# OLD! See Description: Tableau Layout Containers: Part 1 - The basics

> This is content from just-tim, the data-and-analytics channel by Tim Ngwena (formerly 'Tableau Tim'). Tim has 12+ years of hands-on BI experience and covers Tableau most of all, plus Power BI, Looker, Hex, SQL and data modelling, the analytics industry, and the craft of doing the job — always tool-agnostic and honest about the trade-offs.

- **Author:** Tim Ngwena (just-tim, https://just-tim.com/about)
- **Published:** 2014-08-18
- **Format:** Video · 13 min watch · transcript available
- **Topics:** Data visualisation
- **Tools:** Tableau (dashboards, layout containers)
- **Canonical:** https://just-tim.com/posts/old-see-description-tableau-layout-containers-part-1-the-basics
- **Watch:** https://youtu.be/voAVa4OD_5I

I demystify Tableau layout containers by building a dashboard from empty containers rather than starting with sheets. I walk through tiled versus floating behaviour, the visual hints Tableau gives as you drag items, and how containers can silently switch orientation between horizontal and vertical.

## Key takeaways

- When you drag a sheet onto a dashboard, Tableau is actually nesting it inside tiled and vertical/horizontal containers, which you can inspect in the item hierarchy panel
- Starting with blank layout containers, rather than sheets, is the best way to understand how tiling really works
- The difference between tiled and floating: tiled items belong to a structure, floating items sit on top with no belonging
- Tableau's drag hints (grey highlight for whole area, blue outline for inside a container, thin edges for adjacent tiling) tell you exactly what will happen before you drop
- A horizontal container can flip to vertical (and vice versa via a blank container) depending on where you drop an item, so watch the hints carefully
- Explore the dashboard size options like A3/A4 for print, and use automatic sizing for fluid layouts that split space evenly

## Chapters

- 0:33 What happens when you drag a sheet
- 1:59 Blank containers, tiled vs floating
- 3:47 Reading Tableau's drag hints
- 5:46 Building horizontal and vertical containers
- 7:18 Dashboard sizes and fluid design
- 8:30 Watch out: containers changing orientation

Watch the full video, read the transcript and use chapter deep-links on the page: https://just-tim.com/posts/old-see-description-tableau-layout-containers-part-1-the-basics

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just-tim — Data and analytics, with a point of view. · https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7HYxRWmaNlJux-X7rNLZyw · https://twitter.com/TableauTim · https://www.linkedin.com/in/timngwena