Tableau Layout Containers Explained in Under 10 mins : 2020 Updated

0:00Hello and welcome to this video on layout

0:02containers in under 10 minutes.

0:05I recorded the last video on this topic in

0:06August of 2014 and almost 60,000 views

0:10later,

0:11I think it's long overdue an update.

0:13Now to inform the update, what I've done is

0:16I've looked at the last videos I recorded

0:18on this topic

0:19and it's really really clear that no one

0:20wants to spend more than 5 to 6 minutes on

0:23layout containers.

0:24So to help you along with that, what I've

0:26done is in the description of this video, I

0:28've contained chapter markers

0:30and in these chapter markers you can skip

0:31to the relevant section that you want to

0:33cover.

0:34The other thing is I'm not going to be able

0:36to cover every topic in detail.

0:38So you'll occasionally see these

0:39information cards and you can click on

0:41those and head to a more detailed video on

0:44that topic.

0:45Now the other thing I'm going to do is I'm

0:47going to add some notes in the description

0:50and these notes simply cover all the big

0:52features that have been deployed to the

0:54dashboarding capability in desktop.

0:56You can have a scroll and essentially

0:57anything highlighted in yellow is a major

0:59workflow change to how dashboarding works.

1:02So you should take a look at that feature

1:04and really understand the value that it can

1:06bring.

1:07I'll be releasing videos on all of these

1:08highlighted features in the near future.

1:11For everything since 2019, the videos

1:13already exist so hop into those tutorials

1:15now and take advantage of those.

1:18Okay, let's dive in.

1:20Okay, so I'm inside a very simple workbook

1:22here. I've connected to Sample Superstore

1:24Sales and I've built a basic bar chart.

1:27We're going to use this to talk about

1:28layout containers.

1:29I'm going to create a brand new dashboard

1:31and I'm just going to rename this very

1:33quickly.

1:34Okay, so now we're here. The first thing to

1:36do is to introduce you to the different

1:38layout container types.

1:40There's actually three. There's the

1:41horizontal container type, the vertical

1:43container type and the tiled container type

1:46.

1:47Those live here in the objects pane on the

1:49bottom left.

1:50So you see the horizontal container here

1:52and this allows you to stack content side

1:55by side.

1:56The vertical container allows you to stack

1:58content vertically above each other.

2:01And the tiled layout container doesn't

2:03actually have an object apart from the fact

2:06that you can see here that in grey,

2:08I've got this option here selected as tiled

2:10. I can toggle floating, but I'm going to

2:12keep this tiled.

2:14What I want to do is highlight the

2:15different behaviours between tiled and

2:18floating.

2:19So if I switch over to floating and I drag

2:21this bar chart, you'll see that I get a

2:23square.

2:25And this actually allows me to drop the

2:27content anywhere on the dashboard.

2:29And along with it, I'll get the legend sort

2:31of attached to that item.

2:34If I go back one step and I switch to tiled

2:38, I do the same thing when I drop the bar

2:40chart onto the dashboard.

2:42You'll actually see the whole page goes

2:44grey.

2:45When I let go, it actually creates this

2:47design. And you can see here that if I

2:49select the bar chart, this is in grey.

2:51If I select this side, it's in blue. And

2:53there's actually a reason behind that

2:55colouring.

2:57This is because Tableau has actually tiled

2:59the layout for me.

3:00And the only way to know about how it's

3:01done that is to go to the item hierarchy.

3:04This can be found in the layout pane here

3:06in the top and going down here to the

3:08bottom.

3:09I'll just zoom in here. You can see this is

3:11the item hierarchy.

3:13If I expand this out a little bit more, you

3:15can actually see that in that one drag and

3:17drop, Tableau was quite busy.

3:19It contained a whole range of layout items.

3:22And now you can see the full range of

3:23layout containers.

3:25A tiled container in blue, highlighted here

3:27across the entire page.

3:29Another horizontal container, which is

3:31inside of that tiled container.

3:33And in it contains two containers, tiled

3:36and vertical.

3:38And then you'll see that content here is

3:39actually marked in a different colour.

3:42Content is always highlighted in grey and

3:44containers are always highlighted in blue.

3:47And that's the best way of distinguishing

3:49what's what on a tiled dashboard.

3:52The last thing to highlight is if I click

3:54in this vertical container, you'll see that

3:57it has this sort of hashed design here.

3:59Don't be worried about this. This is just a

4:01signal to let you know that there's some

4:02white space that's not being used.

4:04And that's because inside of this vertical

4:06container, the legend is only taking up the

4:09top section.

4:10To use up that white space was to get rid

4:11of that.

4:12If that really annoys you, you can actually

4:13go to the dashboard, bring in the blank

4:16option here.

4:18And when I place that in there, that

4:20disappears.

4:21And then if I go back to my layout tab and

4:23I go to the item hierarchy and click on

4:25vertical, you'll see that I have two items.

4:28The category and legend up at the top and

4:30then the blank, which takes up the rest of

4:32the space.

4:33So the blank containers incredibly useful

4:35here because it can help fill up white

4:38space.

4:39OK, we've covered the tiled container, but

4:41what about floating containers?

4:43Well, if I head over to the top section

4:46here and I select the tiled container at

4:49the top and I right click on that container

4:51and remove the container.

4:53This dashboard actually becomes a floated

4:55dashboard because if I select the

4:57horizontal container and I simply move it

4:59around,

5:00you see that everything inside of it moves

5:02around.

5:03So in one file sweep, I've actually changed

5:05the system of this dashboard from a tiled

5:07dashboard to a floating dashboard.

5:10Now, depending on the version that you're

5:12using in Tableau, you just want to check

5:14the behavior of floated dashboard because

5:16they don't always preserve their position.

5:19I'm using the latest version of Tableau.

5:21So actually, as I change the size of this

5:23dashboard, it keeps the relative position

5:26and the relative location the same.

5:29However, in other versions of Tableau, you

5:31might not get that behavior.

5:32So just be sure to double check that

5:34behavior before you publish that dashboard.

5:37It can cause things to shift a few pixels

5:39here and there.

5:40Now that we've covered tiled and floating

5:41layout containers, it's time to look at the

5:43behaviors.

5:44I'm going to create a new dashboard here

5:46and I'm just going to rename that to layout

5:48containers two.

5:49The first thing I'm going to do is drag a

5:50horizontal container out and I'm going to

5:52make sure that it's floating, as you can

5:54see here, and drag that out to fill the

5:56entire width of the page.

5:58I'm also going to drag a vertical one here

5:59in the middle and I'm going to drag that

6:01out to fill the vertical height in the page

6:03.

6:04Now, one of the things I haven't covered

6:05yet is that in the layout tab, you've got

6:07all these formatting options for layout

6:09containers.

6:10You see, I have the vertical layout

6:11container selected here and I actually get

6:13the X and Y coordinates.

6:15You can adjust that here and move the

6:17object in the dashboard.

6:19You can also change the size and the width,

6:21the border of the layout containers, and

6:22also things like the background color.

6:25I find this particular step extremely

6:27useful helping label your layout containers

6:30and helping you know which layout container

6:32is doing what.

6:33The other option you get is for outer

6:34padding.

6:35Now, outer padding adds a little bit of

6:37white space on the outside of the border,

6:40whereas inner padding actually adds that

6:42space on the inside of the border.

6:44You can't see anything happening here

6:45because there's nothing inside of the

6:47layout container.

6:48So a little later on, you'll see that as I

6:49add items, that space is being observed.

6:52If I go over to the horizontal layout

6:53container, I'll just quickly set the

6:55background color to orange and I'll give it

6:57a slightly thicker border so it's clear to

7:00see what's going on.

7:01Okay, so what I've done is I've created

7:03three new sheets, sales, profit, and profit

7:06ratio, all as simple text items.

7:09And if we go back to my layout containers

7:11tab, I just want to add these individually

7:13to these layout containers.

7:15So I'll head over to the dashboard view and

7:16I'll just start by dragging sales onto the

7:18canvas.

7:19Now, notice when I drag it over the layout

7:21container, it gives me the same

7:23highlighting as if it was a tiled option.

7:26That's because all layout containers with

7:28contents in them behave in a tiled manner.

7:31So if I drop that in there, you'll see that

7:32the sheet takes up the height of the sheet

7:34as it was designed.

7:36I have a little bit of space here at the

7:38bottom, but as I add the next one, I get a

7:40few visual cues.

7:42I get this one on the left, this one on the

7:44top, and this one on the right.

7:46Now, this is absolutely fundamental.

7:48If you want this to remain a horizontal

7:50layout container, you need to drag this

7:53item on either side of the existing object.

7:56So it has to go here on the right hand side

7:58or on the left.

8:00If I do that for profit and then I come in

8:02here and I drag another one for profit

8:04ratio,

8:05you'll see I no longer get the option to

8:07drag it above and below.

8:09That's because this layout container can

8:10now no longer be a vertical layout

8:12container.

8:13So you must be wondering, well, why would a

8:15horizontal layout become a vertical

8:17container?

8:18Well, let's go back a few steps. Let's

8:20pretend we've only got this one item here.

8:23If I then drag profit below, I get the

8:25option to add it below.

8:27But at this point, when I drop the sheet

8:28into the layout container, it now becomes a

8:30vertical layout container.

8:33Let me just show you that this is the

8:34vertical container.

8:36Go back one step. It was a horizontal

8:38container.

8:39Go forward one step. It's a vertical

8:40container.

8:41So you must understand that when you drop

8:43items into a layout container,

8:46it really does matter where you put them

8:48because it can change the behavior of how

8:49the layout behavior behaves.

8:52Okay, we just got a few things to finish

8:55off now.

8:57We just need to kind of space these items

8:58out so they take up the whole entire

9:00horizontal layout container.

9:02You can select those items and then double

9:04click the tab to select the horizontal

9:06layout container on top.

9:08Double clicking an object selects its

9:10parent container.

9:12If I go to the container and then I select

9:14distribute contents evenly, Tableau spaces

9:17the art contents out evenly.

9:19It doesn't take up all the space just yet

9:21because each of these sheets need to be set

9:22to hit the entire view.

9:24Let me do that for the remaining two.

9:27And now you can see this is now performing

9:29the way I'd like it to.

9:31Now, the last thing I'd like to do is to

9:32put this vertical container inside of my

9:34horizontal container.

9:36It's quite common that you might actually

9:37put containers inside of containers to

9:39create a certain desired effect.

9:41To do that, you just need to grab your

9:43vertical container here or whichever

9:45container you're using.

9:46And when you hold shift, it becomes

9:47something that you can drop into a tiled

9:49layout container.

9:51If I let go, I get that floating item back.

9:54If I hold shift, I now have the ability to

9:56place it.

9:57So what I want to do is place that here

9:58between profit and sales.

10:00When I do that, because I've set the

10:02container to distribute contents evenly,

10:06there's now four items so that each get a

10:07quarter of the space available.

10:09I can now select the horizontal layout

10:11container by double clicking that vertical

10:13container and then moving that around.

10:16It's a bit of a mind maze.

10:18Don't forget, if you're getting lost, you

10:19're not sure what's going on, you can always

10:20go to layout and then go to item hierarchy

10:23to see what's going on.

10:24And you can select the items there as well.

10:26It's often sometimes an easier place to do

10:28that.

10:29Now, what I'd like to do is drag a few

10:30items into this vertical container.

10:32If you recall, it was set to have a certain

10:35padding on the outside and the inside.

10:38So if I drag a blank item into this layout

10:40container and I keep dragging more, I have

10:43to drag them below.

10:44Remember, because this is a vertical layout

10:45container, I can't put it on the side.

10:48You'll see that these blank options now

10:50preserve this white space here in between

10:52the border and the actual object itself.

10:55So that white space that I created prior is

10:57now kicking in.

10:59If you want to change that, you can of

11:00course go to layout and just keep

11:02increasing that white space.

11:04And you can see that the blank containers

11:06now have a lot bigger gap on the outside.

11:09And so using these techniques, if you

11:11combine all of these techniques and a bit

11:12of design, a little bit of minimalist

11:15design, you can start to come up with some

11:16really, really nice layouts.

11:18But hopefully, I've taught you some of the

11:20fundamentals of layout containers.

11:22And if you found this video useful, hit

11:24subscribe. Otherwise, drop a like, drop a

11:25comment. Let me know what you'd like to see

11:27.

11:28[Music]