Modifying charts : Types of charts : About bar charts

About bar charts

A bar chart typically displays data values as a set of vertical bars, but you can transpose the axis to display horizontal bars. When you view report data in a chart with vertical bars, you can easily compare the values. A bar chart is useful to show data changes from one time period to another, for example from one year, or quarter to another, or to illustrate comparisons among items.

Standard bar charts are side-by-side but you can have stacked and percent stacked bar charts that also show the relationship of individual items to a whole.

Side-by-side bar chart

Side-by-side bar charts show bars from each series, one beside the other. Each of these bars have the same width. The width depends on the number of series being plotted. Figure 7-1 shows a side-by-side bar chart that graphically presents a company’s sales figures by geographical region.

Figure 7-1  Side-by-side bar chart

Stacked bar chart

Stacked bar charts show bars stacked one above the other. The stacked bar chart shows totals for each series as well as the proportion that each series contributes to the grand total. The example in Figure 7-2 shows the company’s sales figures for the current year and previous year, in the form of a stacked bar chart.

Figure 7-2  Stacked bar chart

Percent stacked bar chart

In a percent stacked bar chart, multiple series are stacked vertically and the values appear as a percentage of the whole. The example in Figure 7-3 shows the company’s sales figures by geographical location in terms of a percentage of the whole. Figure 7-3 displays the sales values in percentages instead of the actual numbers shown in the previous bar charts. The percent stacked bar chart is meaningful only when you need to display and compare multiple series. Do not use this chart subtype if you are displaying only one series, for example, only sales for Australia.

Figure 7-3  Percent stacked bar chart