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Rapid Graphs with Tableau 6 – Kindle, Amazon or CreateSpace

Rapid Graphs with Tableau Software 6Rapid Graphs with Tableau Software Amazon Kindle Logo

A complimentary preview of the 1st two chapters, the table of contents and the book index is available for download here.

NOTE- the book is now available at Amazon, after correcting logistical issues.

Rapid Graphs with Tableau Software 6 is now available for purchase on Amazon in print and in e-book format for Kindle readers – on the Kindle device, PC, Mac, iPad and iPhone! Note that the print version has slightly better layout and readability due to the graphic-intensive nature of this book and the automated layout of e-book readers. This e-book is published in color for Kindle users on the PC, Mac, iPad and iPhone. Kindle device readers may have difficulty interpreting some of the graphs due to the native black and white reading experience.

This update from the 1st version of the book required changes across nearly every page and significantly expanded the size of the book with coverage of many new features added- both from Tableau 6 and earlier releases. Other additions include an index and expanded examples in several chapters.

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Marimekko charts and an interactive alternative for a broad audience

Joe Mako recently created a Tableau version of a Marimekko chart inspired by an example from Jon Peltier, an Excel charting expert.

When I first saw this chart, I was curious as to the utility of this chart type for regular business decision-makers.  I agree that for advanced analysts, it can offer a compact, contained means to present information across two categorical items (dimensions in Tableau) and metric (a measure in Tableau.)  You can see this in the Marimekko chart created by Joe Mako in the left half of the dashboard below. When you examine the Marimekko chart you can see the dominant cities and the relative share of each segment within each city.  You can also select the city names above the view to highlight a specific city.  For example, you can easily discern that Almond Lovers are the biggest group of customers for this company and Delicious-n-new are the smallest group.

However, it is somewhat challenging to ascertain within Gainesville, FL which segment is the largest and smallest for this city.  If you hover over each Gainesville, FL value in the original chart, you will see that two segments are identical in size; this is very hard to see without the hover values.  This is due to the varying width and length dimensions for each tile in the chart.

After considering this interesting example,

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TCC EU 2011- Data Visualization with Stephen Few

Pie charts by Homer, the real reason everyone loves pie, it isn't the ability to see the data...

Stephen Few, Author, Founder of Perceptual Edge and Lecturer at University of California at Berkeley

Some comments are the opinion of Freakalytics and not
necessarily those of Tableau or Stephen Few

This content is live blogged; there may be occasional errors or omissions.

 

Overview

There is no way to easily weave data into knowledge…
Are we enlightening our audience or frustrating our audience?
Data and the use of data are the sexy jobs of the next decade

A video with Hal Varian at UC- Berkeley and Google was shown in an interview
– Managers should be able to examine the data themselves
– Old organizations required armies of people for leaders to see the data
– Instead, we should enable access to the data for everyone

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TCC EU 2011- Premier of Tableau 6.1- Developers on Stage

Chris Stolte, Chief Development Officer, Tableau (co-founder, Tableau Software)- on-stage
Dan Jewett, VP of Product Management
Francoise Ajenstat, Director of Product Management

Some comments are the opinion of Freakalytics and not necessarily those of Tableau

This content is live blogged; there may be occasional errors or omissions.
 
 
Overview

Mission of dev team- “Help people see and understand their data.”
Make data fun, anathema too many, but key to using data throughout the organization and entire decision-making process
 
 
Four key areas of investment for 6.1

Data performance
Sharing via mobile optimization with iPad
Localizing and globalizing the products- French and German
User experience- make every step easy, fast and fun!

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TCC EU 2011- Tableau Server Scaling and Performance Best Practices

With Dan Jewett, VP of Product Management, Tableau
(Dan and Stephen previously worked together at Brio in the late 90′s)

Some comments are the opinion of Freakalytics and
not necessarily those of Tableau

This content is live blogged; there may be occasional errors or omissions.
 
 
Overview

Architecture
Hardware
Server config
Database or data engine?
Workbook optimizations for Server publishing

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Now you see it! Tableau tops in ease of use and capability, SAP bottom of heap

There isn’t much I can add here since the graph says it all- Tableau blew away the competition in a user survey conducted by Gartner. Read all about it here. Note, Freakalytics enhanced the original Gartner graph by highlighting the top and bottom overall products.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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Why attend in-person Complete Tableau training by Freakalytics?

Everyone is busy and overloaded. People find it hard to add new techniques and tools into their daily work due to extensive demands in almost every level of every company. People are trying to do more with less, faster and better!

Why should you take off four valuable days to attend Tableau training by Freakalytics?

We were fortunate to have a distinguished attendee recently write-up her four-day training experience. Susan Kistler is Executive Director of the American Evaluation Association, an organization dedicated to assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness. AEA has approximately 5500 members representing all 50 states in the US as well as over 60 foreign countries.

Here is part of her review:

“There is no substitute for learning at the feet of a master. And I’m not just saying this because I coordinate training for AEA. I’d been using Tableau Software for months.

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Quick reference for graph and dashboard design- print, Android and iPhone

Freakalytics has published to Amazon, Android and iPhone a new quick reference for building better graphs and dashboards. This app is complimentary on the Android and iPhone thanks to our sponsor, Tableau Software. Note that the iPhone and Android apps are now released: search for “Rapid Dashboards” on the iPhone (click here to open it in App Store web site) and “Rapid Graphs and Dashboards” on the Android application stores (click here to go to it in the Android Market web site.)

The Amazon version, “Rapid Dashboards Reference Card”, has all 64 tips readily available on four full-color, laminated pages. The card serves as a handy reference for yourself, your team and even your business audience during design meetings.

iPhone preview, also on Android
Page 1 Excerpt, buy it at Amazon
Page 3 Excerpt, buy it at Amazon

Over the coming year, we will post a sampling of the tips from the reference card on our site. Freakalytics, helping you take your graphs and dashboards from good to great!

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