Antichaos

Data Visualisation, Tableau & Data Services

Tableau

Smarter dashboard design – with fewer tooltips

by Johan de Groot

Tooltips can make or break a Tableau dashboard. Used well, they uncover extra detail with a simple hover, keeping your visuals clean but insightful.
But used poorly, they confuse users, slow performance, and hide the very insights you’re trying to show.

Too many tooltips turn a dashboard into a reactive experience instead of an intuitive one, users spend time chasing popups instead of insights.

In this article, I’ll show how to use tooltips smartly: when to reveal detail, when to stay silent, and how these small choices can make your dashboards clearer, faster, and far more actionable.

[Read more…] about Smarter dashboard design – with fewer tooltips

Top 2000 in Perspective – Behind the Scenes

by Johan de Groot

Every year, the Dutch Radio 2 Top 2000 offers an updated dataset with 2000 songs – and every year, it challenges me to create a completely perspective on it.

The challenge to me isn’t what the data is, but how to see it again with fresh eyes. After 14 years of exploring bar charts, Bézier-inspired snow globes, and long-form dashboards, this year I opted for a 3D grid.

This post looks behind the scenes of that process: the design choices, technical constraints, and small visual tricks that shaped this year’s visualization. For the TL;DR people: the interactive dashboard can be found here.

[Read more…] about Top 2000 in Perspective – Behind the Scenes

How to Visualize High-Value Metrics in Tableau Without Starting at Zero

by Johan de Groot

Every time you publish a chart that doesn’t start at zero, someone will appear in the comments accusing you of misleading your audience. But the truth is simple: not every dataset lives anywhere near zero.

When working with high-value metrics – like atmospheric pressure, energy usage, or financial KPIs – starting a chart at zero often flattens the trend and hides important variation. Simply removing zero can help, but it can also exaggerate small fluctuations, making lines appear more dramatic than they really are. In this guide, I’ll show how to visualize high-baseline data in Tableau using dynamic axis adjustments, reference lines, and buffer zones to create accurate, readable, and visually balanced charts.

[Read more…] about How to Visualize High-Value Metrics in Tableau Without Starting at Zero

Why is COUNTD so slow – and how can I fix this?

by Johan de Groot

When you start tuning a Tableau dashboard or SQL query for performance, one thing jumps out quickly: COUNTD can slow things down.

The count-distinct is an extremely useful function which looks simple on the surface, but under the hood it forces the engine to do extra work that adds up fast. Understanding why this happens – and what alternatives you can use – makes a big difference in keeping your dashboards responsive.

[Read more…] about Why is COUNTD so slow – and how can I fix this?

Tableau Container Art – 4 examples of formatting dashboards without images

by Johan de Groot

Tableau containers don’t exactly have the best reputation. Most people either ignore them or wrestle with them. But once you actually get along with containers (and their friends: borders, background colors, and padding), they turn into your dashboard’s interior designers.

No images were used during the making of these dashboard elements!

In this post, I’ll show you four small but powerful ways to use the Tableau containers to make your dashboards look sharper, cleaner, and maybe even a little more fun.

[Read more…] about Tableau Container Art – 4 examples of formatting dashboards without images