Customize Data Plots

Data plots refer to the graphical representation of data values, such as columns/lines/areas/pie slices in a chart. It helps you to easily derive an outcome from the data, instead of wasting time on complex tabular formats. FusionCharts offers a lot of customization options on data plots, to make them more insightful. For further details, click here.

For quick reference, we have included some customizations in this section. You can:

Customize Plot Colors

By default, FusionCharts selects colors for the data plots from the theme you apply to a particular chart. However, you can modify the color of one or more data plots if you wish, to improve the look and feel of the chart, or make it easier for viewers to analyze the data at a glance.

For instance, if you input data about different countries across the world in a chart, you can apply the same color to countries belonging to the same continent.

For further details, click here.

Highlight Data Plots

By default, in most types of charts, FusionCharts applies the same color to all data plots. However, you can highlight one or more data plots to quickly draw the viewer’s attention to those. You can modify the fill color of the data plot, make it transparent/opaque, or apply dashed borders to it - all with the click of a button.

For instance, in the sample, on Wednesday the number of visitors is the most. So, you might want to highlight the data plot to put more emphasis on it.

You can:

  1. Apply a dashed border around the plot
  2. Use a different data plot color
  3. Add context-sensitive textual information alongside a data point.

By doing this, you still see the data point of interest with respect to the complete data rather than having to filter out data points that are not of interest momentarily.

For a line/area chart, change the color of the anchor or increase the anchor radius to make it stand out from the rest.

In case of pie/doughnut chart, slice out a particular data plot to highlight it.

For further details, click here.

Use Dashed Lines for Prediction

FusionCharts allows you to display data plots using dashed lines, if necessary. This comes in handy when you want to plot future projections based on the data you already have available.

For instance, if you have data about yearly revenues of a company between the years 2008-2018, you may draw estimates of the revenues that the company would earn in the years 2019, 2020, and 2021. If you plot the data in a line graph, you can connect the data plots for the years 2019 to 2021 using dashed lines, so that the viewer can understand at a glance that those are projections and not actual data values.

For further details, click here.

Data Plots as Images

To make data plots look more appealing, you can use the “Annotations” feature to replace the regular data plots like column or anchors with images. FusionCharts renders data plots in particular shapes, depending on the type of the chart. However, you can use images as data plots to help viewers analyze the data faster.

For instance, if you plot the sales figures of bread, butter, milk, and coffee at a grocery store in a chart, you can use images of the individual items instead of retaining the default shapes of the data plots.

For further details, click here.

Pattern Fill for Data Plots

Data Plots can be enhanced using the pattern fill feature. You can fully customize the chart look and feel by specifying the pattern type, size, angle, density etc.

The example below shows usage of pattern fill.

For further details, click here.

Gradient Effects/Round Edges

FusionCharts lets you apply a global gradient effect to all the data plots within a chart. This can help you maintain a uniform appearance across the chart. This can help you maintain a uniform appearance across the chart, and comes in handy when you want to apply specific colors to the plots in a chart.

For instance, if your company logo is of a specific shade of blue, you might want to apply that shade to all the data plots in the chart to give it a more corporate look.

FusionCharts lets you apply rounded edges to data plots, to improve the appearance of data plots.

For further details, click here.

Discontinuous Data

FusionCharts leaves blank spaces in a chart, where the data values are null. However, you can change this by forcing the chart to join the data plots on either side of a null value to improve the overall appearance.

For instance, if you find the data for the year 2006 missing while plotting yearly revenues of a company from 2000 to 2010 in a line graph, you can connect the dots for the years 2005 and 2007. Anyone hovering the mouse pointer over the 2006 mark will still get a tooltip stating that no data is available.

For further details, click here.