Tableau Tip: A Method to Remove Flashing Border around Text Marks

You should know by now that I think Tableau is a super great product, but it does have its little idiosyncrasies that can cause a slight bit of frustration. Fortunately, in most cases there is usually a way simple way around these quirks but often this knowledge can be difficult to access or locate.

One little quirk that annoys folks who love to through around BANs on their Tableau Dashboards (Big Aggregate Numbers for those not down with the lingo) is that Tableau will usually add this black border around the text mark when you hover over it. I’m typically … Read the rest

Tableau Ironviz 2023 Qualifiers: Top 3 in Asia-Pacific & Top 15 Overall!

What an end to the year!

I found out early this morning that I placed in the top 15 and third in the Asia-Pacific region in Tableau’s annual Iron Viz competition for my interactive visual essay on the evolution of the AFLW “The Blazing of the Trail“.

Screen shot of Iron Viz Submission

If you weren’t aware, Iron Viz is the globe’s preeminent data visualisation competition, and placing among the top entries is a huge privilege, given the talent on enormous display.

I am particularly thrilled about this result because I *almost* did not submit my entry as I … Read the rest

Reflections on Iron Viz 2023 Feeder Round & Three Lessons Learned

My first participation in Iron Viz Qualifier was a surreal experience.

As I hit the submit button with 10 minutes left until the submission deadline, I felt both wrung out and exhilarated. Like someone had squeezed champagne out of a tea towel. Bizarre metaphors aside, Iron Viz was an odyssey but still an overwhelmingly positive experience.

If you’re unfamiliar with Iron Viz, it’s an annual data visualisation competition built around the Tableau Public platform. Participants worldwide have a month to create and submit work on a selected theme during qualifier rounds, hoping their submission is good enough to qualify them … Read the rest

Down With Tadpoles, Up With Arrows | The Superiority of the Arrow Chart

So yesterday I published a blog on how to create a Tadpole Chart. And there was some great feedback and some great debate over the usability both on Twitter and on LinkedIn.

However, one tweet thread with Tableau Ambassador Christina Gorga and Data Viz Wizard Steve Wexler was particularly interesting

After reading this, I felt somewhat foolish.

Another commenter … Read the rest

Tadpole Charts with Nicely Placed Labels in Tableau

I’m indifferent to amphibians, but I do like tadpole charts. In this blog, I’m going to show you the steps to create one with a little trick around labelling that may be useful in making this chart – but also for other charts in Tableau.

Table of Contents

This ones a bit involved, so here’s a table of contents:

… Read the rest

Analysing Interstate Migration Movements in Australia

I recently published a dashboard to allow people to view Australian interstate migration figures using ABS data.

As I mentioned in the post introducing the dashboard (which you can read here), interstate migration became a hot topic throughout the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We witnessed en-masse movements of Australians throughout the country – some were seeking an escape from COVID and associated lockdowns, while others were seeking a change of scenery as they realised they could work their high-paying jobs in Australian metro locations such as Sydney and Melbourne from the comfort of other … Read the rest