The screen nobody could read
The staff room at Harbour Sports (a made-up shop) has a screen with 14 charts, six colours of text and tiny labels. Nobody looks at it. The manager asks for a new one that answers three questions at a glance.
A dashboard is a screen of data, and a screen is only useful if people can use it.
By the end of this lesson
Note
I can design a dashboard screen that is clear, consistent and honest.
Key words
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | one screen that shows key numbers and charts |
| User interface | what a person sees and uses on a screen |
| Control | something you use to give an instruction, such as a button |
| Navigation | the way a person moves between screens |
| Feedback | a sign that the screen has done what you asked |
| Distortion | a chart that makes the data look different from the truth |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Starter: what you already know
Have a go
Starter: what you already know
4 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.
A dashboard has three kinds of part
Every part of a user interface (what a person sees and uses) is one of three kinds.
Input controls let the user choose, such as a drop-down list for the shop or a date box. Navigation moves the user around, such as tabs and menus. Information components show the data: key number tiles, charts and tables. Output is what the screen gives back after a choice.
Parts of a dashboard
| Kind | Job | Example at Harbour Sports |
|---|---|---|
| Input control | Lets the user choose | A drop-down list: Town, Online, All |
| Navigation | Moves between screens | Tabs: Sales, Stock, Customers |
| Information | Shows numbers | A tile: Revenue 306 pounds |
| Information | Shows a chart | A bar chart of units by category |
The cells students fill in are left blank in this preview.
Try it: the numbers behind the tiles
-- Three tiles for every shop together.
SELECT 'Revenue' AS tile, SUM(products.price * sales.quantity) AS value
FROM sales JOIN products ON sales.product_id = products.product_id
UNION ALL SELECT 'Units', SUM(quantity) FROM sales
UNION ALL SELECT 'Sales', COUNT(*) FROM sales;
-- The drop-down list is a WHERE. Add WHERE sales.shop = 'Town' to the first line, and WHERE shop = 'Town' to the others.
Check
Have a go
Check
3 questionsYour answers are marked here and are not kept. A college account keeps every student’s marks.