop layout.

This button is a toggle that allows you to switch between Desktop and Mobile layouts.

Question 43

How can you test dashboard layouts after making dashboard profiles?

Answer 43

1) After you publish the dashboard to Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud, test the dashboard by viewing it from different browser sizes.

2) Open the dashboard on Tableau Server or Tableau Cloud. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Share and copy the contents of the Link text box.

3) Paste the string into a web browser URL. The string should include the following: embed=y

4) With the embed code string as your browser URL, test the different layouts by changing the size of your web browser window and refreshing it.