High-low lines are a feature of Excel line charts that connect the high and low points at a given category. For example, in a stock chart the high-low lines connect the high and low value for each date in the chart. A high-low line connects the highest of the values for a given category to [...]

In I Keep Saying, Use Bar Charts, Not Pies, I described the process of making better column charts to replace a horrendous pie chart. At one point I said “Let’s add a weighted average of all responses, using a set of horizontal lines.” I neglected to share the technique for adding individual target lines, though [...]

In Custom Axis, Y = 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 I showed axes with base 2 logarithmic scales in both Excel 2003 and 2007. In Excel 2003 it is necessary to transform the data to get the intended result. In Excel 2007, the axis can be achieved with the untransformed data. In the previous post, the [...]

In Using Colors in Excel Charts I discussed a lot of details about Excel colors, predominantly in Excel 2003, and specifically with charting in mind. I mentioned the Color Brewer, a neat little utility for selecting colors and designing color palettes. In ColorBrewer2.org Mark Harrower of Axis Maps announced Color Brewer 2, which updates the [...]

With a little knowledge of number formats and a healthy dose of creativity, you can work around apparent shortcomings in Excel’s charting mechanism, neaten up your charts, and produce effects that are otherwise difficult. In the Microsoft newsgroup, someone asked how to hide the data labels in his stacked column chart if the values are [...]

My colleague and fellow Excel MVP Mike Alexander of DataPig Technologies has sent me another article, so instead of the blog being silent while I take today off, it will be graced with more of Mike’s wisdom. Last November, Mike shared with us his Ten Chart Design Principles. Mike and I have taught advanced Excel [...]