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Tableau | Data visualisation | Tool strategy

This change to Blending might confuse you! | New in Tableau 2022.4

Tableau quietly changed blending in 2022.4 and stripped out the colour cue that, in my opinion, made it clearer in the first place.

Tim Ngwena •17 January 2023 •1 min read •4 min watch •2.1K

Part ofWhat's new in Tableau 2022.4

Tableau 2022.4 changes the blending link icon and removes the orange colouring that previously flagged the linked field on desktop.
The old 2022.3 version arguably communicated the blend more clearly because the linked field was both visibly linked and coloured orange.
The new icon change is tiny (roughly a 5x5 area) and easy to miss compared to the colour cue it replaces.
Web edit currently sits in the worst position: old icons, no source-level colouring, and no colouring on the link itself.
The change may make more sense in the context of a future Tableau interface that isn't yet public, so it could be a necessary step rather than a pure regression.

0:00In Tableau 22.4 Tableau have made some very

0:03subtle changes to blending and I want your

0:06opinion on this. As ever, let's get stuck

0:08in.

0:08Okay, so right at the bottom of the new

0:10features of Tableau 22.4 there's this small

0:15change

0:15they made to blending. It's essentially a

0:18UI change, a change that basically makes

0:21the

0:22icon different for blending. So they've

0:24changed it from, I'll show you the icons in

0:26a second,

0:26they've changed it from one icon to another

0:29and they've removed the colouring that used

0:31to be there when you actually made the

0:33blending link. So just in case you're not

0:35aware what

0:36I'm talking about, here in a new tab I've

0:38actually got the web edit version of this

0:41and the reason I've got the web edit

0:42version of this is because it's also

0:44different to

0:44the desktop version. So I wanted to show

0:47you all three different variants. Let me

0:48get each

0:49of them up on screen. Here we go, so we've

0:52got all three versions here, you can see

0:53them

0:53on the left. So the one on the left here is

0:55the web edit version as it currently stands

0:57,

0:58the one in the middle is the old version 22

1:01.3 and the one on the right is 22.4 desktop.

1:05So we've got a wide gamut of different

1:08setups and I just sort of want your opinion

1:11. Which

1:11one of these do you think is the most clear

1:13? I'd really love to sort of get your

1:15opinion

1:16on this and have it in the comments because

1:18in my opinion I think the middle one is

1:21actually

1:21the clearest one and here is why. The

1:24middle one clearly communicates which is

1:26the blend,

1:27it clearly shows that it's the category

1:29that's linked. With the others the only way

1:31I can

1:32sort of figure this out is by looking at

1:34this icon and I don't know about you but

1:36this icon

1:37is not that different from these ones. It's

1:39very easy to actually just ignore the fact

1:41that the icon itself is a very sort of

1:45small change. We're talking about maybe a 5

1:49by 5

1:50small area that we're looking to see some

1:52change and although these icons are very

1:53different

1:54it's just not the kind of thing you're

1:56going to obviously notice. Whereas this

1:58middle option

1:58if I just bring it up on screen I think it

2:00's so much clearer that this has a blend

2:02going

2:03on because you can clearly see the category

2:05has a link and it's also orange and if you

2:08compare it to the one on the left which

2:09doesn't have that colour then this is the

2:11best sort

2:12of example of showing the effect of colour

2:14because what it appears is that the web

2:16edit

2:16version hasn't been updated with the new

2:18icons but it has been updated with the

2:20colouring

2:21effect and you can see that they are very

2:23different. So maybe it's just me, am I

2:25making

2:26a big deal out of this? Is this worse or is

2:28this better? In my opinion I think it's

2:30worse.

2:31I think this one on the left shows very

2:34clearly that colour does help you notice

2:37that the

2:38category field is obviously in the blend

2:41and then if I bring up 22.4, let me just

2:45bring

2:45it up on screen, you can see this is the

2:47intended change, this is the communicator

2:49change on

2:50the website, it's got the new icon and the

2:52colour and I have to say it's just not

2:55quite

2:55the same, it doesn't quite work. In some

2:58ways I think this is a really good example

2:59of a

3:00feature where I think the change makes

3:02sense in a different context. You see if

3:05you are

3:05designing the interface for a future of

3:08Tableau that isn't currently publicly

3:10available this

3:11change might make sense in that context but

3:13because we can't see that context, because

3:16we are simply going from one version to the

3:18next, without really seeing a need for

3:20change

3:20in this capability it's actually quite hard

3:23for us to really see the value and so I'm

3:25hoping that's the case, I'm hoping that

3:26Tableau is changing something behind the

3:28scenes that

3:29means that this change makes more sense

3:32going forward and it's maybe a necessary

3:35pain but

3:35until then it's just a question that you

3:38have to ask, is this actually better? The

3:40other

3:40thing I'll say is that if you are using Web

3:42Edit you don't have the colouring on the

3:44left so

3:45you also lose that in a way and so if you

3:47are using WebEdit you probably have the

3:49worst

3:50of both worlds, you don't have the clear

3:52colouring on the left to let you know that

3:54the whole

3:54data source is actually coming from a blend

3:56and on top of that you don't have the

3:57colouring

3:58on the link to make it clear that you are

4:00using a blend and you also have the old

4:01icons,

4:03it's just not an ideal setup. But yeah let

4:05me know what you think, this is the change

4:07in 22.4, is it a feature, is it a

4:09regression? I'd love your opinion, let me

4:11know in the

4:12comments below and we'll find out soon.

4:13Thanks for watching and I'll catch you in

4:15the next

4:15one.

4:15[END]

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In this video, we’ll be diving into the small change in Tableau 22.4 in the world of blends in Tableau. A blend is a way to combine data from multiple sources in a single visualisation, allowing you to easily compare and analyze data from different perspectives. The change is small and subtle and I’d love to know what you think.

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