Tableau Desktop: How to use dashboard grids.

0:00Hey, it's Tim here and welcome to this

0:05video on dashboard grids in Tableau Desktop

0:10.

0:10What I wanted to do is show you how to use

0:12this very simple feature to help improve

0:14your

0:14layout in Tableau dashboard design.

0:17And so to switch the grid on, just head on

0:20over to the top and it's the third option

0:22from the top.

0:24So if you select show grid, you'll see that

0:26I've got this very, very big grid enabled

0:29here.

0:30You can see it goes, I think it's about 140

0:34pixels wide.

0:35To change that size, you just go down to

0:38the fourth option here, select grid options

0:41, and

0:41you can see here that I left it set at 140.

0:45Let's just reduce that down to 17.

0:48And now you can start to see that effect a

0:50little bit better.

0:51If I just drag this up here and zoom in,

0:54you can see that as I change the grid sizes

0:56, the

0:57background grid size also changes.

0:59If I set that to 40, the spacing changes as

1:02well.

1:02So it's a very useful feature to have on

1:05your dashboard.

1:06Now, if you have a grid, what you typically

1:09want to do is align content to the grid.

1:12However, at the moment in 2019.4 of Tableau

1:15Desktop, we don't have the ability to snap

1:18to grid.

1:20So what you have to do is you have to

1:21typically think about what kind of layouts

1:24can use a

1:24grid.

1:26And the main one is a floated layout.

1:29Floated layouts allow you to basically just

1:31place content onto the canvas, and then you

1:33can just move them around freely.

1:36There's no sort of layout containers that

1:38are tiled in the layout at all.

1:40You can see here on my layout options here

1:42on the left hand side, I have no tiled

1:44containers.

1:45Now the benefit of this is that it gives

1:48you a lot of freedom as to where you place

1:49items.

1:50But then you get into this sort of weird

1:51space where you're trying to line things up

1:53and

1:53you haven't got any point of reference.

1:55And that's where grids come into play.

1:58I'm going to set the dashboard grid sizing

2:00to about 20 pixels just to make it easier

2:03to see what's going on.

2:05And as I do that, you'll see that it

2:06changes.

2:07And I'm just going to zoom into the top

2:09left hand side of this dashboard.

2:12Now one thing to note, when you move

2:14content around, you're typically trying to

2:17line it

2:18to the grid.

2:19And so I can just select the sheet here,

2:22and I'll drag it and place it there.

2:25And then you'll see that this is now

2:26overlapping with the chart on the right

2:28hand side.

2:29So then I'll place that sort of right hand

2:32side section over there.

2:34Now this very top option here is taking the

2:36whole entire width of the view, you can see

2:39.

2:39And so what I'm going to do here is I'm

2:41just going to sort of drag the size into

2:44this boundary

2:45here.

2:46Make sure it's 20 pixels from the left and

2:4820 pixels from the top.

2:49So I've now got a nice border of about 20

2:52pixels going all the way around.

2:53And as you see, what I'm doing here is I'm

2:56just slowly moving the content as to where

2:58I need it.

2:59Now if I zoom back out, and I just scroll

3:01down here, I can start to do this a little

3:04bit faster as I get a little bit more

3:05comfortable with the tool.

3:07And you'll see here that the dashboard

3:10height that I've got doesn't go equally

3:12into the

3:13total height.

3:14And so I've got an uneven sort of number of

3:17pixels at the bottom there.

3:18If I press T, this will switch the

3:21dashboard tab over here.

3:23So if I press T again, you can see these

3:25two are switching.

3:27And I'll actually go to the dashboard

3:28options here and I'll set it to 60.

3:30I just need a multiple of two so that the

3:33bottom finishes in exactly the right place.

3:37And then I can now maintain a 20 pixel

3:39width all the way around the dashboard.

3:42That's pretty much there.

3:43And when you're working with large layout

3:45containers, those work too.

3:47You can just drag them there.

3:48And I can drag this one at the top down a

3:50little bit and make sure that sits there

3:52perfectly.

3:53And now if I zoom back out and I switch off

3:55the grid, you can start to see things are

3:57starting to take shape.

3:59On the right hand side, I haven't done a

4:00great job here.

4:01So let me just bring that option in.

4:04Again, you can see the width isn't

4:05perfectly aligned, but I'm going to take a

4:07guess at

4:08the gap there.

4:09And I'm going to leave everything else

4:11pretty much as is.

4:12Just going to add a gap in here.

4:14And so I'm doing this very quickly just to

4:16show you the net effect.

4:17And the net effect should be that you have

4:20a design that's a lot more coherent and it

4:22's

4:23a lot neater.

4:24Now I have a lot of OCD.

4:26And so this is still not good enough for my

4:29standards of layout.

4:31And so what I want to show you now is how

4:34to take the usage of grids to the very next

4:37level.

4:38Before I do that, I want to show you a poll

4:41that I ran on Twitter over the last few

4:43days.

4:43I simply ask how many people have been

4:45using grids.

4:46And I've got a range of sort of responses.

4:49And one of the interesting things I called

4:51out was this.

4:52This is called the grid system.

4:54The grid system is a very coherent way of

4:57laying out content.

4:58In fact, if you look at magazines or print

5:01or websites, they all tend to use some sort

5:04of column based structure to layout content

5:07.

5:07And the grids and columns help give

5:09structure to pretty much everything and

5:12where it's placed.

5:13If you look here, you'll see that the lines

5:15here, the spacing of text even follow that

5:17grid system rule.

5:19And even this header here follows the same

5:22grid structure as the text below.

5:25And so you can actually bring this into

5:27your dashboard design and use it to amplify

5:30the

5:30layout and the structure of all your

5:32content.

5:33Now there's a lot of reasons why you'd want

5:35to use a grid design.

5:36I'm going to link to this article in the

5:39description.

5:40And it talks a bit about what grids can do

5:42for your design.

5:44Essentially structure, sort of conformity.

5:46If you're collaborating with other people,

5:48it's a much, much easier system that

5:50everyone

5:50can understand.

5:51And there's a whole host of great reasons

5:53here why you should be using grids more in

5:55your design.

5:57But it's also a very hard thing to get

5:59right.

6:00If I look at my dashboard, now the size

6:03that I chose is 1,350 pixels across by 860.

6:08In every organization, I always get

6:11slightly different dashboard sizes to use

6:13because they've

6:14all got different laptops and screens

6:16available to users.

6:18However, what's not often done is some

6:20consideration as to do these proportions

6:23actually allow

6:24us to split content in a cohesive way.

6:27And so if you go over to this tool, I'll

6:28link it in the description.

6:30There are many tools like it available on

6:32the internet.

6:33All it does is it takes the width of your

6:36content.

6:37You see I've already typed here 1,350

6:40pixels.

6:41And it distributes it evenly based on the

6:43number of columns you'd like to have.

6:45And then a ratio for the spacing on the

6:48outer sides and the insides.

6:50So if I just set this to 1, you'll see here

6:53that the spacing on this particular one is

6:56exactly the same all the way through.

6:59The spacing of the gutter is exactly the

7:01same as the spacing of the margin.

7:03So it's sort of a very coherent setup all

7:05the way through.

7:06You can actually see here there's one that

7:09uses a 20 gutter and then the column width

7:12is 170.

7:13Now 170 doesn't go into 20 equally, so our

7:16grid system that we're using doesn't quite

7:18work out.

7:20But we can take this design and this column

7:22structure to help us distribute this

7:24content

7:25in a much more coherent way.

7:29If I go back to this grid guide, one of the

7:31things it allows you to do is download an

7:33image of your grid system.

7:35And so before I do that, I'm just going to

7:37set this to 5.

7:38Looking at my dashboard, I can see I've got

7:40sort of three main bits of content.

7:43I've got the area at the top, this area in

7:45the middle, and then the controls on the

7:48right

7:48hand side.

7:49If I think a little bit more, this bottom

7:52half is split into sort of three key areas.

7:55And so it makes sense if the filters in the

7:57control have a little less priority than

8:00the

8:01two, three charts that I've got here in the

8:03middle of the dashboard.

8:05This top section is going to go all the way

8:07across regardless.

8:08So if I just focus on this part of the

8:10design here where the main content is, I

8:12need these

8:13to be the same.

8:14So if I was to sort of think in my head,

8:17how would this work?

8:18Well this map takes roughly double the

8:22amount of space as this region over here.

8:25And again these two charts in terms of

8:28width take double the amount of space as

8:30this filter

8:31menu over here.

8:32So what I'm going to do is I'm going to

8:34basically look for a column layout of about

8:36five columns

8:37because I've got one over here, two in

8:39these two charts, and another two in these

8:42maps.

8:42So if I go back to the grid system, I'll go

8:45for five and I'll set a gutter ratio that's

8:48actually twice the size of my margin.

8:52And I'm going to go for something that

8:54gives us more space.

8:55I'm really sort of generous with whitespace

8:57.

8:58I think it's a great thing to have.

8:59So I'll download this image and I'll save

9:02it into my dashboard grids folder.

9:04You'll see that I've downloaded one before.

9:07And then what I'll do is I'll bring that

9:08into my dashboard as a floated image.

9:10So let's just drag that in.

9:12And we'll choose this image very, very

9:14carefully.

9:15This is this top one over here.

9:18And when we place it, we just need to make

9:20sure it's centered, apply that change, and

9:23then now we have our image.

9:25Now for this to work, I need it to be

9:27touching the very edges of our content.

9:29So it needs to be the same size as our

9:31dashboard.

9:32So if I head over to the layout tab by

9:35hitting T, I can select this image and I'm

9:38going to

9:39give it an X position of zero.

9:41That means it's going to be touching the

9:43very left-hand side of our content.

9:45And I'm going to give it a width of 1,350.

9:49So now it's going all the way across and it

9:51's now sitting smack bang where I'd like it.

9:54I need to be careful as I resize it that I

9:56don't move it.

9:57I need it to stay exactly where it is.

9:59So I'm just going to position this so that

10:01it just covers the numbers here and I can

10:03have it on my dashboard without it sort of

10:06confusing anything else.

10:08Now that I've got this grid system on my

10:10dashboard, I can now start divvying up the

10:13content in

10:13a more meaningful way.

10:14And I'm going to bring my grid back and

10:16what I'm going to do is I'm actually going

10:18to set

10:18the grid to a very low number just as a

10:21visual cue that I can use.

10:22So I'm going to set it to five.

10:25And now if I zoom in and we move over to

10:27the left, I'm actually just going to now

10:30start

10:31bringing this over here on the left-hand

10:34side.

10:35Now if you recall, if I go back to my

10:38website, this gutter is about 20 pixels.

10:42So if I just go back in over here, I can

10:44just nudge this a little bit more, just

10:47make sure

10:47that it's perfect.

10:49And the map is taking two columns worth of

10:51content.

10:52So that means it's going to stop just below

10:55the edge of this second column.

10:58Okay.

10:59I'm going to bring this top section down.

11:01The reason being I've got this nice big g

11:03utter here on the left-hand side.

11:05So I'd like to have an equally large amount

11:07of space between the content just to make

11:09sure things are spaced out evenly.

11:12Now if I go to the bottom, I'm going to

11:14create another similar sort of area space

11:17at the

11:17bottom.

11:18And now this is starting to look a little

11:20bit better.

11:21I'm going to take this chart here on the

11:23right-hand side and I'm going to bring that

11:25in here so

11:26it meets almost like a perfect junction

11:28between these two bits of content.

11:30Now something's not quite right here

11:32because I know as I select this option, it

11:34's very

11:34difficult to see the edge.

11:37Sometimes when you're working with Tableau,

11:38because you're working with charts, your

11:40visual

11:40sort of cues aren't the same as design cues

11:43.

11:43And so you just have to sort of get used to

11:46where the charts and the objects in your

11:48visualization

11:50actually touch the margins that you're

11:52trying to sort of observe.

11:54Okay.

11:55Now I'm going to go on the right-hand side,

11:56work on that side a little bit more, bring

11:58that in.

11:59And these are very sort of minor changes

12:01here.

12:01I'm not doing anything sort of onerous at

12:05all.

12:05And if you've got a floated layout, this is

12:07really going to help make sure your content

12:09sits just the way it should.

12:11Okay.

12:12Now if I scroll into this a little bit and

12:14zoom and just take a look at this, you can

12:16see here that this isn't quite set up

12:18correctly.

12:19And I just want to make sure it's just

12:20above this little grid line.

12:21So this is not precise.

12:23We can be precise a little later on.

12:25And I'll show you how.

12:27Now if I drag the right-hand side over

12:30there and then I go to the bottom and I

12:32just bring

12:33that up a little bit.

12:34It's roughly about the same.

12:36I'm not trying to be too accurate here.

12:38I just leave that there like that.

12:40And now if I hit G, you'll see that now the

12:42spacing on this is a lot better.

12:45It's a lot more evenly spread out.

12:47This is not touching the edge like it was

12:49before.

12:49The margins around the whole thing are more

12:51consistent.

12:52And it's now starting to just carry its own

12:55in terms of its layout here.

12:57The thing that I don't quite like is that

12:58these two charts here are buffering too

13:00much

13:00against each other.

13:01So what I'm going to do is I'm just going

13:03to zoom in.

13:03I'm going to hold G again.

13:05And I want to make sure that both of these

13:07actually end up being the right size.

13:09So if I – because they're floating, I can

13:11't change like the height or use a fixed

13:14width or height.

13:15So what I have to do is I have to go back

13:17out.

13:17And if I select the top one, I'll see it's

13:19got a height of 292.

13:20And if I select the bottom one, it's got a

13:23height of 291.

13:25So they are pretty much the same.

13:26So what I'll do is I'll just set these to

13:2980 each.

13:30And that will lose 10 pixels on both pieces

13:34of content.

13:35So if I set that to 80, there you go.

13:39You can see that these two change now.

13:42And it's a little bit more sort of evenly

13:45spaced out.

13:45And now what I can do is I can continue to

13:48move this back down to sit where it should

13:51do, just there.

13:53And this top one didn't change.

13:55And so by adding – taking 10 pixels off

13:57this bottom chart and this top chart, I've

13:59now introduced the space that I need

14:02between those sheets.

14:03I can now go back to this grid option at

14:05the top.

14:06And I just need to fix this heading here.

14:09You see this title is sitting too far on

14:11the left-hand side.

14:12So what I need to do is I'm going to do

14:14something a little bit different.

14:16I'm going to make it take up the whole

14:18entire space, okay?

14:19Again, the better way to do that is not to

14:21manually try and do it.

14:22It's to select the X position zero and just

14:25set the width to 1,350 pixels, okay?

14:29And now that that's done, we know it's

14:31taking up the whole entire width.

14:33But now what I can do is I can actually add

14:36outer padding to this.

14:38Now if I add it all the way around, it

14:39starts to squash my content and it starts

14:41to look

14:42a little bit funny.

14:43So what I'm actually going to do is I'm

14:45going to untick that all sides equal option

14:47.

14:47And just on the left-hand side, I'm going

14:50to add 20 pixels.

14:51Maybe it's actually 25 if I just keep going

14:54, not 225, 25.

14:55That's a little bit better.

14:58Let's try 30.

14:59It's a bit of a guessing game until we get

15:01just the right amount of pixels.

15:03There we go.

15:04So 35 on the left.

15:06And for good measure, I'm going to say 35

15:10on the right-hand side as well.

15:13So now our content is nice and evenly

15:15distributed.

15:17It's a little bit weird because we've

15:19chosen the five-column layout.

15:20Then the top, we've got seven objects going

15:22across.

15:23But because they go evenly across the whole

15:25entire thing and they're an uneven number,

15:28it ends up still working out because I've

15:30got a layout of seven items across the top,

15:33then five across the bottom, which means

15:35this profit per order column always looks

15:37central

15:37regardless of how this layout system works.

15:41And so now if I close this option here and

15:44I hide the grid, you can see that's a much

15:47better spaced out dashboard.

15:49And so that's the real sort of advanced way

15:51of using dashboard grids.

15:52There's a lot of features we'd love to add

15:54to this like snapping to allow us to just

15:57move the content around a little bit more

15:59freely, grouping, anchoring content to each

16:02other so you can group multiple objects

16:04then move them around as a group.

16:06At the moment, the only way to do that is

16:08to use layout containers.

16:09But hopefully in the future, we'll see

16:11improvements to the system to make this

16:13much, much easier.

16:14I hope you found this video useful.

16:16If you have, drop a like.

16:18Let me know in the comments.

16:20If not, let me know what kind of videos you

16:22'd like to see and I'll try and get to those

16:23at some point.