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Communicating Data with Tableau: Designing, Developing, and Delivering Data Visualizations
Go beyond spreadsheets and tables and design a data presentation that really makes an impact. This practical guide shows you how to use Tableau Software to convert raw data into compelling data visualizations that provide insight or allow viewers to explore the data for themselves. Ideal for analysts, engineers, marketers, journalists, and researchers, this book describes the principles of communicating data and takes you on an in-depth tour of common visualization methods. You'll learn how to craft articulate and creative data visualizations with Tableau Desktop 8.1 and Tableau Public 8.1.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2014
41 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 20, 2015
This started out as a fantastic resource guide for learning Tableau. By the end,I skimmed that last two chapters and put the book away. This book should be revised with the reader in mind instead of what is easiest for the author.
It's appalling how inconsiderate the author was to the internet examples we were asked to download and format ourselves. All of the examples involved pulling public data from the internet. Whether it was hockey, MLB, or hurricane information, the reader had to go to an external site and download the data into excel. Many times this meant that we had to copy and paste the information from a website into a cvs format and then import it into excel ourselves.
How hard would it be to save these samples on their own website for the reader? Some of the data formatting took 15 minutes or more to prepare. This took time away from learning Tableau because we had to prepare the data ourselves. This may seem like a minor nuisance but this was repeated at least twice a chapter for 13 chapters. This was time we weren't learning Tableau because we were busy trying to format data for import into Tableau.
And to make matters worse, the reader never was told that some of these excel or cvs files should be saved and not deleted because six or seven chapters later, they were going to be used again!!!
I was unaware I needed to reuse some of the excel files I created and wasn't willing to waste time doing it again. I skimmed those examples and was very unhappy. Finally, the screenshots were referenced many times in the book. When we were learning how to create calculated fields or parameters, we were shown a screenshot of what we should type. That's fine if this were a large format book. But in the current format, the screenshots made the text about two point font!!!
I started off really enjoying the first half of this book but by the end, I realized that I should have selected a different book for my initial introduction to Tableau.
It's appalling how inconsiderate the author was to the internet examples we were asked to download and format ourselves. All of the examples involved pulling public data from the internet. Whether it was hockey, MLB, or hurricane information, the reader had to go to an external site and download the data into excel. Many times this meant that we had to copy and paste the information from a website into a cvs format and then import it into excel ourselves.
How hard would it be to save these samples on their own website for the reader? Some of the data formatting took 15 minutes or more to prepare. This took time away from learning Tableau because we had to prepare the data ourselves. This may seem like a minor nuisance but this was repeated at least twice a chapter for 13 chapters. This was time we weren't learning Tableau because we were busy trying to format data for import into Tableau.
And to make matters worse, the reader never was told that some of these excel or cvs files should be saved and not deleted because six or seven chapters later, they were going to be used again!!!
I was unaware I needed to reuse some of the excel files I created and wasn't willing to waste time doing it again. I skimmed those examples and was very unhappy. Finally, the screenshots were referenced many times in the book. When we were learning how to create calculated fields or parameters, we were shown a screenshot of what we should type. That's fine if this were a large format book. But in the current format, the screenshots made the text about two point font!!!
I started off really enjoying the first half of this book but by the end, I realized that I should have selected a different book for my initial introduction to Tableau.
April 9, 2018
Tableau in one of the most powerful data visualization tools in the market. The vendor offers sufficient video training and product documentation free for all. Even though the documentation provided is comprehensive, its’ size and structure can be overwhelming to uninitiated. In comes, Communicating Data with Tableau by Ben Jones. First published in June 2014, this book demonstrates how to use tableau to make sense of data.
This a perfect intro to data visualization design, development and delivery. The book begins with a general introduction to communicating data. Challenges faced and principles required for effective data communication are covered before proceeding to an introduction to tableau. The various graphics available in the tool are covered in the context of practical use hence making the content memorable. The author concludes with topics on advanced maps and dashboards to bring everything learned together.
There is a strong emphasis on data visualization done right throughout the book. Best practices and handy tips on the use of aesthetics in visualizations are covered in all the chapters. These best practices are strongly put in practice in the dashboard building chapters and their use highlighted.
Communicating Data with Tableau is indeed a great resource for tableau beginners. Its’ emphasis on best practices, description of the principles of communication data and the in-depth tour of common visualization methods make it ideal for analysts and researchers. Having been published in 2014, there is an obvious need for revision but more than 95% of the book is still relevant to the newer versions of Tableau.
This a perfect intro to data visualization design, development and delivery. The book begins with a general introduction to communicating data. Challenges faced and principles required for effective data communication are covered before proceeding to an introduction to tableau. The various graphics available in the tool are covered in the context of practical use hence making the content memorable. The author concludes with topics on advanced maps and dashboards to bring everything learned together.
There is a strong emphasis on data visualization done right throughout the book. Best practices and handy tips on the use of aesthetics in visualizations are covered in all the chapters. These best practices are strongly put in practice in the dashboard building chapters and their use highlighted.
Communicating Data with Tableau is indeed a great resource for tableau beginners. Its’ emphasis on best practices, description of the principles of communication data and the in-depth tour of common visualization methods make it ideal for analysts and researchers. Having been published in 2014, there is an obvious need for revision but more than 95% of the book is still relevant to the newer versions of Tableau.
June 22, 2015
Excellent book for conveying different ways to visualize data using various charting techniques. Employs many of the features of Tableau 8.1. Not an encyclopedic volume of all of the features of Tableau but a good overview.
April 6, 2015
Clear, easy to read, never dull. A bit light on many aspects of data analysis more generally that it touched upon, but there are plenty of other books on that topic already. Quite helpful for one new to working with Tableau.
October 23, 2015
Reasonable basic primer on Tableau 8.1. I would have liked a more in-depth dissection on how to actually dig into some of the functionality - but this was good general overview of the breadth of the platform.
July 25, 2015
A fast, concise overview of what's possible with Tableau. Last few chapters in particular really show off some great examples of ambitious visualizations. Recommend for anyone just getting started with Tableau.
August 22, 2014
Nice book with lots of good examples of how to build great data visualization in Tableau.
March 12, 2015
Great book for learning tableau in a hands on method. He makes the material interesting with strong examples and reasoning.
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Accession No: DL027521
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews